Thread: I need help starting a car that has been sitting for years

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Help!!

Can anyone help me with ALL the steps that I need to take when trying to get a car running that has been sitting for many years. The 1950 Chevy Deluxe was last registered in 1964 and I am not sure when it last ran. I know that I will need to change out fluids and gaskets. I just don't want to forget any. If you can help give me a list of what initially needs to happen it would help me a lot. Thanks!

Matt

Ok,,,you said you already had the fluid changes covered,,,but dont forget the differential,,and the transmission.
I'm also assuming you dont want to take it apart first.
Ok.
You need to pull your spark plugs first,,,and i'm sure others will suggest other fluids, but i prefere diesel,,,you need to fill that sucker up,,and i mean fill it up,,the idea is to totaly bath the lower portions of your cylinders with diesel fuel,,,dont worry it wont harm anything,,,,it's cheap and it does a wonderfull job.
Fill your top cylinders with diesel as well,,,,this gets messy,,so you need to have an ample supply of shallow drain buckets.
Once you cant get any more diesel in your motor,,,,it ready to sit overnight,,,,keep checking though for leaking diesel,,cos you dont want to deal with a total mess afterwards,,,maybee purchase a couple of bags of sawdust,,or even floordry,,,,like cat litter, and put about 3inches deep underneath your front end,,this will make cleanup a whole lot nicer.
you can do this in any order you prefere,,,,,,remove your starter motor,,,,,distributor,,,,carburetter,,,water pump,,,in fact ant thing which rotates,,,,,if i were you i'd pull the transmission and give it the same treatment as well.
This will all give you a chance to do some pre-fire rebuilding,,,or overhauling,,of your transmision,,,your starter,,,your generator,,,water pump,,,distributor,,,etc.
once you are ready to try the engine *by hands only* stick a suitable size socket and large ratchet wrench on the bottom pully bolt,,,and give it a back and forward motion,,,not too much,,,you want to break her free gently,,,with each succesfull turn of the pully,,,increase the amount of rotation until you have her fully 360 degrees.
It may be worth mentioning that you should not change any gaskets until you have done all of this,,,,,,get the motor so it will spin over by hand first,,,,there may well be rust in the cylinders,,,it's hard to say from what i know of your situation.
now what you want to do is to spin the oil pump over with a suitable drill,,,it's been too long for me and i forgett how the oil pump is driven on one of those things.
I'm sure others on this site are comming to the rescue,,as i type.
now what you want to do,,is to take your valve cover off,,and get a look at the push rods,,and rockers make sure you can spin the push rods freely,,,and that the rockers can rock back and forth,,,,also worth mentioning is that the valve springs which have been compressed for a great many years my have now become useless,,,,,it's hard to say,,,,i've gotten a 312 ford running fine after sitting in a farmers field for 40 years,,and the damn thing didn't make a fuss at all.
This was after doing to it,,what i'm suggesting to you.

Different strokes for different folks,,,,,I would pull the pan,,,after getting the motor freed up,,and scrape the years of grunge out of it,,,it also gives you the opportunity to get a look at the bottom end.

I would also take the transmision apart and give it a thourough washing out with diesel as well,,,,the old heavy lube is probably like tar now anyway's,,,

After you have gotten the motor turning freely,,you may now drain the diesel fuel from the motor,,,same goes for the transmision after it's nice and clean.

Now if your still not going to do anything further to the engine,,,like rebuild,,,,now you can start putting your new gaskets in.
Your fuel pump will probably be toast,,as will your hydraulic brake system,,,,these will all need to be replaced as new,,or in the case of the fuel pump,,,,rebuilt.
same goes for your carb,,,

so let me assume you already have all your bits and bobs,,rebuilt and overhauled,,,,now you can reassemble,,,once you have done this,,,you need now to put the lightest grade of oil in your motor that you can find,,,the reason is simple,,,,,all or some off the journals etc may be still gummed up,,,and you will need to free up what you cant see.

If you have managed to get a drill to turn your oil pump,,,you now want to use the drill to turn the oil pump and get the oil to the places it needs to go.

now if your ready,,you can put your spark plugs back in,,and your rebuilt distributor, starter motor, carb, water pump, fuel pump, etc. put your cap and leads on and fresh battery and give it a whoorl,,,,and not knowing your situation here,,,,anything may happen,,,from field mice making a fast gettaway outa your tail pipe,,,,or your exhaust system is so shot the muffler blows off.
*Important* do not run the engine for more than 5 or ten minutes,,some would say even less,,,,because you need to drain your oil out and the residual gunk and diesel fuel out of your engine,,,,then put in a nice single grade 40wt oil,,,,and start your engine once more,,,,be gentle when revving,,,the poor old girl probably wont like being ressurected at first.
i'll give it a rest for now and let some of the other boys get there two cents in.

It would be helpfull to you to find out some history about that car,,check the records at the DMV,,you may even find that the thing has been started every so often over the years,,,but if it has not,,,,and it's been sitting for 41 years,,,,then go easy on her.

Before you do anything, DRAIN THE OIL! There may be water in the pan, and you sure as heck don't want to pump THAT through the engine. (Did it with my little V8-60, almost ruined the crank and irreplacable adjustable lifters)

When I first fired up my '51 Chevy Fleetline Deluxe, I changed the oil, points and condensor and the plugs and fuel pup ( old 1 had a cracked diaphram ), I got a 6 volt battery for it, turned it over until I saw the oil preassure gauge move, then turned the ign on, pushed the button and, it took a few cranks but, it fired right up and ran/ runs great, the carb needs a new accelerator pump as it cuts out if you floor it quick.. My car has the 235 With powerglide but, the 235 is basicly the same engine as the 216 that came with the 3spd cars.

Originally posted by csf03716
yo where ya falcon been?

I have to put 1 new front master cyl in as, the bleeder screw snapped when we tried to bleed the brakes, also still have to put in a new battery tray, I bought an exzact original from Dearborn Classics and it's really good quality, it's a little thicker metal than the original. Since theres snow on the ground, I have to use my grandparents garage but, my brother has been using my grandparents garage for repairs on his car for the last month ( My grandparents are away and there letting us use the garage as, we are taking care of their house whail there gone ). I have every part to fix it. I got the Falcon registered about a month and a half ago but my brother's POS Volkswagon Fox has been down for the last month as it wasn't running right at first, then the exzaust and the drivers rear strut went, and my brother has about as much effort as my left toe when it comes to anything beyond changing the oil, about 3 nights he came back home still not fixed because the bottom bolt was " Stuck " or " Frozen ".

I think you mean brake cylinder matt. Master cylinder is the one on the firewall. But as for your constantly helping your brother, i know how you feel. This last weekend has been nothing but other peoples vehicles for me too. But once it warms up a bit, the days will go quicker

Originally posted by drg84
I think you mean brake cylinder matt. Master cylinder is the one on the firewall. But as for your constantly helping your brother, i know how you feel. This last weekend has been nothing but other peoples vehicles for me too. But once it warms up a bit, the days will go quicker

I musta mistyped, I did mean brake cylinder, I arleady put a new Master cyl on a whail ago. My brother finally got his strut fixed so, My car goes under the light sometime this week, for some final brake work, and the exzaust ( that stock muffler, just makes it sound too weedy ) and batt tray.

i usually go to the airport and get 10 gallons of 100 octane aviation fuel.it starts real easy usually and runs good.i did this with my wifes MGB and it fired up and runs great.

Thank you all very much for your input. I just trailered the car home yesterday (2/28). I just found out that it was actually last registered in '79. Thats a little better. I will keep you posted on my progress. Thank you all again.

Matt

Ok,,Thats a little better,,,your motor is probably in decent shape if the car was kept indoors,,,,Just drain the gas out of your tank and refill with fresh gas,,,,,drain the oil, change the filter, put new oil in, fresh battery, and go for it.
You may still have a few problems due to varnish build up in the carb though.
*If the car has been sitting outdoors, all bets are off* and you may need to go further.

Also,,,i dont know what your driving habits are,,,so if your planning on reving the hel out of that engine first time around,,*DONT*,,,,there will be ridges built up in the cylinders due to the previous drivers habit's,,,,,,,Example= if the car was driven by an old lady who only had the motor up to 2500 RPM,,,and you go trying to rev the motor up to 3000 Rpm,,,ther is a good chance your piston rings will hit the built up ridges and get cracked,,,,then youve got oil burning etc.