Cold Starting Long Standing Engines

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LargeDreamsSmallCapital
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This has probably been discussed many times in the past but I have two rebuilds that I'm finally getting to the point of starting after four moves and numerous years. One is my 273 for my 67 Barracuda Vert which I rebuilt 10 years ago and has never been run. The other is a little Italian job, a 1500 cc engine out of a 1965 Fiat 1500 Cabriolet that I rebuilt 20+ years ago. Both have been turned over by hand several times a year but I wanted to ask the "drips under pressure" on this site any and all recommendations that you may have for the first start ups.
I get great info from this site and the collective knowledge available is astounding.
* any recommendations on a pre lube pump for the initial start
* recommendations for opening the top and bottom of the engines to check conditions

Any other items I may not know of?
Both fuel systems are clean and fresh.

Thanks in advance
 
First thing I would do is squirt a bit of oil in the cylinders and rotate by hand a few times.next is a must remove both valve covers and prime the oil system by hand with a drill and make sure you get oil up to all the rockers. You will need to slowly rotate the engine to line up the oil passages through the cam to the rockers. If that’s successful replace the valve covers and fire it up. I’m no expert either but that’s what I would do.
 
I ain't no Ex-spurt but don't he need to recoat cam with sum possum fat...erhh, I mean break-in lube on the one engun that has never been run???
 
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I would oil the cylinders, or even just use a shot of two-stroke oil and don't worry about pre-oiling engine.

Maybe squirt some oil in cylinders, with plugs pulled, crank on starter a few seconds and make sure you start to see oil pressure. Check oil and change it if necessary
 
I would also suggest you change the oil if the pan is currently filled to remove any condensation that may have accumulated in the oil and pan.

Another check is to ensure the lifters are rotating i their bores before you fire it up.

If this is the first time it will be fired up after a rebuild use a quality break in oil or oil additive win sufficient zinc for the flat tappet cam and lifters. You also want to ensure the engine fires up quickly and get the rpm’s up to ~ 2000 rpm for the cam and lifter break in. There are many threads on here how to go about getting ready for the initial fire up including getting the timing lined up, a known carb and the carb full of gas, ....
 
Agree with changing the oil, and adding oil to all cylinders. Crank with no spark to build up oil pressure before you fire it. And by all means make sure you have fresh CLEAN fuel.
 
Check oil level, prime the carb and start it. Bottle feed it if necessary to keep it running (small starter fluid shots down the throat) until your oil pressure needle hits. Then run it as break in prescribes. No blood, no foul. Started Grandmothers Buick after 12 years of sitting with a jump start: filled the carb with gas, a splash down the throat and full choke. Started right up, ran fine after 30 seconds of blue smoke. We could smell the old gas (?) burning once it ran for about 2 minutes. Still ran fine. Tires were junk so no high speed thrashes.
 
Treblig said:
I ain't no Ex-spurt but don't he need to recoat cam with start-up lube on the one engun that has never been run???
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I used a zinc paste on the 400 and that chit ain't goin nowhere.......so "it depends" on what he used.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I used a zinc paste on the 400 and that chit ain't goin nowhere.......so "it depends" on what he used.
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Black moly lube doesn't run either, it'll stick forever. And its cheap in the cartridge. Red assembly lube seems to be too thin for a long term storage. YMMV
 
Post #5 and #7 are sure to cause more trouble than you could stand. Please disregard them. posters please delete them for the good of all humanity.

Everyone please read that these are new never fired engines. This is not.

have you ever broken in a New camshaft? This is what you need to do.

specific to the 273:
*Do you know what product if any you put on the cam and lifter faces? Might need to clean it off and recoat depending on your answer.

* Use a modern Engine break in oil.
Joe Gibbs Driven.
Brad Penn
Lucas oil

* Remove the distributor drive gear and prime the oil pump with a drill running clockwise. Rotate engine twice by hand so the rocker arms& shafts get filled with oil. You will need a helper. Run the drill the entire time. When completed them remove valve covers to see all rockers full of oil. If not find out why. This reduces the huge mess.

* Fill carb float bowl with fuel so it will start right up.

*have enough gas to run it for 25-30 minutes without shutting it off. RPM varying from 2000-2500, never below that.

* only have the water pump belt on, remove the others so there are no problems.

this will get you started. Question on the little engine, what is he camshaft, in block or overhead cam? Do you know of a way to prime the oil pump. It’s very importatnt, don’t skip it.

Do this startup when you and the car are ready to go for a drive afterwards. Don’t wait or let it cool down, go drive it. The breakin oil can stay in for 500 miles after the cam break in.
3DB78F93-ABC4-4409-94E8-73C3BF65E1C1.jpeg
 
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If they sat that long I would start fresh with oil and filter. Pull the plugs and squirt some atf in there or fog with a fogging spray and turn the engine over by hand a few rounds. Pull the distributor and prime the system and fill the carb float bowls with fresh gas through the bowl vents. (fresh gas in the tank and lines as well). Consider it a new engine start.
 
@belmateo please tell the readers why you disagree with my post.

I disagree with your post because a person should never crank a new engine with the starter to get oil pressure. Call any machine shop and ask them.

More info on why not. New engine, no oil in anything, just the assembly lube, whatever that was, and this one is 10 years old. Now you want to rotate all these new parts with zero oil pressure to build pressure. How long is this going to take with everything dry? 15-20 seconds? More? The oil pump is driven off the camshaft which turns at half crankshaft speed. So that’s not very fast when cranking the engine. 600rpm divided by 2=300 rpm.

It’s just a lazy shortcut that could you cause some damage and lessen the life of parts. Engines are expensive enough. Pre oiling with a drill is super easy on mopar V8’s, So just do it And know it’s all oiled inside.


There will still be plenty of time to sit on your *** and surf car websites after the job is done correctly.
 
Wow,

First of all thanks to all who responded. The wealth of knowledge and opinions on this is as usual, overwhelming. I will give this some thought as to my next step on these engines. As for the engines themselves. The Fiat 1500 is indeed an internal camshaft engine but it has been so long I cannot remember what I used for engine assembly lube. I used a zinc assembly lube on the 273. I had already pulled the plugs and added Marvel Mystery Oil to all the cylinders before hand turning over the cranks on both engines. At the minimum I will most likely drop both pans and investigate as well as both rocker covers. I will research if I can independently run the oil pump on the 1500 to see if I can pre lube the components. I cannot remember if the oil pump is tied directly to the cam or crank or run off the distributor. That was the basis of my question about pre lube pumps. I was pondering if I could use the oil filter ports to plumb an external pump into the oiling system.

Once again thanks to all. I am going to take my time with these and try not to fubar the situation.
 
I made a shaft to prime small block Mopar engines by taking an old oil pump drive, and grinding the teeth off of it so it clears the cam. Then use a drill clockwise with a rod with a flat machined into the end of it to fit the pump shaft. I had to pre oil a 4.7 motor for my wife's Dakota, and I built a pressure oiler out of a 3' piece of schedule 80 PVC. I glued a cap on the bottom, and tapped it for a 1/2" fitting with a nipple to attach a clear hose. I plumbed a gate valve in it too. I glued a sewer cleanout on top, and drilled and tapped the screw in plug for a 3/8 male air chuck. I figured out which way to plumb the hose from the bottom of it, so it would feed oil thru the filter and into the motor like it normally does. I filled the PVC pipe with 6 qt's of new oil, hooked up the air hose with the compressor regulator being pre set at 40 lbs pressure, and opened the gate valve so it would force the oil thru the motor. The oil pressure gauge I had temporarily hooked up instantly went to 40 lbs psi oil pressure. I rolled the motor over by hand to get the oil to the top end. Here's where I screwed up and didn't do like @413 said and put the valve covers on! On the second round of rotating the motor by hand....oil shot out the top end and got all over the car cover on my Challenger conv sitting 5' away from the engine on the stand! I guess I said all that to say this....if you need a pressure oiler for the little motor, you can build one for around $40 with stuff from Home Depot or Lowes. You don't need one for the 273.....just a drill and a helper. Good luck with it.

:thumbsup:
 
Being 10 years old, could the compressed valve Springs be compromised? Meaning, could they fail you in the future?
 
T56MaxTorq said:
Being 10 years old, could the compressed valve Springs be compromised? Meaning, could they fail you in the future?
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As long as it has hydraulic lifters, I would think not. They are collapsed until they get oil pressure from priming. If it had solid lifters and a pretty high lift cam, then I'd worry unless it'd been turned on a regular basis.
 
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