440 Bringing it back to life.

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69DARTWANTED

69DARTWANTED

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I picked up this 69 Swinger Friday, I'm excited to try my hand at 1/8th mile drags. Per seller this car ran great until two years ago. He stored it for the winter without capping the open headers. In the spring, it wouldn't turn over....life got busy for him and it's been sitting since. I have not put an ounce of effort into freeing up the motor, but want to take care in doing so. Any suggestions out there on how to properly lube this 440 before cranking on the harmonic balancer? Any and all suggestions on the right way to bring this back to life properly is appreciated!!! Thanks, Will.

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Pull the valve covers and check for stuck valves.
Drain and replace oil.
Pull plugs and squirt in acetone brake fluid mix.
Pull distributor and intermediate shaft then Prime the oil system.
 
Jadaharabi said:
Pull the valve covers and check for stuck valves.
Drain and replace oil.
Pull plugs and squirt in acetone brake fluid mix.
Pull distributor and intermediate shaft then Prime the oil system.
Click to expand...

Thanks a million! Worked like a charm. I have the engine now turning free. Next step, change the oil.

Question: I've got the long....Allen type priming tool. However, I've never used it....still in the package. Basically you pull the distributor.....then there is a intermediate shaft??? Not familiar with that....???

Does that require a special tool? Difficult for a home based garage guy to figure out?

Once that's out, I'm assuming there is a Allen type hole to basically turn the oil pump.....is that right?

Should I use a drill to turn piece?

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How to use that is pretty simple. Set the engine at TDC and note where the rotor points. Pull the distributor and then note where the slot in the intermediate shaft is (it has teeth that mate to the camshaft so it can go in many ways) pull the shaft out, I use long needle nose pliers, then you can turn the oil pump drive with that tool in a drill COUNTERCLOCKWISE till you get oil pressure then all you have to do is reverse the take off procedure and set the timing. Not hard actually.
 
The intermediate shaft is underneath the distributor and it has the gear that engages the camshaft on it.
What I would do is Mark the distributor with a magic marker so I know where it's at when I go to put it back in. Then I would use a screwdriver to back the intermediate shaft out of the cam. But before I back that gear out I would take note of the position it is in. And by that I mean the slot where it lines up.
Once you've turned the gear up out of the camshaft provided that there is no varnish build up on the bottom of that shaft you should be able to reach in with a pair of long needle nose pliers and pull that intermediate shaft up out.
Then you can put your primer rod down in to your pump and you can spin it with a speed wrench or Speed handle or you can hook a drill to it and spin it. Very important that you have oil in the pan when you do that. And the filter on.

:steering: A little more info.
When you change the oil with the valve covers off. Pour oil on each rocker arm and down the pushrod hole in the head.
Do not crank it over untill you get oil pressure. You may have a stuck bearing on the dry crank.
 
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A word of caution.
I would not be cranking that motor over with it dry from sitting until I got some oil up into those bearings and on that camshaft.

Also make sure the rocker arm shafts are tighten down before you prime the oil in system. Otherwise you will pump up those lifters with no preload on them and when you tighten them down it'll hold the valves open.
 
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Something else to consider is that there is a mouse Nest or two up inside your exhaust system. What I have done in past is make sure the exhaust valve is open on the cylinder and blow compressed air into that cylinder.
This works a lot better with headers than it does with the factory manifolds because there's a chance with the factory manifold of when you blow the air through there if there's anything inside that manifold it can blow it into a different cylinder at that time. So the best thing to do in that case is to remove the manifold and check them. Believe me you do not want a burnt Mouse Nest inside your heads or exhaust.
 
I've had good luck with marvel mystery oil. Squirt down plug holes and let sit for a few days.
 
halifaxhops said:
How to use that is pretty simple. Set the engine at TDC and note where the rotor points. Pull the distributor and then note where the slot in the intermediate shaft is (it has teeth that mate to the camshaft so it can go in many ways) pull the shaft out, I use long needle nose pliers, then you can turn the oil pump drive with that tool in a drill COUNTERCLOCKWISE till you get oil pressure then all you have to do is reverse the take off procedure and set the timing. Not hard actually.
Click to expand...

To add you will have to twist the intermediate shaft out clockwise for it to spin out.
 
Get a cheap scope that attaches to your smart phone and look into each cylinder. They are cheap on Amazon, etc. Make sure the head is small enough to fit in spark plug holes.

Prime it and get oil up to the rockers. You will have to slowly turn the engine over while priming to get oil to rockers. Once the engine is loose and you know it's clear inside. You can crank it on the starter with the plugs out.

Get two set of plugs. Make sure the needle/seats and floats are good and not leaking in your carb.

Cool looking car!
 
All great information guys. Thanks!!! Back from family weekend, heading out to the shop now. I'd love to have her running today. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
 
Something I did not see mentioned...........after you have established TDC and marked the distributor drive gear (intermediate) position (and by the way that position is shown in the shop manual, which you should have and can download free)

.................as you turn the pump shaft, you need to wrench the engine around until you align first one, then the other cam oiling holes to get oil to the rockers.

If the shaft does not show substantial effort with the drill, you have no pressure. Pull the filter, put a pan down, and "drill" for about 1 1/2 seconds. You should have oil. Replace filter and continue. As mentioned above, you must turn it CCW!!!!
 
Jadaharabi said:
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Something else to consider is that there is a mouse Nest or two up inside your exhaust system. What I have done in past is make sure the exhaust valve is open on the cylinder and blow compressed air into that cylinder.
This works a lot better with headers than it does with the factory manifolds because there's a chance with the factory manifold of when you blow the air through there if there's anything inside that manifold it can blow it into a different cylinder at that time. So the best thing to do in that case is to remove the manifold and check them. Believe me you do not want a burnt Mouse Nest inside your heads or exhaust.
Click to expand...

I'll do exactly that. At the moment the headers are off the engine, so that should be a relatively simple process. Thanks for the tip. Last winter I took my snowmobile out for a ride for the first time. A mouse made a huge nest in the exhaust can. The sled was running sluggish so I shut it down....when I did fresh oxygen got the the red hot nest. A fire started in the exhaust can. It got so got it melted a hole in the belly pan! Damn them critters!!! Thanks for the tip!!!
 
Any crap in the exhaust is nasty, I was 4 hrs from home at an antique motorcycle show.
My bike leaving the show and on the interstate, dialoged some carbon in the muffler.
I ended up riding it on the shoulder until the next exit, the exhaust was cherry red and caught the bike on fire.
Burnt the *** end off the bike, I just left it at a gas station in OH.
Called my wife to come pick me up, bad weekend.
 
The intermediate shaft installation, per the manual, does not always line up properly with aftermarket distributors.
 
Status Update: Engine is primed. Valve covers are on. New battery cable top post terminals in place. The car is turning over under it's own power! I can't get my hands on a set of header gaskets today, but I'm thinking about modifying some manifold gaskets (widening the ports) just to hear it run. (hopefully)
 
IT LIVES!!!!!!!! Fired the engine today! I couldn't be happier! No knocks etc! With fender wall headers it sounds incredible! I took it down my road 1/4 mile and back......scary fast!!! Much more tuning to do. Brake work etc, etc. I'm loving it! Thanks to all that posted here to help my cause. "The Brotherhood of Muscle"!!!!!
 
Jadaharabi said:
Congratulations.
Show pictures or it never happened. lol
Click to expand...

It happened alright!!! This was taken last night 9/13/18 at the final local 300 foot drag race of the season. I couldn't be happier. I still have some work to do on putting the power to the ground.....but for a newbie, I was pleased with my first attempt.

 
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