My 235 has ran fine before beginning the restoration. I did not rebuild the engine and it has not been started for 10 years. I did not put in a new head gasket but I did all the others. Is there anything I should do before attempting to fire it up again like putting some oil in the cylinder heads and cranking the starter to lubricate the cylinder walls. Thoughts?
Man, are you in luck! My mind is like a steel trap (OK, rusty, but a steel trap). We discussed this very topic a few months back and believe it or not, I found it in the archives. https://talk.classicparts.com/showthread.php?t=5208&highlight=marvel+mystery Good luck with it!
So , ...What ever happened to Andy (SlugBug) ?? BTW : I forgot to mention that one important thing to do before starting it but after squirting oil on the valve stems and adjusting the valves is : run up the oil pressure untill oil is coming out the rocker weep holes ! . VERY important ! . you can crank the engine with the spark plugs removed or if you're not daunted by the re-installation , remove the Dizzy and bend up a coat hanger and chuck it into a hand drill and turn the oil pump untill oil comes out the weep holes.... Power drill usually goes way too fast and then the coat hanger gets all bent up and stuck inside the cylinder block when the pump loads up and begins to drag...
One thing I ALWAYS recommend before starting your engine for the first time is putting a known good oil pressure guage on it. Remember your engine will run with no oil pressure, just not for long.
If you're able to get oil out the rocker weep holes , the oil pressure will be fine . you're never going to get much oil pressure out of these old tech engines anyways.... They have a dashboard gauge anyways .
i think it would be a good idea to spinn up the oil pump with a drill before you start her. just to get the oil moving. i think you can pull the distributer out and attach a broken screwdriver to the chuck. and spinner her up....
You're right about the weep hole nate, I just like to check and recheck when it comes to that initial start up.
If you get a chance to pick up an old distributer you can make a nice primer with it. Turn the gear teeth off (or grind them off) and weld a nut on the shaft where the rotor went. Keeps everthing from wiggling around when spinning to prime. I see lots of old distributers at swap meets for really cheap, probably leftovers from swaps or HEI conversions. On new engines that sit for a period before being started we have a freon tank that has a filler plug and air valve. You put 5 quarts of oil in the tank, pressurize, and hook the hose from the bottom of the tank to where the oil pressure line fitting goes. After you open the oil line valve you can turn the engine to several positions to get complete oiling. I don't think this is necessary on engines that have been run before and probably not necessary on new ones but they say a big percentage of wear happens in the first few minutes so it just gives me a little piece of mind.
Evan, I have done the distributor shaft primer method and the pressurized tank method as well. They both work beautifully on new or rebuilt never run engines to make sure all those squeeky clean oil passages are well lubricated before initial startup. I agree that any engine that HAS been run, probably doesn't need that though and cranking it with the plugs out until the rockers weep is more than enough. Andy
I would also recommend having a fully charged battery & also a slow booster charger hooked up to maintain proper cranking speed while playing the primer game.
