Engine starting after year and a half sitting

[Chuck M.]

Hi,

We recently had our carb restored and got it back today after about 16 months. It looks great and we cant wait to fire the car up again! Unfortunately the car has been sitting for about 18-20 months and I wanted to know if anyone had any advice for the initial restart. The garage is climate controlled so it has not been exposed to the extreme hot/cold.

I just want to be sure that everything is properly lubricated before we do anything. We will be changing the oil and draining the fuel.

Thanks for the help!

Chuck

[Duke W.]

Re: Engine starting after year and a half sitting

Assuming the engine ran before you removed the carb, just install the carb, use a syringe to put fuel in the bowls, and go through the normal cold start procedure. Filling the bowls will minimize cranking time.

Do not change the oil before you fire it up. Change the oil when hot at your convenience.

Firing up an engine that has been sitting for a long time is not a big deal as long as it has run previously, which means the filter and galleries are full. There is more than enough oil in the bearings and valvetrain to provide required lubrication for the few seconds before oil pressure builds up.

Duke

[Chuck M.]

Re: Engine starting after year and a half sitting

Assuming the engine ran before you removed the carb, just install the carb, use a syringe to put fuel in the bowls, and go through the normal cold start procedure. Filling the bowls will minimize cranking time.

Do not change the oil before you fire it up. Change the oil when hot at your convenience.

Firing up an engine that has been sitting for a long time is not a big deal as long as it has run previously, which means the filter and galleries are full. There is more than enough oil in the bearings and valvetrain to provide required lubrication for the few seconds before oil pressure builds up.

Duke

Hi Duke,

Thanks for the help. The engine ran fine before we had to have the work done on the carb. Do you think we should siphon out the old fuel and replace with fresh gas before we turn it over?

Thanks,
Chuck

[Duke W.]

Re: Engine starting after year and a half sitting

Tough call, but it's probably not a big deal. If the effort is not too great, I would remove the old fuel and put it in a daily driver in five gallon increments to use it up, and install five gallons of fresh fuel in the Corvette.

If you don't do this, I don't see any major consequences, but that fuel is getting a little "old" and since it has been in a vented fuel system it has lost some light end components, which could affect cold starting and lower the octane.

Duke

[Richard T.]

Re: Engine starting after year and a half sitting

No problem with what Duke says on your oil, if it is clean and shows full on the stick. The gas will be pretty weak unless stable was added before the down time. Pull your plugs out and squirt a good shot of marvel mystery oil in each hole. Pull the coil wire and crank the engine briefly to see if it turns free. If it turns freely install all the plugs, reconnect the coil wire. Make sure your radiator is full, add some fresh gas to the gas tank, poor a little gas down the carb and start the motor. Your motor should run for a few seconds; restart the motor and check for leaks.

[Joseph K.]

Re: Engine starting after year and a half sitting

No problem with what Duke says on your oil, if it is clean and shows full on the stick. The gas will be pretty weak unless stable was added before the down time. Pull your plugs out and squirt a good shot of marvel mystery oil in each hole. Pull the coil wire and crank the engine briefly to see if it turns free. If it turns freely install all the plugs, reconnect the coil wire. Make sure your radiator is full, add some fresh gas to the gas tank, poor a little gas down the carb and start the motor. Your motor should run for a few seconds; restart the motor and check for leaks.

I agree with the above recipe. It is important to bring the oil back into the journals before putting a load on them. When I rebuilt my engine I primed the oil system by operating the oil pump with a drill attached to an old distributer shaft. Good luck on the restart. let us know how it runs

Joe