The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Starting truck after 20 years of neglect

I saw a post once by Tim Lederman that he wouldn't touch a vehicle brought to him by a friend (keep me honest Tim) until it had new plugs, points, condenser, battery (at least good), and I'm sure I missed something. I recently rescued a restoration gone bad (my 54) and we did all the above plus a compression test(wet and dry on all cylinders) and changed the oil pouring plenty across the rockers with valve cover off. Poured some gasoline into the carb, making sure to get some into the little opening into the bowl to feed the engine until fuel pump kicks in. It started right up, then we adjusted the valves and made sure oil was bubbling up, water was circulating, etc. These old engines want to run.
Good luck.