The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Today is the day

I will finally be trying to start my engine today. It is a 53 235 that hasn't run for at least 10 years. It has been cleaned inside and out. All gaskets and seals have been replaced except the head gasket. The gas tank has been cleaned, new fuel lines, fuel pump, filter, and rebuilt carb. 12 volt conversion is done, with new coil, points, condenser, rotor, cap, wires and plugs. Static timing is set. The old rocker shafts were badly worn and replaced with new ones. After initial valve settings were done compression test readings were 142 to 148 on all cylinders. The oil galleries have been primed and I have oil up to the rocker arms. I hope to have it running and tuned up today.

A lot of work there, hope she performs to that level for you. Reading your post I had a vision of a mission countdown at NASA.

I am betting it will start right up and run like a top. Sounds like you have it done it all up right.

Nothing like a 6 cylinder....

I just went through the same thing last weekend. I used a bunch of starter fluid and just kept pulling on the starter. It took close to an hour for the little mechanical fuel pump to fill the fuel line from the pump to the carb. Once I finally got the fuel to the carb, it fired right up.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes. I'm now trying to stop all the little leaks that popped up during my run-in. Have fun.

So far so good. One shot of starter fluid to get the gas pumped up to the carb and it fired right up. No leaks yet. Manifold vacuum is at 20 inches with steady needle, the dwell is rock solid at 37 degrees, I set the idle speed at 600 and used the inductive pickup on my dwell/tach to check all cylinders. They all stay steady at 600 RPM so there is no misfires. No overheating after an hour of running and the warm oil pressure is at 15 on the gauge. I'll set the valve lash and do final tuning this afternoon and I should be good to go. The only problem I've noticed is the heat riser isn't working.

Go ahead and fill the carb bowl with some gas so you don't have to keep bumping the starter to fill the carb.

I shut it off to let it cool down. Then put a little choke on it, hit the starter and it fired right up, so the bowl must be full by now. No overflow so I must have the float set right.

I have found it easier to fill an old oil squirt can with gas and plug it into a rubber hose and the hose into the fuel line at the carb and let gravity do the work.

That's awesome Jim. I can't wait until I'm in the same boat w/ my 261 in progress. Keep us posted.