The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop How would you start this engine?

I am trying to find the low buck way to start (test)the engine on Ben's Mousewagon.

Looks like it may be a 55 235ci. We pulled the plugs, (which were wet and smelled like old stale gas, but who knows how long this truck sat- at least eight years)and gave each cylinder WD-40 on Monday night, and then PB blaster on Tuesday night. The motor turned over with a prybar on the flywheel.

Please tell me if I am an idiot?

I intended to put a rebuilt two barrel carb (existing is 7020103 B2B)on it through Fleabay, take my starter to my local starter/alternator rebuilder shop and have it rebuilt for 12 volts, and gravity feed the fuel pump. Rigging a switch and button to start, see if it fires. I'll not beat it to death, since it will be without a radiator, if it did happen to fire off an run. The original rad looks very nice, but I have an old school radiator shop guy in town who I'm hoping will confirm its worth working on... I have confidence.

Another idea is to use the starter, and just do compression checks on each cylinder first.

What I could gain by pulling the head would be lost to putting it back on again with a new gasket.

I'm CLUELESS. Please help.

It has oil in it, ( no oil filter on this motor?) but I will sacrifice five new quarts. Is on stands.

Pics in my webshots account

[IMG]http://thumb17.webshots.net/t/72/72/7/95/63/2932795630069541497PESmmL_th.jpg[/IMG]]Ben's Mousewagon[/url]

First of all, you DO need to change the oil. I didn't take any chances on my '54 235, even though nothing drained into the oil pan. Secondly, the starter will be fine on 12v, and should already be it if it is off of a '55 first or later engine. If it is still 6 volts it will still survive anyway, they last a long time on 12v. What about points and condensers? Plug wires, all that? They should probably be replaced.

If it were me, and it's not, but if it were me, I'd just spin it enough to do a compression check. That way you don't have to mess with chasing spark, fuel or any other problems getting it started. If it has good compression, it should start. If you decide to get it, then you can take the time to pull the pan, and do the other things to make sure that when you do start it, you don't hurt it.

If you do plan to start it, I'd spin the oil pump to make sure it has pressure. That will give the bearings at least a fighting chance of spinning wet from the get go.

Oh, I misunderstood? I thought he already had it. I'd say follow Dave O's advice then.

Thanks guys, Yes, it ours in the driveway.

I'll now modify to say I'll pull the valve cover and see if I can get oil through the motor from the top down, with gravity for a day or two, maybe some Marvel mystry oil through the plug holes too.

Then after spinning a wee bit to not foul the comp tester, try and read the cylinders.

Dave O can you explain pulling the pan and other things so I dont wreck it? Is there a way to maniupulate th oil pup otherwise to ensure it isn't dry or not working too?



Yall think a thumb will do it, or should I borrow a compression tester from Advantage/Discount AP?

Buy a compression tester and follow the previous advice about running the oil pump. Fresh oil is a good idea also. You will likely find uneven compression that could be caused by sticking valves, which don't necessarily mean you need to rebuild the engine. Rings may be stuck also, in which case, I think rebuilding the engine is in order, but you can still run it if the bearings are still in pretty good shape. As for the starter, at this point I would not deal with rebuilding it unless it is inoperative. From the pictures, the starter appears to have a solenoid on it, which means it can be either 6v or 12v.

Harvester

GeeVee, if the motor has sat for 8 years, the main bearings, cam bearings and rod bearings are almost guaranteed to be bone dry, and there is no way to get oil to those bearings short of submerging the entire block in oil, or pumping some through it.

You can take a brand new engine, run it for an hour, drain the oil and sit it on a shelf for 8 years. If you don't push some oil through the system before you restart it, you can do more damage to it in the first ten seconds it runs than you would driving it every day for 20 years.

You may be one of the few lucky enough to have gotten a truck with a perfectly good engine that has a lot of life left in it. It would be a shame to spin a main bearing and trash a crankshaft, or something worse, just to hear it run now rather than a little later.

Thanks Men.

DaveO could you relay some info about running the oil pump?

I'm off tommorrow and want to lay into doing something productive.....

You're on the right track by using an external gasoline source. Don't try to put gas in the tank until you pull & clean it to get any old gas and/or varnish out of it.

GeeVee, to run the oil pump you will need to remove your distributor. You will then need to modify a long flat tip screw driver to fit in a drill. The flat tip end will then go into a groove in the top of the pump. You should indicate oil pressure on your pressure indicator while doing this.
Jason

My 216 in my 1950 has a cracked block before I pulled it out of the frame pulled the plug and nothing from the pan (same as you long-time storage). When I stared moving it it must have been gummed up because it had a couple quarts in it (nasty looking). You can make a spinner for the oil pump from an old distributor as well and use a drill to turn it if you have one or can get one cheap. I think there was a blurb about this in the tech section.

my 53 sat for 19 years but i soaked the pistons in marvel mystery oil and it unsiezed. MAKE SURE NO VALVES ARE STUCK!! IMO take the valvetrain off and unstick everything. i got the 216 unstuck got it to fire and a valve stuck, broke off, flipped around and went through the top of my piston