hankhound1

My wife has a 1959 that has been sitting in the garage for 16 years without starting. What do I need to do to try and start the car. I know I am going to need to drain the fuel and put a new battery in but where do i go from there?

wmf62

mine sat for 17 years.... i had put a marine stabilizer additive in the gas before parking and never started it again til i retired...

i may have been lucky, but all i did was replace the battery, drain the oil and replace oil and filter, pull plugs and squirt WD40 into cylinders and let set overnight, filled FI pump reservoir with WD40 and turned over by hand using cable then filled with gas, crank over to blow WD40 out of cylinders, installed new plugs and then started (didn't even replace the 17 year old gas.... if your's is carbureted i would pull the top off the carb and make sure there is no 'junk' inside; sometimes evaporating gas can make a mess that will ruin a carb....

drain gas tank and make sure no rust/etc comes out with the gas. (might be worthwhile to install a temporary fuel filter inline somewhere convenient til you're sure of cleanliness.

put in some new gas and 'start it up'...

Bill

62Jeff

Have a fire extinguisher on hand when you start it. Expect the fuel pump to spring a leak, and maybe you'll get lucky.

My 65 sat up for less time than your 59. When I first started it all was well, but by the next day the fuel pump was leaking on me.

My personal (conservative) approach is:

1. Drain/replace oil/filter
2. Drain all the bad gas, replace with new
3. Remove spark plugs
4. Squirt 3-in-one oil or WD40 in the cylinders
5. Rotate the engine over by hand carefully, to ensure no rings are stuck
6. Install the plugs
7. Remove distributor
8. Install oil pump priming tool in place of distributor and spin it up to get oil flowing through the engine
9. Re-install distributor (Put distributor and rotor back in exactly the same spot it was in when removed, providing the engine didn't get bumped around since removing the distributor
10. Disconnect the fuel line from the carb, connect a hose to the line, and crank the engine over with the coil wire removed to flush the gunk from the old fuel line
11. Reconnect fuel line and coil wire
12. Fill the carb bowl with fuel poured through a carb vent
13. Make sure the air cleaner is installed!!!!!!
14. Fire it up

Frankie the Fink

Be real wary of the brakes...after setting so long a rust ring can be created in the bores from condensation in the old-style brake fluid. Things will seem fine at first but after the rubber seals move across that rust they'll get torn up and start leaking.

And yes, a fire extinguisher is a real good idea!

Jermo

There are some great articles on the web on how to start an engine that has been sitting for a long time, I google searched some. I just started my wifes 62 that has been sitting for 19 years,I changed all the fluids, but in a new battery & fuel pump, I pulled the plugs and shot mystery oil in each cylinder, let it sit for a couple hours, then I just bumped the starter and let it sit for a while, continued doing this for a couple hours, once I felt it was free, i turned her over for about 30 seconds. I replaced the plugs put in new plug wires, router, points etc. ran a hose from the fuel pump to a gallon of gas and she started right up.