Engine sat for 20 years -should you 2000 RPM it for an hour after its startup?
11-21-2014, 08:14 PM
#21
Drifting
For all you guy giving the helpful information out.....do you "rock" Impala Station Wagon motor derivatives? My Vettes are LT-1's they turn around 7000RPMs regularly when I drive them, if I didn't rotate the motors, they would have serious issues with valve springs after the springs sat compressed for several months time, the springs that sit compressed will start to lose tension......I will continue to perform my maintenance schedules as I see fit for my expensive motors you do the same for whatever your running. MY motors are pretty fresh rebuilds, I don't have to worry much about gasket seepage of coolant, if I had a sour old GM motor with steel shim OEM head gaskets, I could see how condensation would be a concern, I don't have these worries, one motor is a MLS type gasket the other has the best composite gaskets that were available when it was built. Ill continue to REV my LT-1s to 7000 RPMS and you guys do whatever you want to do with what you have. If you have a high performance motor with a high RPM valvetrain and you want to let it sit for extended periods of time, I highly suggest you rotate your motor or back off the valve train adjustments when you put it into long term storage. As one of my friends who is a high performance engine builder said, you know its spring time when the race boat motors are hitting the lakes and dropping valves.....
FYI the set of Isky " tool room " springs in my one motor run around $500 for a set of 16......the tool steel spring retainers ( lighter than titanium )......$240, the valve locks ( Super 7 not that 10 degree crap ) ran $96 for a set that came in a little EFFING bag! My valves are Manley SEVERE DUTY custom made valves.....nothing a NCRS type would be familiar with they would pay some " expert " to refinish their LT-1 intake but put 96cent valve springs into the rebuild, not my cup of tea. If you have roller rockers and you let the motor sit, the condensation in the upper cylinder heads will rust your rockers/bearings...I have personally seen this occur, but, again I have probably built far more high performance motors than you guys.....I'm done, do what you want...enjoy your L-48's with the correct paint dabs......
FYI the set of Isky " tool room " springs in my one motor run around $500 for a set of 16......the tool steel spring retainers ( lighter than titanium )......$240, the valve locks ( Super 7 not that 10 degree crap ) ran $96 for a set that came in a little EFFING bag! My valves are Manley SEVERE DUTY custom made valves.....nothing a NCRS type would be familiar with they would pay some " expert " to refinish their LT-1 intake but put 96cent valve springs into the rebuild, not my cup of tea. If you have roller rockers and you let the motor sit, the condensation in the upper cylinder heads will rust your rockers/bearings...I have personally seen this occur, but, again I have probably built far more high performance motors than you guys.....I'm done, do what you want...enjoy your L-48's with the correct paint dabs......
Opinions vary. But trying to make yours out better than the rest by comparing apples to a orange on roids doesnt make sense.
Heres my opinion. For 30 years I have let my hobbie cars sit for a few months during the winter, with no proiblems at all, especially no collapsed or weak valves. I have gone thru the correct process of restarting engines that sat from 2 years to 15 years and everyone of those motors ran great afterwards with no issues, the most recent was a 304 cj5 that sat in the woods for 6 years. None of them had any valve seating issues, or springs breaking and collapsing. Not every case will work out that way, just depends on the engine, where its at and how it was treated before it was tucked away somewhere. And you always will have a dud that will have a broken this or a weak that after starting it. I am not preaching here just giving my experiences. Almost 90% of this site are guys running daily drivers not freaking LT race engines that spend their life at the track. I am sure John Force doesnt let his $10,000 motors sit either, they get rebuilt after every race. Dont think its fair for you to compare your race engines to street run engines. Would love for you to run your Lt race motor to and from work everyday 90 mile round trip for a year and see if it holds up. All I know is the o/p was asking about a standard motor that sat for 20 years, whether he should listen to somebody about running it a 2000 rpms to seat stuff.
To the o/p, just pull the plugs oil up the cylinders, pull the dist. prime the system. Pull the valve cover and pour motor oil on the springs if you want. all that will help. also rotate the engine by hand first instead of automatically using the starter. Clean the carb and use an outside source for gas till you clean the tank and lines. get it started, and let it warm up at low rpms, let it idle. Then just hope for the best there are no promises, just will all depend on the motors condition and the life it had before you.
Again this not not law, just my opinion and experience on regular stock motors.
Last edited by scrappy76; 11-21-2014 at 09:00 PM. Reason: spelling
11-21-2014, 08:44 PM
#22
Opinions vary. But trying to make yours out better than the rest by comparing apples to a orange on roids doesnt make sense.
Heres my opinion. For 30 years I have let my hobbie cars sit for a few months during the winter, with no proiblems at all, especially no collapsed or weak valves. I have gone thru the correct process of restarting engines that sat from 2 years to 15 years and everyone of those motors ran great afterwards with no issues, the most recent was a 304 cj5 that sat in the woods for 6 years. None of them had any valve seating issues, or springs breaking and collapsing. Not every case will work out that way, just depends on the engine, where its at and how it was treated before it was tucked away somewhere. And you always will have a dud that will have a broken this or a weak that after starting it. I am not preaching here just giving my experiences. Almost 90% of this site are guys running daily drivers not freaking LT race engines that spend their life at the track. I am sure John Force doesnt let his $10,000 motors sit either, they get rebuilt after every race. Dont think its fair for you to compare your race engines to street run engines. Would love for you to run your Lt race motor to and from work everyday 90 mile round trip for a year and see if it holds up. All I know is the o/p was asking about a standard motor that sat for 20 years, whether he should listen to somebody about running it a 2000 rpms to seat stuff.
To the o/p, just pull the plugs oil up the cylinders, pull the dist. prime the system. Pull the valve cover and pour motor oil on them if you want. all that will help. also rotate the engine by hand first instead of automatically using the starter. Clean the carb and use an outside source for gas till you clean the tank and lines. get it started, and let it warm up at low rpms, let it idle. Then just hope for the best there are no promises, just will all depend on the motors condition and the life it had before you.
Againd this not not law, just my opinion and experience on regular stock motors.
Heres my opinion. For 30 years I have let my hobbie cars sit for a few months during the winter, with no proiblems at all, especially no collapsed or weak valves. I have gone thru the correct process of restarting engines that sat from 2 years to 15 years and everyone of those motors ran great afterwards with no issues, the most recent was a 304 cj5 that sat in the woods for 6 years. None of them had any valve seating issues, or springs breaking and collapsing. Not every case will work out that way, just depends on the engine, where its at and how it was treated before it was tucked away somewhere. And you always will have a dud that will have a broken this or a weak that after starting it. I am not preaching here just giving my experiences. Almost 90% of this site are guys running daily drivers not freaking LT race engines that spend their life at the track. I am sure John Force doesnt let his $10,000 motors sit either, they get rebuilt after every race. Dont think its fair for you to compare your race engines to street run engines. Would love for you to run your Lt race motor to and from work everyday 90 mile round trip for a year and see if it holds up. All I know is the o/p was asking about a standard motor that sat for 20 years, whether he should listen to somebody about running it a 2000 rpms to seat stuff.
To the o/p, just pull the plugs oil up the cylinders, pull the dist. prime the system. Pull the valve cover and pour motor oil on them if you want. all that will help. also rotate the engine by hand first instead of automatically using the starter. Clean the carb and use an outside source for gas till you clean the tank and lines. get it started, and let it warm up at low rpms, let it idle. Then just hope for the best there are no promises, just will all depend on the motors condition and the life it had before you.
Againd this not not law, just my opinion and experience on regular stock motors.
11-21-2014, 11:57 PM
#23
Burning Brakes
I've got a Vette that's sat for about 4 years. Anything special I should do before trying to start it? My plan was to drain the oil, change the oil filter, pull the valve covers, pour in oil from the top on each side, top off the oil, pull the coil wire, turn on the ignition for a few engine rotations to prime the engine, reconnect the coil wire, and (hopefully) fire her up.
Does this sound right?
Does this sound right?
11-22-2014, 01:02 PM
#25
Le Mans Master
Member Since: May 2008
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Somebody buy Mr. LT1 a Superman outfit for halloween.
11-22-2014, 04:13 PM
#26
Race Director
Thread Starter
To the o/p, just pull the plugs oil up the cylinders, pull the dist. prime the system. Pull the valve cover and pour motor oil on the springs if you want. all that will help. also rotate the engine by hand first instead of automatically using the starter. Clean the carb and use an outside source for gas till you clean the tank and lines. get it started, and let it warm up at low rpms, let it idle. Then just hope for the best there are no promises, just will all depend on the motors condition and the life it had before you.
Again this not not law, just my opinion and experience on regular stock motors.
Again this not not law, just my opinion and experience on regular stock motors.
Thank you so much - it was rather a simple question, wasn't it?
Amazing how a motor sitting for so long might with a little finesse, fire up nicely and run fine. Too bad it's not a super duper high and mighty LT-!
Thank you.
11-22-2014, 09:25 PM
#28
Drifting
Just remove the plugs and squirt some oil in there. I actually use slick 50. Remove the belts if it has any on it. let the oil in the cylinders soak for a couple hours. empty the oil in the oil pan, and change the filter. Add new oil. remove the valve cover and pour some oil on the rockers and springs. remove the distributor and prime the system. At first put a pair of leather type work gloves on and grab the crank pulley and see if you can turn it. If not, then try a socket and ratchet on the bolt in the middle of the crank pulley. I am talking your standard size ratchet, not a breaker bar. 9 times out of ten you should be able to turn it, if not all the way, a little at a time which is cool. If your able to turn it all the way around do this for a dozen rotations. Then you can move onto hooking up a starter and putting things back together to get it running. If you can just move it a little at a time, do it backward and forward, back and forth till your able to make full revolutions. and so on. Now if you cannot turn it at all with a ratchet, then there is a good chance the motor is locked. stop there. add some more oil to the cylinders and let it soak for a day and try again. If you still cannot turn it with a ratchet, you might be looking at a rebuild. I of course might be on the wrong path because I do not know the situation of your motor. You are not far from me, maybe I can give you a hand.
12-05-2014, 09:10 PM
#29
Burning Brakes
12-06-2014, 04:23 AM
#30
Burning Brakes
When I brought my C3 back to life from the dead (after the previous owner let it sit for a very, very long time), I couldn't get it to run with the fuel that was in it. Even if I added more.
I ended up syphoning the tank and filling it up with a few gallons of fresh fuel. I didn't bother emptying the carb bowls. After a few cranks that old fuel in the bows and the lines blew right through the engine and it fired right up.
I ended up syphoning the tank and filling it up with a few gallons of fresh fuel. I didn't bother emptying the carb bowls. After a few cranks that old fuel in the bows and the lines blew right through the engine and it fired right up.
12-06-2014, 06:06 AM
#31
Drifting
Easiest/best way, is to pull the carb off take it apart and clean it. depending on how bad the fuel has jelled, it could be clogging up passages and ports. However, and easier way would get a gallon of carb cleaner, pour it into a bowl that the carb would fit in and let the carb soak for a day, while working the linkage every so often to get the cleaner up inside of it.
12-06-2014, 05:09 PM
#32
Racer
The only thing correct that SolidLT1 said is that it is good to relieve pressure on engines with high valve spring pressure.
Everything else was Ad Hominem, argument from authority, appeal to ridicule and personal incredulity.
Everything else was Ad Hominem, argument from authority, appeal to ridicule and personal incredulity.