jasonsamara

I'm gonna say it's all about the environment it has been stored in, and what kind of use did it have before the 25 year storage. My 66 had been parked since 1992 until I bought it in 2014, but there were no spark plugs in for all that time. Just open plug holes, but it was in a very dry garage and had been treated like a Queen since new. I did fill the cylinders with MMO an entire year before I bought it. Once we verified it was not locked it fired right off.

Boyan

Oil or Marvel. DO NOT use WD40.

Railroadman

I would suggest the following -

1. Inspect with a scope as suggested above

2. Assuming it's not a ball of rust, squirt the liquid of your choice in there - Marvel is certainly a candidiate

3. Let it sit a day or two

4. As suggested above, use a bar to see if it will turn over by hand

5. If it does, change the oil and filter

6. Squirt clean oil in the cylinders and crank by hand again a few times

From there you can start thinking about firing it up.

Step 5 is important. I was able to turn mine with no problem. But before firing it up, I drained the crankcase. The first 2 or 3 quarts were pure green anti-freeze! Apparently a head gasket or something leaked during the storage. Not sure exactly because I have not tackled the motor yet. But obviously you don't want to start her up with something like THAT going on!

Railroadman

By the way, at least tell us whether coupe or convertible, and what color!

Dan Hampton

Sounds as though he has purchased the car.

63vetteman

It was smelly and dusty, needed brakes, carb rebuild and fuel tank cleaned out but motor was free and runs like a top. Dont be afraid, but do get some experienced eyes on it b4 you buy.

Dan Hampton

Very nice, Vetteman. One sweet looking car.

jsans

My 65 after a 25 year sleep. Replaced entire brake system including all lines and master cylinder, carb, battery, starter, and rusty gas tank and fuel line. Also... plugs, plug wires and distributor cap and points. Pulled the plugs and injected motor oil into the cylinders a couple times for a couple of days before starting. Engine runs like a dream.

emdoller

Beautiful car!!

Ed

biggd

The bird cage would be my only concern. I would never be afraid of a bad frame. With all the resto mods being built used frames are available as are new ones. Of course the price has to take that into account.

biggd

Just like"Franks Red Hot, "I put that $hit on everything"!

iamq

Hi, welcome, I went thru the same thing a few years back with a 62 that was stored for 30 years. The difference is that I sealed the engine before it was put away.

Here's a link to the thread I did for bring it back to life..

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ear-sleep.html

Dave

deejaydu

What tire and width whitewall is on your car? They look great.

Monte164

When I get some I will.

Monte164

Its a coupe, and its dark blue

Monte164

Beautiful. I need to locate an expert in California.

Monte164

What is the best way to view the bird cage with a powerful flashlight. ?

From the engine compartment or from the interior?

Vette5311

If possible take the glove box liner out and look from there, also check out the passenger door post where it goes up and down behind the passenger kick panel.

08redrocket

Jeez, there is a lot more than putting fluid in the cylinders!!!

My '67 Vert sat in my climate controlled garage for 31 years, Sept 3, 2018 I started to get the car ready to drive, or so I thought. Several people told me to lubricate the cylinders, put in a new battery and fire it up.

I had put oil in the cylinders every now and then. But what about the gas tank? 4 inches of tar! I cut the hose from the gas tank at the exit point and put a bolt in the hose to stop the leak. Removed the tank and it was a disaster. Ordered a new tank and sending unit.
I took a clear plastic hose and put it on the engine side of the metal fuel line with a hose clamp. I sprayed a lot of brake cleaner in the hose at the tank and put a light pressure of compressed air in the tank side of the metal fuel line. Jeez, all kinds of stuff came out of it! The metal line did not leak but I will watch it closely when I run the car.

I removed the coolant hoses and even thought I had antifreeze in the engine, there was tons of rust. The water pump would not turn over. I had the engine done at a machine shop. The entire engine was packed with flaky rust. He got it all out and when I tested the engine on an engine stand, it ran great. I again drained the engine right after it ran and more rust particles came out. Which means the radiator was shot. It also kept blowing holes in the core after fixing one or two leaks.

I then checked the brakes. Again, no fluid would come out of the brake lines. I changed them and rebuild the calipers which also had tons of rust on the pistons. I put in a new master cylinder.

All of the rubber bushings are weathered, cracked and need to be changed.

All of the seals in the transmission and rear end were hard and would have leaked. Changed all of them too.

I can keep going on, but I think you get the idea.

So, you get an idea that starting a car that has sat for that long is a huge mistake!

If you bought the car, good luck with your project (I mean that in a positive way). You will probably spend as much getting it running and in safe condition as you paid for the car.

What I thought would have been a 6 week project is now in it's 5th month and I'm not 25% of the way done yet.

iamq

Monte, This is what I was most worried about, After taking off the cap to the overflow tank this is what I saw.




I was thinking that the rad was also caked in this stuff, well after a day of flushing the rad and mainly the block thru the block drains on both sides all this crud was gone, the rad works perfect and no over heating problems, Yes new hoses all around and tstat, but same water pump.

A complete fuel system rebuild in your future along with all the brakes but the good news is that 30 years ago the gas didn't have ethanol...