Best method for starting a long disused motor

["Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

Patrick,

 

I see no reason for the diesel oil.  Be sure NOT to use oil with detergent in this engine.  The advice I was given is counter to what you have heard.  If there is crud in the crevices, just let it stay there.  It accumulated there for a reason and beating yourself up to remove it is a fool's errand.  When I restarted mine, the plugs were removed, we put in a wee bit of marvel into each cylinder and let it set a week.  We filled the radiator, put in a fresh battery and cranked it over using the starter motor, without the plugs in.  It turned over just lovely.  We put in the plugs and it roared into life just lovely!  Filled the room with smoke, though, and left an indelible mark on the wall behind it but it ran nice.  We got, after I had to fix the water pump, ten years of great service from it until a water pipe from the radiator burst and I ended up cracking a head.

 

In retrospect, we should have changed the oil and flushed the coolant channels first.  But, you know, the engine is going to be dry as a bone at the top regardless of what you do, until the pump can get oil up there which will take a few more agonizing seconds than you'd like.  We all have our own tolerance for risk.  I didn't know I was going to become so heavily involved with my 58 at the time.  To me it was just another piece of junk with a paint job at the time.

 

I cannot say if your engine is stuck, and neither can you.  There is no reason to assume it is stuck.  The oil you have seen on the dip stick did not indicate the presence of water.  I'd drain the oil and wash out the coolant pipes as best I could.  Be sure to drain the oil pretty quickly after you have let it warm up.  As the engine warms up, the circulating oil will remove what needs to come out.   You must change the oil often during your initial period of using the engine.  I'd do several additional coolant flushes as well.  It is from these channels you will get the must rust and gunk.  Have you found out how much fun it is to change an oil filter on this thing yet?  I hope you have skinny fore arms!

 

Hugh

 

----- Original Message -----

From: PNKMoore@xxxxxxx

To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 10:06 AM

Subject: IML: Reviving the Dead '58 Hemi: diesel fuel as a cleanser?

Dear IML folks:

I'm just getting started on a '58 Southampton, my first attempt at a "restoration."  The Hemi's been sitting for 27 years and I'm accumulating lots of great advice from Dick and Hugh about getting it back into service.  I read Ross's article too.  I plan to drop the pan, clean out as much gook as I can, clean the oil pump, pull and clean out the valve covers, etc.  I'll also wash out what I can from the collant chambers.  I'm not going deeper until I determine that the motor will fire.  A european mechanic friend of mine warned me to make my initial work investment by confirming that the motor would fire.  He said (add Swiss accent here): "You moost make soore there's a strong heart before you eenvest in the boody."  Sounds like mail-order bride advice.

Question:  One local motorhead has advised me to fill the drained block with diesel fuel and hand-circulate it to clean out the crud.  I'm not entirely sure I want to risk that, especially if I see an accumulation of baked-on goo that may be best left "asleep" until a rebuild.  I suspect, however, that the block is clear because there are dozens of oil change stickers stuck up and down the driver's door frame and even a few under the hood.  (what was that all about, I have to wonder?)

Regardless, any thoughts out there about the diesel method of block cleaning when you're trying to get a dead but not caked engine just clean enough to fire?

I'm having the best time with this!

Patrick Moore
'58 4 door Imperial hrdtp in Southeast Louisiana