308. Many years of storing.

I'd change the cambelts, the oil will most likely have water in it, so it too. And have a thorough look at all the fuel hoses so see if they're prished at all. You don't want a fuel leak. Change the coolant too. It will probably be stagnant after 10 years. Check the rubber hoses for the coolant too. When all thats done, I'd carefully spin the crank by hand first to see that everything will rotate smoothly and the piston rings haven't corroded to the bore walls before I tried to crank it with the key. How's that for a start?

 

I believe there are many articals on this but what I have done in the past is :
Pull all of the sparkplugs
Pour a few oz. of Marvel Mystery Oil or equiv. in each cyl.
Start draining all fluids (including gas)
Pull Cam covers
Replace all rubber hoses
After waiting for a day or two for the oil in the cyl's to do its job
Try to turn the motor over by hand (use ratchet on crank bolt)
If turns OK check that valves are working
Pull the dizzys and lubricate , set points replace condensors
So if you are OK now replace the belts , tension bearings and rebuild waterpump
Then install battery and dizzys.
Now fire it up and good luck

 

Agree with Steve...

Marvel Mystery Oil soak for a few days, then change every soft part you can find, along with all fluids...

Welcome!

Where are you? This site is worldwide and we LOVE old cars left in a garage for ten or more years...we'll all come over and help!

LOL!.

 

If I owned a borescope, and I dont, I would like to look in all eight cylinders before I did anything, and before I poured MMO or anything else inside them. And I would NOT turn the engine at all. For the $200 some dollars they cost, if I scrounged a barn find 308 for cheap and knew it hadnt run in 10 years, I would buy a scope and own it just because. Why? because I would want to see inside before I started making decisions on what direction to go.

If the cylinders have any significant rust on them, I wouldnt probably even bother trying to make it run without tearing the motor down. Others may disagree, but I feel that once it runs, even after good lubrication with MMO, the rust is going to pack into the rings and stay there. If a borescope showed fairly clean cylinders however, even a faint hint of minor rust film, I would move in the other direction. And in that case I would follow all the points listed so far, including pulling the cam covers and making sure the valves are moving and then MMO'ing everything. I would also pull the oil pan just to look inside and clean it, because once you have the belt covers off and the alt. swung down, the dipstick tube is pretty easy.

Look at it this way. The engine is what it is, and right now you have zero into the motor. If it turns out to have a problem and you overlook it, the damage could be catastrophic. If it turns out to look good, youll sleep better and have a lot more confidence when you press the pedal to the floor. And you also dont need to buy any parts at all until you know what you are dealing with.

 

Lots of people here in MN that might be able to look at it for you. It's not the twin turbo blk 308 in Watertown (Hooked on classics) is it?

 

Im in minnesota, Mpls/St. Paul metro area. I would be glad to look at the car for you if you like.

 

Did you really mean pour a few ounces of Mystery Oil in each cylinder. I would be concerned about hydraulic lock. Bent valves are much worse than a little rust. I would spray WD 40 into the spark plug holes to lubricate things until oil pressure comes up.

 

No no no. You pour the MMO in the spark plug holes, then turn the engine over on the starter to blow it around and to blow some out. Then you can just put the plug extensions and boots in the holes and wait a few days. You could also pour more in while your waiting, it will seep down past the ring gaps if they are clean enough. After spending time around aircraft and listening to those guys, I wouldnt put a can of WD40 anywhere near anything.

Michigan is a lil ways away from Minnesota, hehehe. Good luck on the car just the same.

 

Like this?

 

try using a fogging oil instead of marvel . recently found out that marvel causes more problems . blow out the plug holes with air before removing them. spray enough oil to try to wet as much of the ring . let it set for a number of days .you can put paper towels inthe plug holes . use a breaker bar to feel rotation . if the crank does not turn freely soat it again and leave it etc . you have a good amount of work in front of you. one of the projects im working on in the shop is a 15 year sitter . youll need to svc the carbs check the dist's etc. not to mention belts cams out and dont forget to check the cam drive bearings. i did a maserati thiss summer that sat 10 yrs in texas and we were able to start her w/o any thing other than flushing the fuel . so you never know til you take a look. did you have someone look at the car . engine svc is just the beginning . forza .

 

initially.....turn the key, allow it to warm up
you'll hear fans come on thats normal
Depress clutch, turn key and depress accelerator.

Car should roar to life.

Before you try and start:

Do an inspection - Look at the engine for oil leaks or any leaks
Look at the air filter
If this car is late '70's....it has a choke
Not alot of people nowadays understand
how to adjust this in the cockpit...you may have to adjust
it to get the car to turn over.