rebuilt 305 sitting for a year with no oil, now what!?

[83cuttysupreme]

Hey guys, I'm new to the site and this is my first real build as far as old school cars go. I just got a 1983 cutlass supreme brougham with the ever famous 231 v6. I've got a th350 trans and a gen1 305 to go in the car, the motor was sitting in a garage for about a yr with no oil in it after it was rebuilt, I'm not sure what I need to do to get this motor back to life, I need to turn the motor by hand to get the fuel pump on but when I put the flex plate on the motor didn't even flinch when i tightened the bolts, I don't want to mess anything up here when I put the new motor so what do i need to do to safely crank this thing over to put the fuel pump on, then to get her started?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

 

[jae]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
I wouldn't worry about that fuel pump right now, you got bigger things to worry about.

Do you know any history of this "rebuilt" 305, meaning was it totally torn down and rebuilt, what was replaced, reused. In other words, what was really done to it. How was it put together, there had to have been assembly lube, oil or other type of lubricant used during assembly hopefully... Also how was it stored, totally bagged, with a cover over it or just left on a stand in the garage corner open to the elements.

At a minimum pull valve covers and the pan to see what the top of the heads look like (valve springs, rockers, pushrods) and the bottom end (crank, rods, caps). You may even want to pull the intake & heads to see what the condition of the valley, pushrods, lifters and bores are. You want to look for rust, seized parts, cracks if possible. The rings could be sticking to the bores and can easily break or score the walls, the bearing could be seized and cause nicks / scratches when turned.

I wouldn't turn the reciprocating assembly until all this was checked, you primed and pumped oil through the system and got as much crap out of it as possible. You don't want to turn the internals dry. If you don't want to take the heads off at least spray some type of penetrate / lubricant into the spark plug holes to soak down the bores and let it set. The main thing is to get everything lubricated BEFORE you turn it over. Even with the assembly lube used during the rebuilding it'll rub right off the moment you turn it over since it's been a year.

Just some of my thoughts.

 

[83cuttysupreme]

The motor was torn down, and reassembled using the original parts and assembly lube, the heads look dirty, only like the motor was torn down and cleaned. so whats the best way to prime the motor with oil? Also, is it ok to let it sit a few weeks with oil before i put it in the car? And are you saying wd40 would be ok to spray in the plug holes to kinda free it up?


I just found out the motor had been drained of oil about a year ago when the previous owner purchased a new oil pan, since then the motor has sat in a garage, without a bag just covered in towels to keep the intake clean from any contaminants, i pulled the oil pan and its still coated in oil, this bad or good? I'm hoping i haven't wasted my money on a motor i wont be able to use.

 

[bjohn07]

i agree with jae. at least pull the oil pan and valve covers. if u see any sludge at all u know it wasnt rebuilt. an easy way to tell if has some new valve springs is to look at them and usually stock replacements have a color code. so u will see a paint mark on them. pull all the plugs and spray wd 40 or any penetrating oil in the cylinder to let is loosen anything up. and it is always easier to spin the motor without the plugs so u can set them aside for now. once u have checked out the valvetrain and removed the oil pan to see the rotating assembly. (might be a good idea to pull a couple main caps to check out the bearings) once u done this u can tell if it was rebuilt. if u determine it looks good put on some new gaskets and get u a oil pump primer tool. put a new filter and new oil. prime up the oil system till u see the oil come up to the valve springs. do that for a min or 2 then turn the motor over by hand a few times. its always good if u can get someone to work the drill to prime the pump while u turn it to get oil on all the bearings. and since it has been sitting for a while without anyoil. if it turns out to be good. once u get it in the car let it run for about 10 or 15 min then change oil and filter again cuz for sure there is gonna be surface rust throughout that engine.

 

[jae]

Thanks BJohn, I didn't think about going into detail about the priming and keeping the plus out for turning until late yesterday.

83cs, as stated you'd want to prime and look for oil coming up through the pushrods into the rockers. You may want to have a buddy work the priming tool and then once you see oil coming through turn the crank a quarter turn at a time. In case you don't know the tool fits into the distributor hole in the intake, one end connects to the oil pump rod, the other end you hook to a drill (regular or cordless) and you spin. A basic method is you spin until you feel a drag on the drill & see oil coming up. You can also have a gauge connected to make sure you're getting pressure. Everyone does it a little different.

WD40 can work, I want to say PB Blaster but I've never use it in this situation. You just want to make sure you soak the you-know-what out of the bores and may have to let it set for a day or two. When you do rotate by hand you may want to just turn it a little at first, not putting all your weight on it in case the rings are stuck.

Here's a question (sorry), do you know if a new cam (& lifters) was installed during the R&R? If there was you need to break it in correctly (RPM, lube, oil type) or you can wipe lobes pretty quick - I'm guessing it's a flat-tappet hydraulic.

You may want to fill the pasages with water to see if the freeze plugs are leaking before motor install. Not sure where you're located but if it was in a cold climate, sitting for a year without anit-freeze you may have a weep.

Good luck, keep us posted, and maybe others will chime in with more / better tips & advice.

 

[83cuttysupreme]

Thanks guys! Yeah I looked up priming the motor, but Here's the most dumb question of the day, on this gen 1 305 from a 77 chevelle, where the hell do i actually put the oil in, I've looked and looked, but I've been so busy lately I haven't even had a chance to get oil. I'm goin out tonight to get some so i can prime this motor, the wd40 has been sitting a while and I'm not gonna even try to crank her till i got oil flowin, but i've searched everywhere possible but can't find wher to actually put the oil in the motor, I was thinking the valve cover had a hole to put oil, or am i just losing my mind here?

Also, the cams and lifters were just oe replacements, what's the best oil to use?

 

[83cuttysupreme]

Well, new update, after two and a half days soaking in wd40, the motor still wont even budge, i doubt priming with oil will do anything, looks like this is gonna require head removal and a lot of work. so much for a short project. I'm just having a hell of a time here

I may just end up having to get a new motor. any suggestions? 😢

 

[bjohn07]

Well, new update, after two and a half days soaking in wd40, the motor still wont even budge, i doubt priming with oil will do anything, looks like this is gonna require head removal and a lot of work. so much for a short project. I'm just having a hell of a time here

I may just end up having to get a new motor. any suggestions? 😢

u try using a breaker bar to get a little more leverage. i would still prime to check. there should be a hole in the valve cover if not just pull the cover and pour the oil over the rocker arms. spray in some more wd40. and make sure the plugs arent in when u try to turn it. if all that fails. then its time for a rebuild.
rebuild it. but if money is really tight and u just want to get it running try this. pull the heads and pour transfluid over each cylinder till u cover the piston. let it sit for a day or 2 and it should free up those rings. ive done this a few times. well 3 exactly. cuz each time i got a motor i just wanted to put in and use till it blew. all three times it worked for me. and 2 out of the 3 the motors still had decent compression. but if u can pull the cash together to rebuild i would just go that way.

 

[83cuttysupreme]

Haven't tried the breaker bar yet, I'm going to try priming the oil pump and see what happens. I'm hoping this motor can be saved, I found something interesting, the previous owner bought a whole bolt kit, yet the bolts seem too long, by the time they get tight to the point where i feel like i'm about to snap the heads off, i've still got a good 1/8th inch to spare, is it possible the previous owner bought the wrong bolts?

 

[bjohn07]

possible they got the wrong bolts. but what bolts exactly are u talkin about.