firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

Hey Guys

the bad news:
i have neglected my truck a bit and it has been parked for about a year, and i havent had the decency to crank it over in that time.

the good news:
i'm going to light er' up in the next couple days.

i was thinking i would pull the batteries and put a trickle charge on em.

once those are juiced up i will pull the primary lead from the distributor cap and crank er' for a few 20 second cycles to get some oil back up top.

is this good enough procedure or should i be doing more?

Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

Vancouver EH!!!! Wet environment. Not good.
Before you pull the batteries bump the motor over just enough to see it turns. Pull the plugs and squirt a little oil in each cylinder. Put new plugs back in. Charge up your battery. Trickle charger is best. Give it a long charge. Splash a little gas in the carb so it will fire right away. OIl flow and pressure right away is good. After you get the old girl purring shut her down and change your oil. Acids build up in oil that sits too long causing premature bearing failure.
Where in Van do you live?

Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

Geezer, good advice, when i got my 83 Scottsdale it had been sitting in a barn for about 3 years. I had to drain the gas tanks and put in fresh fuel, changed the plugs and squirted a little oil in the cylinders. It fired right up, but the valve cover gaskets leaked long with the water pump gasket. No big deal in fixing them. The exhust was in real bad shape so I installed a set of Headmans and new exhaust, the truck purrs like a loud kitten.

Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

hey geezer.

i hail from north van.

so i pulled the plug leads from the cap and cranked her about 5 or 6 20 second cycles and then put the plug leads back onto the cap.


i put in some fresh gas on top of some old gas (there was very little left) and gave er' a go.

it cranks like a hot damn but won't fire.

i'm getting fuel at the carb and it passes the smell test if this is of much (or any) relevence.

i couldn't check spark because i didn't have a helper. i'm going to go back on saturday with a buddy and give it another go.



all that i can think is that the fuel in there is crappy and it doesn't want to fire on it, or i flooded it when i was cranking it initially.


i picked up a can of carb medic but later realized it didn't contain any methinol. Its the methinol that gives the engine some "assistance" starting is it not?

Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

If the dizzy is not HEI, I would suspect points have corroded from sitting (my chevelle would do that if I let it sit any longer that 3 months)

If it IS HEI, then I would suspect the ignition module...

Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

hmm its not hei.

i will take a look.

is it possible to clean to points?

Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

Yes... With a small needle file, but points are cheap...
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Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

cool,
the only reason i ask is because the truck is being stored quite a ways from my shop (and the parts store) so the more that i can do on site the better. i just need to get er' going so i can do it properly when i get home

Re: firing the beast up for the first time in about a year.
 

i just had a revelation...

it IS HEI.

lol.

i'm going to head back down there on saturday and see what i can find