78' 305 V8 - Sitting for ten years, what now?

[thetandycollector]

Hey all,

My grandfather gave me a 78 Malibu, supposedly a 9C1 Police Car. I do remember us purchasing this car from the Sheriff's department as a kid. It was "pasture-ized" due to a misfire that my grandfather claims was "somewhere in the ignition system." He gave it to me in 1995 or 1996, when the plates expired, to drive around the farm, and that came to an end in 1999 when I got a bunch of seed and grass from the field clogged up in the radiator and blew it out at the seams. From then to now, it has sat virtually untouched. 305 V8, 2BBL, THM350

I have had this car towed to my shop, and I have removed all of the rats nests, debris, wasp nests, etc from the engine compartment, removed the plugs and carb, now what?

Tested the compression and it's low on all cylinders, but VERY low on a couple. A friend and old mechanic claims that I should fill the cylinders with oil, let it sit a day or two, then crank to remove extra oil and reinstall plugs and rest of the ignition system and new radiator. Fill with water, start, and run to operating temperature, then pour "about a quart" of cold water down the carb a little at a time at 2500rpm to clean valves and cylinders. Is this really a good idea? Any input would be appreciated. While I am college educated on the new stuff, resurrecting old stuff is definitely not my speciality, yet, I have an aweful lot of it an need to learn the tricks.

Bill S.

[jamesslcx]

Ten years is a long time. I would squirt a little oil in each cyl., top off the fluids, add some fresh gas and save a little to pour down the carb before starting and fire it up. You may get lucky and it will be fine or it may take a lot of work to get it roadworthy. Getting it started is the first step.

[Blt2Lst]

Look over the wiring carefully and see if the rats made a meal of the wires.
Rats love to chew the wiring and that can cause big problems (ie: FIRE) if overlooked.
Low compression on all cylinders? Sounds like it may need a motor..
Since cars has been sitting, I would drop the gas tank and inspect for rust.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by thetandycollector

Hey all,

My grandfather gave me a 78 Malibu, supposedly a 9C1 Police Car. I do remember us purchasing this car from the Sheriff's department as a kid. It was "pasture-ized" due to a misfire that my grandfather claims was "somewhere in the ignition system." He gave it to me in 1995 or 1996, when the plates expired, to drive around the farm, and that came to an end in 1999 when I got a bunch of seed and grass from the field clogged up in the radiator and blew it out at the seams. From then to now, it has sat virtually untouched. 305 V8, 2BBL, THM350

I have had this car towed to my shop, and I have removed all of the rats nests, debris, wasp nests, etc from the engine compartment, removed the plugs and carb, now what?

Tested the compression and it's low on all cylinders, but VERY low on a couple. A friend and old mechanic claims that I should fill the cylinders with oil, let it sit a day or two, then crank to remove extra oil and reinstall plugs and rest of the ignition system and new radiator. Fill with water, start, and run to operating temperature, then pour "about a quart" of cold water down the carb a little at a time at 2500rpm to clean valves and cylinders. Is this really a good idea? Any input would be appreciated. While I am college educated on the new stuff, resurrecting old stuff is definitely not my speciality, yet, I have an aweful lot of it an need to learn the tricks.

Bill S.

with what you did to this when it died about 18 yrs ago I would guess that the heads / gasket etc got damaged. coolant could have gotten into the cylinder[s].

what I do with my boat engine when first spring prepping to begin the procedure of starting the plugs are removed , one ounce of marvel mystery oil in each cylinder. then I rotate the engine by hand only. let the engine sit with the plugs loose in the holes to prevent debris from getting in for a day or so . then crank the engine with the starter to work the oil into the rings.

what can happen is water /condensation can get into the cylinders. then the piston rings can stick to the cylinder wall. if you do not take care with this by not lubing the cylinders you can crack the rings.

if the compression is still low then remove the heads and have them checked for damage/cracks.

if you can get this running for cheap I would be very surprised . good luck ..

[Cadaverlier]

Any motor that has been sitting a long time would always have me worried about the bearings after a certain 327 I got out of a '67 El Camino. It sat for like 2 years. It would still turn over fine and I started it up and ran it a couple minutes ( without any real serious preparation ). I almost put it in a truck but I got a different motor and ended up taking it apart. When I took apart the rods I discovered that one of the bearings had ' walked ' and moved about a quarter turn but was not spun or wiped out. Apparently the bearing had seized to the crank from lack of oil enough to turn it the quarter turn and had I installed it in the truck and run it more than a minute it most certainly would have been thoroughly destroyed. I'm not sure what I could have done to prevent that other than putting in a distributor without a gear and hand cranking the oil pump to put oil to the bearings and then letting it sit for a week.
As for the low, low compression I would have to say that the rings are most more than likely frozen in the pistons. If you have ever tried to remove rings from a piston where you all but have to use a chisel to get them out you can only imagine. The only possible solution I would have for that without taking it all apart would be to fill the cylinders with a LOT of thin oil and let it sit for another long time. Oil can do a lot of 'creeping ' sometimes and that would be it's only hope. ( that just a maybe ) I once worked on a ten-speed bicycle wheel and small ratcheting parts were rusted inside and I could not get them to work loose even with all the oil I had all over everything. I set it aside and about 4 months later I thought it was a different wheel as everything worked perfectly. It seemed the oil even though it was not penetrating oil had 'creeped ' and loosened everything all by itself. I don't know if it will creep down to all those rings but you never know