383 motor sitting for 26 years, Help!

[Mateoconamor]

I bought a 67 Charger this week that hasn't moved in 26 years. It was stored inside and looks great cosmetically. I pulled the dipstick and it had some rust where it was in the oil. Before I do anything else to the motor I would like some advice on what you guys would do. Thanks for any help!

 

[PettyBlue72]

First off drain the oil and see what the oil looks like and what comes out. Pull the filter as well and see what comes out of the filter. Pull the oil pan and check for sludge, rust etc. Also pull the valve cover and check to see what the valvetrain looks like.

Joe

 

[RustyRatRod]

I'd pull a valve cover first. If that looks good, I wouldn't worry about pullin the pan. Treat it like a new engine build. After you drain the oil and put new in and a new filter, yank the distributor and prime the engine. You're gonna need new valve springs right off the bat, but the old ones will be good enough just to get it running. When you get it runnin, warm it up good and let her run for a while. Shut her down and drain the new oil into a CLEAN light colored pan....like a galvanized pan so you can see through the oil good for contaminants. Screw another new filter on it and fill it up with oil but leave it slack one quart. Fill that last quart with diesel fuel. Don't worry, it won't hurt a thing. Let it run like that for about 1000-2000 miles and change it normally after that. Don't forget the valve springs....cause you can bet the ones on it now are toast. They'll be good enough though to run it that 1K to 2K miles so you can see if the rest of the engine is ok. Good luck.

 

[lxmodguy]

I had the same thing. Mine was sitting since 1990. I pulled the valve covers first, pulled the plugs and turned it over by hand. Spun freely and seemed good. Springs all went up and down. Checked the compression with the plugs out. Compression was good all the way around. Drained the oil from the pan. Filled it back up. Changed the plugs wires and put an electronic ignition on it. Flushed out the radiator, fill it back up. pulled the feed line off the hard line from the fuel tank, filled up a gas can and let it run off that. Mine fired right up and sitting for 20+ years. Good Luck

 

[Mateoconamor]

What size head is the bolt on the crank so I can turn the motor over by hand?

 

[RustyRatRod]

What size head is the bolt on the crank so I can turn the motor over by hand?

1 1/4 I think.....same as a small block. I might be wrong though. I am building my first big block from scratch so I am unfamiliar with details.....but I think that's right.

 

[slick66]

1 1/4 is correct.