FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

hi

i`m trying to start a grey motor that hasnt been started in a long while .
can this be done ?
if so how ?
are there any tricks ? like lubing the motor up ?
it has had oil in it and it is complete too !
any advice is welcome

thanks

coolaride  :)

Check to see if the motor spins by hand first.
I have also heard it's a good idea to put a teaspoon of oil in each bore and to re-prime the oil pump.

the battery is probably gunna be stuffed too.

hi

thanks for the replies so far .
stinky , do you mean take the spark plugs out and drop the oil down in each
space ?

cheers .

Never had to do it myself, but yes, I guess you do it a little while before you start to give the oil time to spread out to the rings.

Fresh oil, fuel, water, plugs.

Plugs out, squirt of engine oil in each bore.

Fully charged battery and crank for about 30 seconds.

Plugs in and crank for 30 seconds with coil lead off.

Coil lead in, fingers crossed and start. Let idle and check to make sure that no lifters are stuck or anything else is noisy.

Record it all on video so we can see/hear the fun.

Buy a gasket set and a water pump, because they'll both be stuffed and need to be replaced.  ;) The water jackets will also be full of sludge and it will overheat. Bummer.

Cheers,

Craig

Just to add to Craig's excellent response - I am in the process of starting the grey in my new car which hasn't been run for 35 years either. I have taken the shaft out of an old distributor which I then use to spin the oil pump with a drill - what this does is pump the new clean oil up through the rocker gear which will all be dry and also through all the galleries and bearings etc.
I also plan on taking out all the welsh plugs and power jetting some water through the block and head to try and remove as much sludge as possible and then replace all welsh plugs.

Regarding oil in the bores - you need to imagine enough oil to flatten out across the top of the piston and seep around all the surfaces of the rings. So it needs to be at least a couple of teaspoons I think.

Ken

great responses guys

big thanks . tried to move it by hand but had no luck .
does this mean its ceased or could it still be started trying all your tips ? ?

coolaride  :D

If it doesn't turn by hand with the plugs out, things aren't looking great!!  What about the starter motor? can this turn in over? Or put it in third gear and move the car. does it turn over then?

Still squirt the oil in the bores, or maybe WD-40, let it sit for a while, and then use an extension bar or similar to get some leverage on the balancer, or use the in-gear/push method. A guess would be that its got a blown head gasket (rusted) and has had moisture in the bores. Even if you do free it up then it surely won't be a long time proposition.

Cheers,

Craig.

The chances of you getting a good result are pretty slim.

Your chances of doing damage to the engine would be pretty high.

You would be better off stripping the engine before you damage the crank or bend a valve ect ect.

Graham

I recently scrapped an FC.  It had an EJ grey motor in it.  Today I decided to see if the motor was worth doing anything with.  It was sitting on an old tyre on the shed floor and free to turn.  It had not run for at least 15 years.  Oil was present but no distributor.  I cranked it over with the starter on and off for about 5 mins after I squirted oil down the spark plug holes.  I found a distributor to put in it and roughly timed it.  The coil and points worked OK.  I gave the block a quick flush out and clamped off the bottom radiator hose and filled the block with water.  Took the top off the carby and filled it with petrol and operated throttle shaft until the accelerator pump worked. Compression was around 110 lbs on each cylinder.

Now for the big test - full choke and second turn of the motor it fired into life blowing a lot of smoke for starters.  I then jerry rigged a fuel tin above the carby for more fuel.  Apart from the water pump being a little noisy there are noises and it blows no smoke on acceleration.  Before I started I connected an ohmmeter across the oil sender.  When the motor started the sender showed an open circuit. which meant there was oil pressure.  It was only a very short run but the motor should be an excellent temporary substitute to put into my FC if I have to do any major work its motor.  I was surprised how easily the "old grey" fired up after sitting for so long.  They take a lot of killing.

Keith

Maybe take the car to the top of a very steep hill, let it roll down a bit and then ease the clutch out in second or third.. just to get the motor to turn.
Also before starting you can pour some dextron in the carby..acts as a upper cylinder lube.. and will burn off once the motor is running..
similar to putting oil in the spark plug holes..(by the way, best way to do the latter is with a spay type nozzle on an oil can so you can spread the oil over the piston instead of it running down the side of the cylinder and only lubing a small area.)
Personally i would suggest stripping down and rebuild, not that hard once you get into it.

I intend to strip my motor and at least clean out all of the oil ways and sludge from the sump and top end etc. I will also remove all the welsh plugs and clean out rust and dirt from the water galleries the block and head.

Does anybody know if it is best to store the engine with soluble oil or the like + water in the water jacket or best to leave it dry.  The latter would probably promote more rusting.

Keith

Keith it really depends how long you plan on having it in storage for and where abouts you store it.

You can buy a lube (i believe it was Castrol that produce it) that is for the purpose for using whilst storing block/head, i will try and find the name of it.

hey there

tried to turn this motor by hand again yesterday after spraying , then lubing with penetrine.
unfortunatley , i had no luck .

i tried everything that i could think of too !

i guess i`ll just stip it down . dont think the head gasket was gone in this motor as the oil color
was the typical dirty black .

didnt have too much oil in it , maybe thats why it wont turn over .

to try and turn it over we put a couple of nuts through were the flywheel bolts onto and used a
crowbar to turn it .

at least i`ve got a magic head to use , just had it acid dipped and checked . it has no cracks or repaires .

btw.. this engine number is within a couple of weeks from when my wagon was made so its still a good find .


if you could let me know as well  grandmasterb that would be great .



coolaride