[lintmann]

What would be the best way to prep an engine(RA III) for it's start in about 20 years? It's not seized so that's good but I'm afraid that the friction surfaces might be pretty dry like the cam and lifters....maybe even the cylinders too....

I was going to rebuild the carb, change the fuel pump and oil & filter and then spray something(not sure what) into the cylinders and then give it a shot but other than that I'm not sure what else I should do.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks.

[Larson]

I would remove the distributor and use a power-drill and a bit to pump up oilpressure before starting. After changing the oil/filter.

[RAIVJUMB]

I would pull the plugs and put some mystery oil in the cyl, then turn it over by hand as well as prime the oil pump. Ensure that all the rubber parts are not dry rotted check points ETC and then give it a try. Mark

[Tim john]

Remember the rotation on a Pontiac oil pump is counter clockwise when spinning the oil pump...I too would reccomend pouring a small amount of Rislone or Marvels Mystery Oil into the cylinders, maybe pull the valve covers and pour some EOS down the push rods onto the lifters or better yet pull the intake and pour right onto the cam shaft. Make sure exhaust is clear (no mouse nests). Have fire extinguisher ready for major leaks and potential fires...safety first, always. Coolant full as well.

Tim john---

[2002Z4CSS]

You could also pull the coil wire off to allow the engine to crank over and build oil pressure. Chances are it won't strat right up anyway. Going to have to put some fresh fuel in the carb. Hopefully the points are not corroded and it will have spark. A good battery and jump box will also help.

[peppergreen]

This is an informative thread, how about after one year down? It's been inside, just wondering if I have to put oil in the cylinders, I will probally crank with starter, it will not fire before oil pressure comes up.

[getmygoat]

Originally Posted by lintmann

What would be the best way to prep an engine(RA III) for it's start in about 20 years?

Thanks.

One of the key steps in the process is filling in your PY friends on the details of how you came across such a situation, and posting pics of the car the motor sits in!

[grrr421]

I would pull the intake and valve covers and valley pan back the rockers off lube the cam and reset rockers, prime the oil and lube the pistions . I might even pull the push rods and blow air in them the see if all are clear you should drain the coolent anyways
so for a 200 bucks and a weekend you will have some peice of mind .

[lintmann]

Thanks guys, lots of good info and I'm glad I asked because there's a few things I didn't think of.

I'm not to keen on pulling the intake but then again with the coolant and distributor out there isn't much left to pulling the intake... What could I use to put in the drill to prime the oil pump? I have an old 64 distributor that I could take the shaft out of...would that work?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lintmann
What would be the best way to prep an engine(RA III) for it's start in about 20 years?

Thanks.

One of the key steps in the process is filling in your PY friends on the details of how you came across such a situation, and posting pics of the car the motor sits in! "

All right getmygoat I guess it's only fair to fill you all in. Actualy I didn't find it...it found me! Here's the story...

A good friend of mine(he's actually my Dad's age) got me into GTO's back in the 80s. His thing was the 65-67s but hasn't had one for a few years now. In 1986 I bought a 70 GTO that had been hit in the rear from an insurance sale and all I wanted it for was the engine for my 68 FireBird and then I was going to part it out. I thought the Judge emblem on the glovebox was neat but didn't think much of it until I realized that it really was a Judge and that killed my plans to part it out. I checked the engine and sure enough it was the original. I still used it in my FireBird but when the bird was sold the engine went back in the Judge. I was always going to restore it and wanted to add a few things like tilt and am-fm and my friend had a buddy that had those items so we went to buy them from him. As we drove up to his place there was a tired ole black 70 Judge sitting on the street that I thought was really nice and would be awesome to have but I already had one so I left it at that.

I've often thought about that car and what happened to it and can still see it sitting on the street....

Fast forward to last month and my friend has the itch to get another 65 and he knows this same buddy of his has one. After a bit of convincing he and his buddy go over to look at the 65 and low and behold there is that same black 70 Judge. Now my friend has no interest in anything other than that 65 but first thinks of me and how I liked it back then and that I'm a sucker for a black car so he calls me up. We talk a bit about it and he thinks I should come and look at it. At first I'm not really intersted because I still have the one I bought in 86 and don't really need two. I thought about it for a few days and couldn't stop thinking about it and then it clicked that I'd probably always wonder about it and regret not looking at it at the least. SO I went and looked and bought and the rest is history.

It's hard to say what the car is really worth because it was never on the market. I can say I didn't steal it but think it was a fair price for a fair car and also made a new friend in the deal so it was well worth it.

The car doesn't have many options but it's a RA III, 4 spd and the car is all numbers matching except for the alt, rad, shocks, rims, radio and windshield and it's a REAL black car! It's also a Canadian car so that's kinda neat.

Given the "history" of me and the car and the circle of friends it will be a keeper. It's funny how some things turn out!

[Pontiacmuscle]

Damn..I love when things like that happen! Nice Score!

[Dar]

Cool story!!!

I bought a Stage 1 70 GS this summer that had not run or even seen the light of day in over 20 years (was in storage). I have also pulled several other cars out of the bushes over the years and got them all up and running safely with no damage or overkill such as dropping the fuel tank and removing the intake etc.

Anyway here is what I do. Prior to starting I make sure I have lots of water/antifreeze, and a fire extinguisher handy (safety first).

1) Syphon the gas out of the fuel tank, get as much as you can and then fill tank at least half full with premium.

2) Change engine oil and filter, but as soon as you pull the drain plug off make sure you don't see water. Oil should pour out right away.

3) There likely will be floaty's in the remaining old fuel so replace the stock fuel filter with a new one. But that still is not good enough. Also install a plastic (NO glass) inline fuel filter in the line between the frame and the fuel pump so any crap won't plug up the fuel pump. I prefer the clear case fuel filters so I can see the fuel color and floatys.

4) Pull the distributor and prime the oil system with my priming tool (made from old dist) for a few minutes with my drill and watch for oil in the valve covers (don't even need to take them off). I also hook up a mechanical oil pressure gauge so I can make sure there is lots of oil pressure. Don't trust old factory guage, especially once it's running.

5) Pull the plugs and shoot a couple squirts of oil in each cylinder and let sit for a few minutes. Crank the engine over with the starter (plugs still out so no compression). FYI some oil will shoot out the plug hole so have rags handy Then install the plugs, wires and dist, and top off cooling system.

6) Then fill the carb fuel bowl. This is easy to do by shooting/pouring fuel down the vent tube on the front of the quadrajet (I use an old air tool oil bottle for this as it has a small nozzle on it). Activate throttle by hand and see if accelerator pump is shooting fuel into the primaries. If so, you are good to go. If no fuel just pour a little fuel down the primaries to get it going. (be careful here though as this is the part where some people have started fires or burnt their eyebrows from too much fuel and backfires etc.)

7) Once it is going keep an eye out for leaks. Sitting that long is not good on rubber parts and seals etc. In particular watch for fuel pump leaks (fire hazard), water pump leaks, and cooling system leaks. But also watch your oil pressure and water temperature and level too. After its up to operating temps I will adjust the dwell, check timing etc.

I think that covers it. My GS literally started in a second and ran until the fuel bowl went dry. I think I had to fill it one more time then it was good to go on it's own, as the fuel made it's way to from the tank by then. After driving it several times I replaced fuel filters again. The lower inline filter I put in is just temporary for now to see whats going on and determione if the fuel tank needs to come out soon. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

[OVERULD]

Awesome Thread and awesome story of a cool Judge finding a new home! Congrats on the find (or on being found!)

BJ

[bulletpruf]

Originally Posted by lintmann

Thanks guys, lots of good info and I'm glad I asked because there's a few things I didn't think of.

I'm not to keen on pulling the intake but then again with the coolant and distributor out there isn't much left to pulling the intake... What could I use to put in the drill to prime the oil pump? I have an old 64 distributor that I could take the shaft out of...would that work?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lintmann
What would be the best way to prep an engine(RA III) for it's start in about 20 years?

Thanks.

One of the key steps in the process is filling in your PY friends on the details of how you came across such a situation, and posting pics of the car the motor sits in! "

All right getmygoat I guess it's only fair to fill you all in. Actualy I didn't find it...it found me! Here's the story...

A good friend of mine(he's actually my Dad's age) got me into GTO's back in the 80s. His thing was the 65-67s but hasn't had one for a few years now. In 1986 I bought a 70 GTO that had been hit in the rear from an insurance sale and all I wanted it for was the engine for my 68 FireBird and then I was going to part it out. I thought the Judge emblem on the glovebox was neat but didn't think much of it until I realized that it really was a Judge and that killed my plans to part it out. I checked the engine and sure enough it was the original. I still used it in my FireBird but when the bird was sold the engine went back in the Judge. I was always going to restore it and wanted to add a few things like tilt and am-fm and my friend had a buddy that had those items so we went to buy them from him. As we drove up to his place there was a tired ole black 70 Judge sitting on the street that I thought was really nice and would be awesome to have but I already had one so I left it at that.

I've often thought about that car and what happened to it and can still see it sitting on the street....

Fast forward to last month and my friend has the itch to get another 65 and he knows this same buddy of his has one. After a bit of convincing he and his buddy go over to look at the 65 and low and behold there is that same black 70 Judge. Now my friend has no interest in anything other than that 65 but first thinks of me and how I liked it back then and that I'm a sucker for a black car so he calls me up. We talk a bit about it and he thinks I should come and look at it. At first I'm not really intersted because I still have the one I bought in 86 and don't really need two. I thought about it for a few days and couldn't stop thinking about it and then it clicked that I'd probably always wonder about it and regret not looking at it at the least. SO I went and looked and bought and the rest is history.

It's hard to say what the car is really worth because it was never on the market. I can say I didn't steal it but think it was a fair price for a fair car and also made a new friend in the deal so it was well worth it.

The car doesn't have many options but it's a RA III, 4 spd and the car is all numbers matching except for the alt, rad, shocks, rims, radio and windshield and it's a REAL black car! It's also a Canadian car so that's kinda neat.

Given the "history" of me and the car and the circle of friends it will be a keeper. It's funny how some things turn out!

Lintmann -

Cool story and love that car! Now it appears that we know the story about the black 70 Judge. What about the one that got hit in the @$$? Details on that one?

Thanks,

Scott

[lintmann]

Well thanks again for all the help guys. I shouldn't have too much trouble getting this beast up and running once again.

Originally Posted by bulletpruf

Lintmann -

Cool story and love that car! Now it appears that we know the story about the black 70 Judge. What about the one that got hit in the @$$? Details on that one?

Thanks,

Scott

Well Scott I still have that one and here's it's story...

Initially I was going to re-body it and change the frame so I bought a 100% rust free 70 lemans from Bethel's Goat Farm back in the mid 90's but as luck would have it other things took priority and that never happened. I'm glad I never did re-body it because now that I'm older and "wiser" I can see that it's not as bad as I once thought it was.

Just last week I got a quote from a GM body shop to straighten the frame and I was quoted about $900 to properly pull it back to factory specs. Then "all" that would be left to repair the damage would be to replace the rear clip with that of the lemans. I would remove the quarters where they meet the roof and at the rear floor seam under the rear seat. Yes it would be a bit of work but in the end, probably the best way to perform the repair.

Anyways this car will probably be for sale once I figure out what it's worth but I'll start a new post for that.

As the car sits now it's an original palisade green on green, RA III, Auto and it's a Canadian car too with GM of Canada docs. It has it's all original drive train but the carb is long gone and I don't know about the distributor or starter. It also has it's original early spoiler which is smooth on the bottom. It obviously needs a full restoration too. I'll sell it with or without the lemans rear clip or possibly the whole lemans depending on the deal.

So that's the deal with that one.

[OVERULD]

Wow, love that color combo! That will make a beautiful car when finished.

BJ