30 years? Well, that certainly is a long time to sit!
I agree with Hans. Change the engine oil, take the spark plugs out and crank
it by hand. Then crank it with the starter until you get oil pressure. Check
all the hoses also. You don't want to start it and find out it has a big
fuel leak the hard way!
I guess you'll have to rebuild the fuel pump, if you're sure it's bad. Other
than that - I say, fresh oil, fresh gas, new battery and see what happens!
Oh, and make sure the brakes and steering work too, before you take it for a
spin.
Good luck!
donny v
78 MGB
In a message dated 7/6/2004 11:53:35 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
h.duinhoven@planet.nl writes:
Would fill all fluids with new, Take out the spark plugs and put a little
engine oil into each cyl.
Have the engine moved a bit in 4th gear in order to assure everything is
moving freely.
When that's o.k., proceed with cranking by starter - still w/o spark plugs.
Check if the oil pressure rises to a decent value (60).
When that's ok, time to fire up.
Carfull with the brake:
This fluid should be renewed as well.
Flush well and see the brake operate properly before driving!
Happy driving!
Cheers,
Hans - Netherlands
'71 BGT ready for another year motoring
----- Original Message -----
From: "Constr AB News" <canews@telus.net>
To: <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 11:22 PM
Subject: Freshly Rebuilt Engine - 30 Years Ago!! (Kind of long)
> Hello List
>
> I just purchased the garage find of my lifetime. Last week a fellow
contacted
> me, said he knew someone with an old MG, would I be interested? Said sure,
and
> went to look at it.
>
> Turns out, this fellow had done the body and paint and rebuilt the engine
on a
> 58 MGA (1500) in 1975 then put the car away. It has been in his neighbours
> garage ever since and now the neighbour has passed away and he wants to
get
> rid of the car.
>
> This car looks brand new!!!! The paint/body are perfect, you could eat out
of
> the engine bay. All the wiring was redone at the same time so it's fresh.
> Unfortunately the interior was redone in what I can only assume was cool
back
> in the mid seventies - brown shag carpets, brown diamond tufted vinyl door
> panels and a dark brown wood dash that looks horrible. Hard top is there
and
> original. He still has the old panels and dash for the interior, but the
seats
> will need to be redone.
>
> I almost fell over when he said all he wanted was $3500 (Canadian) -
that's
> about $2600 USD. So I bought it!!
>
> Now, here's my dilemma. What do I do to this engine before attempting to
start
> it? When it was stored, it was drained of all fluids. The fellow said that
> about three years ago he filled everything up and started the car, it ran
> great for about 60 second before the diaphragm on the fuel pump went (I'm
not
> too surprised). He then redrained everything and put the car back away.
>
> So, do I just rebuild the fuel pump, fill everything up and give it a try?
Or
> should I overfill it with oil, let it sit for a few days, drain it and
start
> again?
>
> Remember this engine only has about 100 miles since the rebuild, but the
> rebuild was 30 years ago.
>
> Any help will be appreciated and pictures are coming tomorrow!!!
> This is exciting!!
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