289 engine. 66 coupe. a little background. around 10 years ago i rebuilt this engine and put it back in the car. has sat there since then. carb and exhaust manifolds never installed. i oiled the cylinders when i put it in and engine still will turn. tomorrow i would like to halfway inspect what i've got in there. battle plan: remove cylinder heads and look for rust. not planning on any further teardown tomorrow. anything else i should look for before i rebutton it back up? if it's not too rusted i will pull the engine in a few months and thoroughly inspect and reclean the whole thing. tomorrow is just preliminary. thanks.

 

If it has been sitting for 10 years 1/2 of the valve springs are probably bad, (Being compressed for 10 years).

 

Dont pull the head, a running engine will tell you more than a torn down engine.

If it will still turn over then i would change the oil, pull the distributor and prime the oil pump(Maybe take the valve covers off to make sure the oil reaches all the rockers), squirt some oil in the cylinders and turn it over a few times by hand, install manifolds and carb. Fresh gas then try and start it, im willing to bet that it will fire up and run for you.

And leaving a valve spring compressed will not cause it to be bad. They are already partially compressed from installation. What will wear any spring out is the flexing from compressing and relaxing the spring. If you bend metal it will get brittle and weak weither its a valve spring or a coat hanger. The spring is just tempered so it takes alot longer before this will have an effect.

 

Pull your heads and sand the rust from the cylinders, Pull all the springs and replace them, If you have a question take them to any good repair shop and test the pounds of pressure for each spring, Ta Dah, 1/2 will have way less than recommended spring pressure. But then, it's your car and I have no dog in this fight.

 

what a complete waste of time. i'm finished. amazingly these 10 year old bored cylinders are as free from rust as they were 10 years ago. everything's buttoned back up. the engine will sit again until this fall when i'll pull it, disassemble, clean again and reassemble. at least i know that it's not rusting from the inside out. that valve spring thing is a new one on me. thanks everyone. (something in the back of my mind tells me that this second cleaning is a good idea.) maybe i'll get a new engine for nothing more than the cost of new gaskets.

 

I might just be careless, but if it were me and the engine has been half *** sealed (and/or) inside fro the last 10 1/2 years, and it turns well why tear it down at all?

I might put some more lube on the cam and lifters (if flat tappet), that is about all I would do.... but I am lucky that way....

EDIT >>> OOPS,,,, I guess I was a few minutes late on that one...

 

If its in good shape, don't disassemble it, you'll just be spending money for no reason. What I would do is oull the rockers so the valves all close up and relieve the pressure from the springs. Tape up the manifolds with duct table to keep air transfer down.

When you got to refire it prime it, reset the rockers, time it and fire it up. It'll be fine.