1.7 Rebuild First Start Up Advice, 1.7 Start Up on stand Options

[Robroe]

Have 73 1.7 bought in pieces. Engine has been rebuilt and ‘souped up’ however I don’t know what internals were installed. New crank, cam, pistons, rods and heads. but I don’t know which ones. Weber 44 idf carbs. Never had oil in it and been stored unstarted for 10 yrs in climate control. I’ve added oil by slow dripping 2 quarts through the oil pressure sensor hole. Oil dripped out of the rockers so I’m pretty sure it got some oil as pre lube. It’s on a home built test stand with the transmission mounted with the starter.

I’m trying to turn the engine over by hand with the plugs out. Have squirted oil in each plug hole. I’m able to turn the engine by hand about 45 degrees and it gets harder to spin so can’t go any further. Would it be a good idea to pull the rocker arms to see if the builder installed some wild cam without checking valve/piston clearance? It doesn’t feel like internals are hitting each other but who knows? Would hate to pull the heads if I don’t have to. Any thoughts before I break something?

Rob Roe
Newbie

[emerygt350]

First of all, looks like 2.0 heads to me. Cylinders look like iron but I could be wrong. The spacers under them are legion. I think you need to pull a head at this point just to know the valve size and deck height, but if I were you, I wouldn't crack the case. I know all the old fuddy duddies are going to tie their underwear in knots over that but if everything looks good up top, you can verify plenty of valve clearance (which you can do by pulling the head) and you can get a measure of the compression, I would have to ask myself if I could do better job than the last guy on the bottom end. Would I take it right out onto the track? No, I would carefully get it going and build up confidence in the previous person's build.

If you see everything looking like quality, I would go for it. But that is me.

[Superhawk996]

I know all the old fuddy duddies are going to tie their underwear in knots over that but if everything looks good up top, you can verify plenty of valve clearance (which you can do by pulling the head) and you can get a measure of the compression, I would have to ask myself if I could do better job than the last guy on the bottom end.

If you see everything looking like quality, I would go for it. But that is me.

While you have it apart, lubricate it properly and get ready for startup, especiallythe special lube on the cam lobes. We also had a 2056 project motor that was stalled and sat for over 10 years. When we got back to the project, the molly-lube turned into a grey stiff gunk. Cleaned things up and started again with new bearings, etc.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

I guess I’ll wear the old fuddy duddie title with honor. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

There is no rocket science to putting a bottom end together but there are a lot of details that matter.

Without some decent lube on the cam, it’s not impossible to wipe out a cam in the first 20 minutes of initial break-in run time. The more aggressive the cam, the more I want assembly lube not just coincidental oil splash.

Don’t know about you but I’d like to be sure there is some assembly lube on all the bearings rather than depending on cranking the engine with ignition disabled to build oil pressure. Did the oil pump get coated with some light grease so that it builds oil pressure quickly or will it take extended cranking to build oil pressure?

What are the bearing clearances? What do you do if it starts up and has low oil pressure - then what? Yeah, disassemble and look at & measure bearing clearances.

Did the cam get a single thrust bearing or was it done Raby style with a double thrust bearing? For that matter what cam is in there?

Were the rods torqued properly? What rods are in it, stock or maybe H-beam or I-beam. So many details that matter. Especially if this is truly a hot-rod build looking to be spun up (otherwise why bother with double valve springs).

I’ll grant you that whoever paid for RAT / HAM heads probably wasn’t his 1st rodeo but there is no guarantee this wasn’t quickly assembled by someone else just to get it sold and moved along down the road.