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

[Superhawk996]

I’m going to reiterate what Ninja said earlier

Be sure you are indexing the flywheel to the crank and keeping all parts indexed and identified so they can go back to the EXACT same location.

Not sure if this Flywheel, crank, rods, fan assembly was dynamically balanced as an assembly. Probably not with amateur build but if it was you want things in the same spot.

A tell on dynamic balancing is if you find what seem to be drilled or ground spots where minor amounts of weight are removed to balance the assembly.

The book / DVD will have details.

If I couldn’t find evidence of dynamic balance work having done, I’d seriously consider doing it if you intend to really spin this motor up beyond factory redline. Should be able to outsource to a local performance shop - maybe Seattle or Tacoma area if necessary.