I am about to get things ready to try and start my car since I got it from the original owner. Its been sitting outside for years, but overall the car is in pretty good shape. It was sitting under the carport on a concrete driveway. I need to replace the gas lines coming from the bottom of the tank to the fuel lines. I'll have the tank boiled out while its out of the car.
I figured since its been sitting a while that I need to remove the plugs and put some kind of lube or something in the cylinders before trying to turn her over ( probably by hand). I was thinking of Marvel Mystery Oil, My Brother-in-law says he likes to use Transmission fluid because of all the detergents in it. What do you guys think is the proper thing to do?

Actually..........both idea's are good, I use tranny fluid in situations like that and Marvel mystery oil I use for engine break-in

How much would you put in each cylinder. Someone suggested that I fill each cylinder but that doesnt seem right. I could see hoe a complete coating in each cylinder may be beneficial, but getting it out would be a real bear. I was figuring on a couple of Tablespoons woorth? Hows thjat sound?

Use a couple of tablespoons of Marvel Mystery oil. Turn it over a few times by hand then use starter to spin the motor with plugs out. That will spread it around and blow it out the plug hole. Maybe a little smoke on start up, but won't last long.

Don't fill the cylinders! Who knows what kind of damage can occur when that piston tries to move through a compression stroke while the cylinder has a huge slug of oil in it. Also if any of the exhaust valves are open it will just run out into the exhaust.

Just add enough to wet the rings. I don't know how well it really does wet the rings, since the cylinders are horizontal and the oil will settle to the bottom. But I did add oil to my cylinders before a lengthy storage and it worked out fine afterwards.

Mike