Advice on starting a 9 year old crate engine

[sspeedstreet]

Well, actually I don't know when it was manufactured, but it's a '95 LQ1 motor and it's been sitting a long time.

 

Question is, what do I need to do to make sure this thing is properly lubed before cranking it? On a newly rebuilt engine I typically pull the plugs and crank it til I have good oil pressure. But what I'm concerned with is the cams and rings. Will the assembly lube still be good or should I pull the whole thing down and reassemble it to make sure?

 

Neil

[black35intrigue]

My experience with the crate motors and or long blocks is that they have been assembled long before you buy them anyways. The assembly lube is tacky and good enough quality that it should still be good and ready to go. Personally, I'd pull the plugs, squirt some oil into the cylinders and crank it until you have oil pressure, then a few seconds more since the cams are the last to get oil, then install some new plugs and run it.

 

Matt,99 Intrigue GLS 3.5 & 97 Tahoe 2 door 4x4 vortech-blown 5.7

[4spdz34]

i started mine right up, i just put oil in it. it was a 95. they come all lubed up, even the pistons had lube all around the rings. i belive the pump is packed with lube to pre-prime it

[mfewtrail]

Just to add to this(very related)..I tore down a 1994 LQ1 crate motor earlier this year that was in storage since brand new(8 were donated to my college way back in the day) and it was still lubricated as if someone had went through it a couple of days ago, the cams still had tons of assembly lube on them, the cylinder walls were still lubed, etc...

[sspeedstreet]

Thanks for the input, everyone. The engine is currently on a stand. I think I'll rotate it so the deck is horizontal and drip some oil in the spark plug holes, let it sit a couple of days, then rotate the block to the other bank and repeat the process. After that I'll turn the engine over with a breaker bar a couple of revolutions. That should help a lot.

 

Thanks again,

 

Neil