283 Small Block Chevy Dormant Engine - Iron Oxide

283 Small Block Chevy Dormant Engine Dyno Testing

One of the more common questions we get at Super Chevy is "How do I start an engine that has been sitting?" With money getting tight these days, buying an older engine or resurrecting one that you've been storing is becoming more and more common.

The biggest damaging factor is going to be iron oxide, more commonly known as rust. Rust forms when the oxygen in water reacts with iron, forming that red stuff we as muscle car fanatics fight constantly.

Luckily, one thing that prevents rust from forming on metal is oil, which flows through almost all the important areas of an engine. So, if the engine has been sitting indoors for under two years its pretty safe to say there won't be much rust formed in the cylinders. Anything over that time we would recommend tearing it down just to be safe.

We have two motors in our stable that fit into these categories. The first engine is Danger Mouse, a long-term dyno mule that we tried multiple power recipes on. It's been stored at Speed-O-Motive (West Covina, California) in a controlled environment since the last story. We will be bringing the Danger Mouse series back soon, so we wanted to fire it up and make sure its still ready for action. DM will be our short-term storage example. We also have a sidebar if you want a little more info on the life of this mouse motor.

The second engine we have is a bored-out 283 that was rebuilt back in the late '70s, then stuffed under a bench and forgotten. The guy we got it from said it has never been fired up, but until we crack it open we wont know if he was shooting straight or not. This will be our long-term example and the procedures will reflect that.

We had Edson Gutierrez at Speed-O-Motive do all the wrenching for us and he even put Danger Mouse on the dyno to see what it makes. We found some bad stuff going on in the 283, so that one will need some machine work before it can be safely fired up.

By the end of this story, you should be able to follow the steps to safely start just about any engine- unless it was left out in the elements unprotected, that is.

0-2 YEARS SITTING

Drain the oil and inspect. You are looking for water, sludge, or any other contaminants. Pull a valve cover and inspect. Here you are looking to see if the rockers are backed off, broken or missing parts, or if there's sludge and/or rust. If you find something in the oil, that might be a good indication you need to crack the motor open.
Drain the oil and inspect. You are looking for water, sludge, or any other contaminants. P
Mark the number one plug position and then pull the distributor. No need to bring number one to TDC at this point; we can do that later. Fill with new oil and prime the engine with a priming tool chucked in an electric drill. Spin the oil pump until you see the oil running out of the rockers. If all the rockers are flowing oil, that is a good sign. If there are one or two that are not flowing oil, pull the rocker and look down the pushrod to see if it's clogged. With oil flowing freely, you might want to readjust all the rockers now that the lifters are pumped up.
Mark the number one plug position and then pull the distributor. No need to bring number o
Pull the float bowl on the carb and look for dirt and varnish. If you are clean, then move on. If not, pull the carb apart and rebuild.
Pull the float bowl on the carb and look for dirt and varnish. If you are clean, then move

Next, pull the plugs and give them a good look. If you find small rust dots on the end of the plug, that is a good indication you have rust in the cylinders and you should pull the head to look closer. Ours were clean so we are good.
Next, pull the plugs and give them a good look. If you find small rust dots on the end of
Since all our checks showed no rust or sludge, we were confident we could spin the engine over. We brought the number one cylinder to TDC. You can do this with a starter button and your thumb over the plughole waiting for the air blast from the compression stroke or use a breaker bar on the crank.
Since all our checks showed no rust or sludge, we were confident we could spin the engine
Either way you do it, just verify the timing mark is on 0.

Now, drop in the distributor. Before you put the cap back on, look at the rotor and inside the cap to inspect the terminals. If they are covered in crud, get in there with some sandpaper and clean them up, or replace them.
Now, drop in the distributor. Before you put the cap back on, look at the rotor and inside
With the cap on, hook up the ignition wires and remember going clockwise its 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 for pretty much every Chevy out there.
With the cap on, hook up the ignition wires and remember going clockwise its 1-8-4-3-6-5-7
After all your checks, fire up the engine and set the timing. After the timing is set, let the engine idle so you can listen for clacking, ticking or grinding noises. If the engine passes this test, look at the instruments and watch the oil pressure and coolant temp. If the engine comes up to normal operating temp with no issues, you can crack the throttle a few times.
After all your checks, fire up the engine and set the timing. After the timing is set, let

The rings will need to be re-seated because the possibility of microscopic rust particles forming is pretty high, so run the motor up to 1,500 rpm for 10-15 minutes so the rings can seat again. After that, you'll want to put the engine under a load, by either driving the car or adding load with a dyno. This will up the cylinder pressure and use it to force the rings against the cylinder walls, seating them even better. After we were confident the rings were good to go, it was time for a pull. The 355ci small-block went from dormant to laying down 433hp at 6,000 and 409 lb-ft at 5,000 in its current configuration. Not bad for small cubes and pump gas!
The rings will need to be re-seated because the possibility of microscopic rust particles
Danger Mouse was stored properly so there were no real issues except for this small water leak.
Danger Mouse was stored properly so there were no real issues except for this small water

2-PLUS YEARS

The biggest issue with a motor that has been sitting for a long time will be the rings. They can stick to the cylinder walls, locking the rotating assembly in place. There are a few schools of thought on how to unstick them. You can pull all the plugs, squirt some penetrating fluid in there, and let it sit for a day or two, then slowly try and rotate the motor by hand. Some guys just go for it and hope for the best. We are going to take the safe route and tear the motor down to inspect the cylinders before trying to rotate the crank.
The biggest issue with a motor that has been sitting for a long time will be the rings. Th
Just like DM, we pulled the valve cover first to inspect the valvetrain. Luckily for us, all the rockers were backed off, which prevents any of the valve springs from collapsing. It also keeps the cylinders sealed up. If you are planning to store an engine it's a good idea to back off the rockers.
Just like DM, we pulled the valve cover first to inspect the valvetrain. Luckily for us, a
Fight the urge to take the easy way out and use an impact to tear down an old engine. You want to be able to feel the hardware when it's coming off. Also, the faster you spin a bolt the hotter it gets and heat equals expansion, which makes it even harder to remove. Use hand tools for the tear down just to be safe.
Fight the urge to take the easy way out and use an impact to tear down an old engine. You

Pull a head to inspect the cylinder walls. To our surprise, all we found was a nice cross hatch pattern and no rust. This was a good sign that the engine was stored properly and had not been fired up.
Pull a head to inspect the cylinder walls. To our surprise, all we found was a nice cross
Another area you can inspect to see if the engine has run is the lifters/cam. Ours still had the machining marks on them, so we know its never been fired.
Another area you can inspect to see if the engine has run is the lifters/cam. Ours still h
Pull the pan because it can rust on the inside if water finds its way in there. Again, we were clean. A quick squeeze of the timing chain will also let you know if the engine has run. Ours was tight so we are pretty confident the guy who sold us this motor was being honest that it was never fired.
Pull the pan because it can rust on the inside if water finds its way in there. Again, we

We flipped the engine over to look at the cylinder wall behind the pistons. As you can see there is a very small amount of rust but not enough to necessitate a new hone job.
We flipped the engine over to look at the cylinder wall behind the pistons. As you can see
If you don't find anything bad, rotate the engine by hand and pay attention to how much muscle it takes it to initially move. If it feels stuck, spray the cylinders with penetrating fluid and let it sit for a while. If it moves pretty easily, then all is well.
If you don't find anything bad, rotate the engine by hand and pay attention to how much mu
Everything was looking good for this 283, but just to be safe and since we had it down this far we inspected the rod bearings. Sure enough, we found a problem. There was a scratch on the bearing.
Everything was looking good for this 283, but just to be safe and since we had it down thi

It was on the rod side bearing as well.
We looked at the crank to determine if it was dirt or something worse. Sadly, it's something worse. The crank has a burr on it. Whoever built this engine dinged the crank with the rod bolt while installing the rod. Now we know this engine would have eaten itself eventually if we had just fired it up. We're going to tear it all the way down and inspect everything before sending the crank out to be polished. We might even throw some modern parts at this time capsule.
We looked at the crank to determine if it was dirt or something worse. Sadly, it's somethi

What Is Danger Mouse?
Danger Mouse was dreamt up by past Super Chevy tech guru, Mike Petralia. Here is the breakdown in his words. "When we built Danger Mouse (DM), the plan was simple. We wanted to have an engine in our stable that we could use to test and re-test every possible power combination we could think of. Our plan also included testing any of the smart combinations the readers could come up with as well, and the letters started pouring in. We built DM with the intention of running it ragged on the dyno trying to make every combination work the best way possible. So, to reach that goal, DM had to be tough enough to take the abuse we planned to dish out. Starting with a World Products four-bolt Motown block, we bored it 0.030-over and dropped in a complete Lunati rotating assembly, making it displace 355 ci. We even left the flat-top Lunati pistons 0.040-inch down the bore (as opposed to a true "zero-deck") to more closely approximate what you might have under your hood. Then we bolted some rather boring stock GM iron components to the top of it and slapped it on the dyno for its first run. After that day was finished, we were happy to report that with just a few tuning tweaks to dial it in, DM made an outstanding 308 hp and 395 lb-ft of torque in totally stock trim. Well, after more than 1,000 dyno pulls, (not all of which were recorded), with both high and low results, we've tried so many powerful combinations that we think we've found a few new recipes for perfection. If you'd like to make 480-plus hp with your stock 355-cid short-block, we've got that covered. Or how about making over 600 hp on pump gas from the same 355-cid and not sacrificing next year's vacation to do it? Danger Mouse can show you how. We've even covered the newest EFI technology too."
- Mike Petralia