drabina

I bought a 92 Camaro RS with a V6 engine. The car has been sitting for about 10 years. There is oil in the engine, coolant in the radiator and brake fluid. Battery is obviously dead. Somehow, the gas smells like gas (maybe a bit fainter) but there is no foul odor. I am trying to come up with a plan to start the engine. So far, I am thinking about the following:

1. Change the engine oil and filter.
2. Unscrew spark plugs and apply fogging oil to the cylinders.
3. Siphon the old gas and put a few gallons of new gas in.
4. Replace the battery.
5. Replace spark plugs and wires.
6. Remove the accessory belt and smooth out some of the pulleys from the surface rust (just for now as I will most likely replace them down the road).
7. Check all the other fluids.
8. Replace air filter and PCV valve.

Anything else that I may be missing?

Obviously, once I get the engine running, I will flush all the fluids, replace the brakes, and go over all the other components before actually driving the car. I just want to make sure that the car is running and the engine is not bad.

ShiftyCapone

iTrader: (7)

Before you do anything make sure the engine turns over. If it does, go from there. The gas may not smell bad, but it's bad. Your best bet is to replace the tank and not fight with any sludges or fuel jelly that is impossible to get out. But overall your plan is fine. I wouldn't change the oil until you confirm it runs. Get it up to temp and then change. No need to waste two rounds of new oil.

Komet

I agree, get a couple rotations of the motor by hand after you fog it. Definitely remove all the old gas. I've gotten away with just a siphon twice on my revivals but I think the cars stopped running sometime after they were parked so it might not have been truly 10 year old gas.

I'd put the old spark plugs back in for the first fire. If the wires are fine you can leave those as well, but do immediately replace if they're cracked or damaged. You can ignore the rust on the belts, it'll figure itself out. Do replace or at least remove the old air filter, but shake the PCV and keep it if it rattles.

You are missing a fire extinguisher and a friend with eyes on the engine bay while you're in the front seat turning it over.

Vader

I would also ignore the belt(s) for now. They will likely clean up the rust in the sheaves after running a bit, and could suffer wear in the process. There's little benefit in installing new belts to wear themselves down polishing out the rust, so run the old ones until the rust is mostly gone.

Draining whatever fuel you can is reasonable. I would also delay replacing the fuel tank until or unless you determine it actually needs replacement. While you may be able to keep the tank, be prepared to change the fuel filter at least once. Use the LOWEST octane fuel you can to get started. Lower octane is somewhat more more volatile. That promotes knock, but also will fire (and potentially clean) better. Ethanol fuel can actually help clean out the tank as well. Don't be afraid to mix the fuel with two-cycle oil at about 80:1. It's amazing what that can do for upper cylinders, injectors, and possibly even the valves without damaging the catalytic converter.

Change the oil, install a cheap filter, and if/when you get it running long enough to get up to temperature, change the filter again. If the oil still looks reasonable, that can stay in the engine for a while longer, but the low-buck filter should have trapped anything that gets pumped through the once the engine is running and any nasty chunks, sludge, particles, or anything else gets loosened as a result of the reawakening.

Don't even think about using the old battery. Get a plain wet flooded lead/acid battery, and avoid using any kind of AGM battery (like Optima, etc.) for multiple reasons. First, AGM batteries can lose longevity in high temperatures found under a hood. Second, our cars were designed for low-maintenance, flooded batteries, and as such are regulated to charge up to 15.4V and commonly at 14.7V. AGM batteries can rapidly lose life if charged at over 13.8V, but no one bothers to mention that in the battery store. Third, AGM batteries are more expensive for the same CCA rating, offing no performance advantage per dollar, and don't save any weight.

Pull the plugs, fog a little oil into each chamber, clean and check plug gaps, and run them if they are intact. Just like the new accessory belt and first oil filter, the first few minutes of running might not be kind, and doing that to new plugs is a bit of a waste.

Check the steering, coolant, and trans oil, and worry about changing those fluids later.

If you think it might actually drive, check the brakes. Be sure they apply and don't stick.

The rest can come after your intial report on the restart.

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