The prudent thing to do is to pull the dizzy and spin that oil pump before you try and start it.

If you don't want to do that, I would at least pull the valve covers, clean out everything on top of the heads and douse the valve train in oil.

 

I dont know about these but would turning the crank enough times get the oil pumped everywheres?

I know on late model engines hand priming oil pumps indicate that they pump good at low speeds just dont build any pressure up.

I have rotated the engine through five revolutions but havent changed the oil yet, want to do that first and I was thinking of pulling the dist to build up oil pressure first. Just need to mark everything to put it back in its orignal position.

 

Pulled the other valve cover off, still has some stiffness in some areas but its in the same place through all four strokes so I knew it wasnt in the valve train but the cylinders.

So far I put some MMO on the rocker shafts, the ball on the rocker arm at the pushrod, I also put some on the rockers and valve tips themselves. Rotated the engine a few more times then put the covers on.

I checked the fuel tank through the filler neck and it looks to be bone dry but no rust, theres a streak of rust on the bottom I can see but it looks fresh as I noticed the back side of the locking gas cap had moisture. I am going tomorrow to get 10 gallons of gas and dump 8 gallons in the tank. I also ordered lead subsitute from Ebay made by Redline. Did some reading on it and found out Redline uses sodium as the replacement for lead, the others uses phosphorous or potassium which have been linked with hanging valves. I also read phosphorous doesnt really stick to the valve when running so it isnt a good lead replacement.

I havent got the carb kit yet but I have been wondering lately though if I even need to rebuild it considering how clean the inside of the tank looked.

Im also questioning if I should attempt to spin the engine over with the starter considering theres a couple spots that are sticky and ive already rotated the engine through atleast 20 revolutions and it hasnt felt like it got better. Im sure running the engine putting heat/flame would get the cylinders cleaned up real quick.

 

Im not sure what you mean by "sticky".

Be careful, you don't want a ring to hang up on an ridge and break.

If it were me, I would pull the dizzy and spin the pump.

 

Sticky as in when the crank gets to the point where its been sitting at the engine wants to lock up again. If you rock back and forth you can unstick the pistons and its fine. If I put steady pressure on the bolt Ive seen the torque wrench hit 90 ft lbs before the engine started rotating again in this spot. Theres another spot that does this but isnt as bad.

I guess I need to keep putting MMO in and spinning the engine over use the rings to clean the cylinders up.

 

Does anyone have any recomendations on softening up the rust rings in the cylinders from where the pistons sat at?

I been trying MMO and soaking and then moving the crank through multiple revolutions but doesnt seem to help.

I talked with our engine builder next doors at work and he said to just pull the motor and rebuild it. I hate to do that considering I got the engine freed up, plus I think if I did anything I would drop the oil pan and remove the pistons and hone out the cylinders and reinstall the pistons and let it ride.

 

At this point I think that I would change the oil and spin the starter to turn the engine over. Pull the valve covers and see if you are getting oil on the top.

If all looks good, try and start her up.

What does the radiator look like?

I had a 440 in a GTX that still had the cross hatch marks on the cylinder walls. The cooling system was so corroded that I had to disassemble the block and have it boiled out.

 

Hhhmmm, not sure the pistons will come out even if you pull the crank, based on pictures here:

292 Y-Block Engine Assembly

 

Yes, the pistons will only come out the top.

 

I checked the engine out with a bore scope, the cylinder has some small rust bubbles which I am sure those are gone now, but where the cylinders sat at I saw there was a ring of slightly heavier rust just above the piston. This is the problem I am running into now and I fear trying to crank the engine by use of starter will break some rings or the starter itself or the flywheel teeth. As of now I have let some MMO soak with the engine in the middle of the rust ring with the hopes it will soften the rust up so the rings can scrape it off.

The radiator looks fine except its dry as two tubes at the top tank is busted. The water pump is also froze up as I cleaned out the weep hole and found water under the grease, apparently this orignal water pump locked up due to it leaking. That will have to be replaced but isnt vital to attempt to start the engine or run it for a short period of time.

They should, I did it even to a 2012 Cruize that sat with water in the engine, dropped the pan, pulled the rod caps knocked the pistons out installed new rings, used a ball hone to clean the rust out of the cylinders and reassembly.

I might have to do this but I rather do this as a last resort since the engines never been apart other than the intake being swapped out for a late model Y-block 2bbl manifold and one exhaust manifold the passengerside one swapped out for some reason with a late model Y-block with the choke heater in the manifold itself.

 

If you look at a bare block, you will see that it is impossible to remove the pistons from the bottom.
I'd just soak it for a while to get it as free as possible and try to fire it up.

 

Im going to try what our engine builder told me, he said to take some MMO and acetone and mix it up and put it in the cylinders it will disolve most of the rust. Going to try that then fire it up, as of now I am fairly sure the rings will go but if I can do this first and soften the rust up so it can burn off or rub off via the rings, then ill be good. Cause as of now im looking at a rebuild so I guess I shouldnt worry about it and attemp to fire it, worse that happens is a ring breaks.

 

..........and gets cocked in the cylinder and carves a groove in the wall, ruining that cylinder.

ymmv.....

 

Thats a risk I have to take. If the ring breaks I will just rebuild the engine and if need be have the cylinders sleeved.

Only question I have left is on the oil drive shaft. When I go to pull the diet is there a way the shaft can fall into the pan?

I know the Windsor and sbc have a collar to hold the shaft to the pump. I have the oil and filter and rebuilt the carb and the used dual action fuel pump I picked up very close to starting the engine now. Just need to spin the oil pump replace condenser and points and see what happens.

 

Been a while since I pulled the dist on a 292, but the oil pump is external. While you might pull the shaft out of the pump, I don't think it can fall anywhere.

Good luck with the start up.

~Steve