My son and I purchased a 1974 F100, it is original (360) and ran when parked by the farmer that owned it. Friday we will bring it home which leads me to the question. I will clean old gas out of tanks, plugs, rotor, oil, cap and fuel filters before I attempt to start it. Is there any thing else to change or look for before we start her up? I plan to do a compression check if we get it running, just not sure how do it yet.

 

It might be locked up. Usually one or two or three exhaust valves will be open allowing moisture to get in and it will cause a valve to kinda get stuck or the rings to seize a little. When you change the plugs squirt some PB Blaster or AeroKroil in the cylinder and give it a good thirty minutes.

 

2x with kingofcows. Spray each cylinder and soak with the penetrant of your choice. Then with the plugs removed, see if the crank with rotate using a breaker bar and socket. Sometimes it takes a little rocking back and forth.

Sounds like you got most of it covered but...
Do a full carb rebuild.
Change the spark plug wires too.
Fresh or fully charged battery.
Test the solenoid to see if even works.
Pull the dizzy and prime the oiling system.
Fresh gasoline and fuel filter.
New oil and oil filter.
Drain & refill the cooling system. Water first - no use in wasting a coupla gallons of coolant. You can drain it out later after determining if it even runs.
With a fire extinguisher on hand, fire it up. It'll prolly smoke like crazy due to the oily cylinders but it should go away in a short time.

Good luck on your adventure!

 

This is by far THE most important step. Be absolutely sure to prime the oiling system before starting.

Josh

 

IMO , if it turns over , nothing else to do but make sure the carb is up to it and fresh fuel .. Any damage that is there , will always be there . Rust in the cylinders will either be a problem , or not .. Start it up ...

 

you might get lucky and it'll just fire up with a little bit of priming. i wouldn't go ahead and just start dumping gas down the carb. give it a tune-up and spray penetrating oil down each spark plug hole and give 'er.

 

Ok sounds good, unfortunately I have no idea what the dizzy is and how to prime the system, could you expand on that one? Also do you turn the crank clockwise/counter or does it matter. Thanks all!

 

Actually if it is at all possible, using a known good carb is the best way to go. But that is an ideal situation. I wouldn't hesitate the start the engine with the carb as is, but I wouldn't expect the engine to run well or at the least leak like a sieve.

Better to use a known carb or rebuild what is there before starting the engine though.

A couple years ago I snagged a 1966 Honda C90, Sat unused, outside since 1975. I said screw it, left the oil as is, dumped some gas in the tank, hooked up a battery charger and kick started it. Took a dozen cranks, but came to life and smoked like crazy.

Now I ride around the neighborhood flipping off the yuppie Harley riders.

Josh

 

Bring #1 cylinder to TDC (#1 cylinder is front cylinder on passenger side) and pull the distrbutor.

There will be an oil pump driveshaft that you can use an extension to reach and use a hand drill to spin the shaft COUNTER CLOCKWISE. You'll know when it is pumping because the drill will load down big time. Keep it going for a bit more and you'll be good.

Josh

 

The "dizzy " is the distributor" ,, when you pull it , there is a rod in the block the runs the oil pump .. In order tho know if it is pumping oil . the valve covers need to be off ..If you feel it is important to do it ,,, IIRC it is a 1/4 socket to fit the rod .. THe cylinders will not be coated with oil doing this ,, crank bearings will already be OK ,, the cam lifters & rockers will be lubed by running the pump ....
It can't hurt ...

 

To hi jack a bit, I saw a 79 2wd with a 302 that had been sitting up for 17 years, crank, run, and drive not too long ago with only a battery and the air cleaner taken off. Hard to believe it would run with a dried 2150 and Old gas.

 

Thanks for the advice gents. As far as using the breaker bar on the crank bolt which way should I turn that?

 

either way works. if you're just seeing if she'll crank over, then just give 'er. if you're trying to get the #1 piston at TDC, make sure it's on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke.

 

Clockwise

Josh

 

On another note I was just going to take out the gas tanks, drain, rinse and replace. Is there an easier way?