The engine I am putting into my truck has not been started in almost a year. I have hand cranked it but that obviously isn't enough to get the juices flowing. It is a 428FE. Is there anything special I need to do before the initial start up?

 

If it was me, I would pull the dizzy and go pick up a oil pump priming shaft from your local parts house. Hook it up to your electric drill and run that for some time. This will ensure everything is lubed up before you begin to crank the engine and will save a lot of wear and tear on your engine.

Jeff

 

Another option is to pull the plugs (ground the coil wire) and crank it with the starter until the oil pressure builds up. If you used liberal amounts of assembly lube, you should have no problem starting it safely.