Hello everyone!

My name is Will and I am new to the forum. I've been reading a lot off of this site and really appreciate the knowledge you guys share. I am the owner of a 1968 Firebird 400 Convertible. My dad and I purchased this car back in 2001 to be a father-son project. When we got the car, it looked terrible but ran. The transmission started leaking and we had the seals replaced, followed with a decent paint job back in 2002. He is in the Navy and deployed a fair amount so the car ended up sitting. I ended up heading off to college and the car ended up being stored in the garage. I eventually joined the Air Force and due to me moving around the country and not having a garage, my parents ended up buying an enclosed car trailer in which the car has sat for the past 10 or so years. Luckily my parents were willing to keep the car, moving it with them everytime my dad was stationed at a new base. I ended up stationed in Georgia and have a house with a garage. 3 weeks ago I was reunited with my car when it showed up at my house in a tractor trailer. It hasnt been started since about 2005 and is still in pieces. The past few days I've started working on it a little bit and could use some help. The biggest problems are that I don't know where to begin. Obviously before trying to start her up, I need to flush all the fluids and replace some hoses due to dry rot. The brakes do not work, which made it fun getting off of the trailer. The oil an tranny fluid look good, but I will flush and replace anyway. I havent tried to turn her over by hand yet, but hopefully the engine is free. Today I looked down into the radiator and I noticed some brown, mud like sludge. I do not think it is from a blown head gasket or anything mechanical since it hasnt been started in 10 years. Is it possible its just from corrosion and fluid sitting in the radiator? What can you recommend I do as my first steps to getting her started again? Im attaching some pics to show the sludge and fluid in the radiator.

Being packed up by my parents and the truck driver




All loaded up ready for a trip from Washington State to Georgia. This car has travelled with my family over the years from Charleston, South Carolina where we bought it to Connecticut, to Lousiana, Washington and now here, in the same condition it sits now.

Being unloaded at my house off the car carrier, there were some nice cars on the trailer, a 68 Camaro was on top with a few Merceds, a Porsche 911 GT3RS and a custom hot rod

Finally got her pushed down the road into my garage.





Any tips on where to begin would be appreciated!

A few pics down inside the radiator. There is plenty of clear fluid in there which cant be seen in these pictures. The mud/sludge stuff is just at the top coming from the center of the radiator, not the sides.





Sorry for all the pics, just looking for somewhere to being this project.

That is normal and will be more severe if distilled water isn't used. Combination of minerals in water reacting with the steel block.

I would throw in a radiator cleaner and slowly fill the radiator while engine running so that air pockets in block slowly burp out.

Good to hear. Was hoping I wouldn't need to buy a new radiator yet. Should I be worried by the rust under where the carb spacer sits? I'm afraid of what the inside of the manifold looks like. The carb hasnt been on it since 2006, but it has had stuff covering it to keep mice or whatever could have got inside out.

Just exploring around, I tried popping a valve cover off but they are stuck good, bolts came out but I couldnt get the covers to budge. I looked inside the cap and everything i could see was really clean and lubed. Im gonna try to rubber mallet them off tomorrow if I get the chance.

I had a Jeep that I modified quite a bit so I know how to turn wrenches some, suspension work, electrical and basic car maintenance, but this is my first time working on something like this. I dont have the tools to pull the engine/tranny and am trying to keep this in my own garage as much as possible. What would be the first thing you guys would do after flushing fluids? This will be a learning experience for me.

400 convertable with a/c! keep the a/c stuff. not very common . make it run, make it stop, make it safe,make it pretty.

I'm sure the sludge is built up inside the block. Should run some water thru the block with the lower hose disconnected till it comes out clear.
Same with the radiator. Try and get as much out as you can.
Always use distilled water and antifreeze or a good rust inhibitor.

Nice car! Worth the wait I'm sure.

I would NOT try to start the car until you have done an inspection of the engine. The rust on the intake and other parts of the engine (exposed steel) can be indicator of trouble ahead.
Hopefully the engine was sealed and that you don't have that kind of rust inside the engine.

Take the valve covers off, take plugs out and have a look to see if you any rust or corrosion is present.

Drain all the fluids (oil, anti-freeze, gas from tank).
Put in gas treatment in the tank and full to 1/2 when your ready to run.

There are methods to lubricate the engine without starting it. Others may have some ideas or search on the net. One way to do it is to take distributor out and use drill and flat screw driver to turn the oil pump to circulate the oil. You should get the specifics of how to do this properly.

It would probably be a good idea to use a specific oil viscosity and oil additives to use for the first oil circulation task and startup. Here again, hopefully someone can offer some suggestions for oil.

The other things I do is a complete maintenance on the engine. Plugs, dist cap, rotor, oil filer, air filter, fuel filter. Buy a new battery with max cranking amps. Ensure all electrical connections are clean and tight (POS and NEG grounding).

By doing this you eliminate a lot of potential issues from the start.

Do some testing before starting as well.
1. Verify you have spark at each chamber
2. Verify fuel pump works
3. Verify oil pressure
4. Do compression check on all cylinders
5. Inspect old plugs for oil deposits or any other potential issues
6. Replace fan belts
7. Replace water hoses and rad hoses if they are cracked and/or hard
8. Have rad serviced (dunked in acid and pressure tested
9. At this point just make sure there is fluid in the transmission
10. Consider isolating the gas intake from a plastic gas tank (take the gas lines out of the testing as
they may be in poor condition and the gas tank is probably full of crap as well.

Brakes don't work probably because the brake lines are corroded. That means your gas lines are probably bad as well.

Sounds like a lot work but if you just jump into it a try to short cut the process it just leads to more troubleshooting, frustration and a lot of wasted time.

Good luck!

Nonothing, thanks! I have the rest of the AC parts in rubber maid tubs and the compressor in the back seat. When we started tearing her down 15 years ago, we tried our best to label everything and keep it together.

Bigchief, whats the best way to run water through? I dont want risk getting the sludge any further in, not sure if that matters much.

Gus, thanks for the break down. This is a good list for me to focus on checking off. I imagine the gas tank has rust on the inside since its sat forever. I was looking at possibly just replacing it. As far as the brakes go, Im sure the master cylinder is shot too along with the lines. I can see up on the cylinder where fluid was leaking out. I'm gonna replace the belts on everything, kinda sucks since the ones on there were brand new last time she ran, theyve just sat too long, same with the plugs. The wiring is somewhat of a mess but I shouldn't have too much trouble with that.

Should I try turning it by hand now to see if the engine is free or could that cause any damage? If so can i do it with the belts still on? I keep seeing Marvel Mystery Oil being referenced for prepping an engine thats sat for a while. Ive seen a few people putting some in the cylinders and letting it sit for a few days...Do you guys recommend this?

I bought a awesome trunk lid from a guy in Georgia. No rust except where the trunk lid attaches to the arms. When I received the lid I noticed how rusted it was. Took a grinder to it but surprised how thick it was. Georgia rust looks different that prairie rust up here.

The rust looks like what your engine has on it as well. With the intake open then some of the cylinders have rust in them. If it's like the the stuff you see then the engine could be seized or will seize when you try to turn it.

Take the battleship off and get a better look. If it's rusty you can probably fix it but if you turn it you risk f'n your bearings. If your rubber hose' pipes are bad then don't bet the engine will be much better. I'd pull the engine and remove pan and battleship to see how she looks. If the engine had not been rebuilt before or more than 15 years it probable needs to be done.

You have a rare original engine ... only one/car.

Finally took a valve cover completely off and the intake manifold. Can you guys tell me what Im looking at as far as how healthy it is? There is some sludge in two of the ports in the front but everything else looks pretty clean to me. How the heck do you get the left side valve cover off? I couldnt get a socket in on the far back bolt.

Some pics of the manifold

I think the motor looks pretty clean except for the sludge stuff in the water galleys! When I took mine apart it literally had carbon wrapped around one of the lifters. I had to knock it off with a hammer it was on there so thick. I had to have a rebuild.

The valve train, cam, and lobes look clean. I would get some assembly lube and smear it on the cam just like they do for a break-in procedure. Find someone who can lend you a priming tool or buy one for $18. At this point you only have less than a dozen bolts on each side to get the heads off. Then you could really see where you stand with the pistons and If all looks good and there is no rust, loosen the belts and you can turn the motor over by hand to see if it is frozen.
If that proves to be good I would coat the walls of the pistons with oil. Clean the water galleys in the heads as best you can and put the heads back on with new gaskets. You will need to flush the coolant out once you get it back together but now you have a better idea of where you stand.

Way to go jumping into the project!

It looks very clean on the inside. Water gallerys look gummed up. Possible head gasket leak?

Back when it was running there didnt seem to be a headgasket leak. Is it possible thats just from sitting for so long? You think a flush, new oil and some isolated fuel and I will be good to fire her up?

I can understand not wanting to pull the heads. Then you need to disconnect the exhaust manifolds, take off the mounting brackets for the alt and power steering, air cond. stuff. It really does look clean inside. It is up to you. If you don't think that you will have the "would have, should have, could have" and you are confident then put it back together. I would still put break in lube on the cam since everything is really dry from sitting. pour some oil on the lifters and let it soak down inside. also try some lube in the pistons (it will smoke for several minutes till it burns off). maybe rebuild the carb and see what happens. Use wisdom and read what others have offered. I am no expert.
Good luck, your doing great.

Engine looks fine inside the lifter galley. The coolant passages are typical for an engine that sits for years with old or no coolant. Unless you want to pull the engine the best you can do is try and flush as much as you can with a garden hose. They do sell chemicals that supposedly help clean out the coolant system but it would take a few times and you would have to keep flushing out the system to remove all the residue.
a good radiator shop could check and flush out the radiator and even take the tanks off and rod the core.
Remember never to fill the system with tap water and only use distilled water and the proper antifreeze ratio.

Thanks for the adivce. I have a new carb sitting in the box for it. I think I might give it ago soon.

Whats the best way to flush with a garden hose..inlet and outlet locations? Are there any plugs on the bottom of the block I need to take out? I was told by a few people to go pick up some Blue Devil flush and run it through a few times. Im also having a hard time getting to that back bolt on the passenger side valve cover. Any advice?

Does any one have a good place to get a new valley pan gasket? I see people saying just to RTV it, but others have said if I do that, chances are the valley pan is going to get smashed up if I ever need to try and take it out again.

You can take the coolant drain plugs out, most likely have to jam a screwdriver up the holes to get it to start flowing out.
You can hook up garden hose to heater hose nipple. Or if you feel like taking the water pump off stuff it in the front of the block.
The more junk you can flush out the better. Don't forget to flush out the heater core and check that for leaks.
The valley pan gasket is called the pushrod cover gasket in the book that most local parts stores use.

WillMill, where in Georgia are you located. I am in McDonough. I would recommend the black fiber type valley pan gasket that Butler Performance sells. They are located in Tenn. However I keep some on the shelf if you are local. Kyle.

Awesome, thanks. I will try flushing it this week hopefully.

Kyle, Im down in the Augusta area so its kind of a hike. I appreciate the offer, I will probably end up just ordering some. I need to get some other gaskets and hoses anyway.