I have just added to my fleet at TR7 that has not been run in five years.
I will be going through the brakes before trying to drive the car but the
question
is:
What should i do to the engine before trying to start it. I am told that
it ran well when it was put into storage five years ago. When I say
storage, it was simply parked and forgotten.
I also have a TR6 engine in the same condition, out of the car, and in
a year when I put it in the restored body I will be dealing with the same
"storage" condition.
Any suggestions or ideas about how to "wake up" this thing??
Thanks for your help
David
Parks@Ithaca.edu
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I recently purchased a 76 Spitfire that had been in storage (inside) since
1984. It had not been started in 13 years! The PO had not prepared it for
storage.
When I purchased it and took it home some 6-8 weeks ago, I pulled the spark
plugs and squirted a little oil (carefull not to add too much!) in each
cylinder. I let that soak for a day and then pulled the coil wire and
cranked the engine over a couple of times. (Did I mention that I had
already pulled the gas tank and drained all of the old gas (dark molasses
color) and rinsed the tank with clean fuel!).
I changed the fuel filter, replaced all of the rubber fuel lines (most
surely yours will be dry & cracked as well). I also gave the car the usual
tune up items making sure everything is freed up well.
You will also surely want to change every fluid in the car. Give it a good
radiator flush, check for leaks. Change the thermostat (5 bucks at NAPA). I
went thru and changed the tranny fluid and repacked the front wheel
bearings and greased all of the spots that get it.
As for the brakes, I found it helpful to pull the calipers and check the
cylinders for rust, then push the cylinders all the way in to ensure proper
travel of the cylinders. It's real nice to get off the line pretty quick,
even better to stop just as fast.
Good luck with it! They definately are a lot of fun. Sorry I can't offer
any TR7 specific information.
Best Regards
Mark Townsend
Rochester, NH
76 Spitfire
87 Turbo Quattro
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