Bringing a Venture to life that has not been run for almost 30 years!!

[cowpuc]

A good friend of mine recently asked for my back yard mechanical level opinionated opinion as to where I would start if I was going to attempt to revive a Venture that had been sitting for almost 30 years.. Of course, my first response was = !!!!!!!!!!!! Then,, I looked down at my twisted up old fingers and how not fun it is to type these days and, how much fun and easier making videos and posting them on You Tube has become for me so,,, after reading thru the things he had already covered in his inquiry to me - I stepped out into my professional video studio and produced the response below... Shady,, I hope you find something in here that is helpful. If any of you other lop eared wrench spinning varmints got suggestions for bringing one of our own back to life on the open road = please feel free to jump in here with suggestions of your very own,, or correct mine, or make some kind of a combination thereof... Bottom line,, LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL BROTHERS and SISTERS!!!!

 

[bongobobny]

Yup, what Puc says!! Myself, I would make up a 50/50 mixture of ATF (which is pretty much what Marvel Mystery oil is) and brake fluid or penetrating oil (brake fluid is a wonderful penetrating oil and rust eater), and pull the plugs and using a syringe as Puc mentioned, squirt about 5 to 10 cc's into each cylinder and let it sit for a day or two. I would, at this time, drain all that 30-year oil out of the crankcase, and let it drain for a day to get all the nasty sludge as well! I would then find some inexpensive 10W40 oil that does NOT have any friction modifiers in it, just to use for a little while, like as long as it takes to get the engine running, then dump that oil as it will be contaminated with rust and gunk. Now, just as Puc said, once that penetrating mixture has sat for a couple of days, disable the ignition and fuel line and crank it over and over and over to hopefully clean up the piston rings and cylinder walls before you actually try to get it running...

 

There is also an old school trick of mixing kerosene in with some oil to turn over the motor (and maybe run it for about 15 seconds) and then drain that mixture for a good day to flush out the rust and sludge if you are brave, but I'm thinking hopefully with the very low mileage on your motor there should be very little actual sludge, just the possibility of a rust buildup...

 

Best of luck, pretty much plan on rebuilding every caliper and master cylinder as I'll bet you dollars to donuts you will find a crystallized mess in them...