Engine Startup Questions

Howdy,
Looking ahead to starting up the 327 in my 57 after building up from the short-block (non-roller). It has sat a while, so I have done the Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders routine, rotated, repeated, primed the engine using a drill driving the oil pump, rotating the engine as I went (got oil to all the rockers). I figure to prime the engine one more time (rotating again), and then button it all up.

How long do you figure I can let it sit before startup (so I don't have to prime again)?

I have read some startup procedures where after the initial 30 minute break-in, you then drive the car for 30 miles at varying speeds. Is the driving part necessary, since I am not sure the car is road-ready yet? If I need to drive it soon, I will have to do some more work first.
Thanks, Doug

Here's my thoughts.

Once primed and verifying that you have oil to the rockers, you won't need to pull the distributor and re-prime even if you wait a reasonable time. All you would need to do at initial startup would be to spin the engine over with no power to the ignition until you see the oil pressure gauge move.

At initial startup, you should verify the ignition timing and run the engine for 20-30 minutes at about 2000 rpm while monitoring for leaks and overheating. At the end of that run, do any carb idle tuning etc. that you need.

You don't need to drive the car for further break in immediately. If you store it a while, do the same spinning of the engine with no ignition power before the driving part.

The only other thing to keep in mind is that if you store it with fuel in the tank, lines, and carb, the fuel is going to evaporate and leave gummy deposits. And if it's got ethanol in it, the fuel is going to attract moisture and start corrosion. That's the biggest reason to wait on the initial startup. You could avoid some of the problems by running the carb dry and draining the tank before storage.

Hi Rick,
Thanks for the guidance. All good points.

Your comments reminded me that I was going to drive over to the next town, and get non-ethanol fuel for the startup. I forget stuff these days!
Thanks, Doug

Thought I would give an update. On Christmas Eve day, did the first startup on my 327 after reassembly, and did the 30 minute engine break-in. Things went well, oil pressure good, didn't overheat, hardly any particles caught in a paint filter I used to strain the oil (I didn't cut the oil filter open, just drained it through the paint filter). On the second start, did the carb and timing tuning. I have some leaks to chase down now. Biggest leak was from the CPP 500 steering box connection nearest the firewall. Prior to subsequent startups, I have tried tightening the fitting, repeated loosening and tightening of the fitting while rotating the connection, no bueno. I see a scored mark on the brass seal in the box over only half of the seal, so tried reaming the inside of the flare in the hose fitting, and a bit of emery cloth smoothing, still leaks. Have a replacement line on order, in hopes the original flare on the line was out of kilter. If that fails, I guess I should order a replacement for the brass box fitting from CPP. I have a couple of more minor engine oil leaks to track down, once I get the big leaker fixed.
Regards, Doug

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Belair-o

Thought I would give an update. On Christmas Eve day, did the first startup on my 327 after reassembly, and did the 30 minute engine break-in. Things went well, oil pressure good, didn't overheat, hardly any particles caught in a paint filter I used to strain the oil (I didn't cut the oil filter open, just drained it through the paint filter). On the second start, did the carb and timing tuning. I have some leaks to chase down now. Biggest leak was from the CPP 500 steering box connection nearest the firewall. Prior to subsequent startups, I have tried tightening the fitting, repeated loosening and tightening of the fitting while rotating the connection, no bueno. I see a scored mark on the brass seal in the box over only half of the seal, so tried reaming the inside of the flare in the hose fitting, and a bit of emery cloth smoothing, still leaks. Have a replacement line on order, in hopes the original flare on the line was out of kilter. If that fails, I guess I should order a replacement for the brass box fitting from CPP. I have a couple of more minor engine oil leaks to track down, once I get the big leaker fixed.
Regards, Doug

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Doug, I have read about intermittent leaking on the CPP500 boxes. I have one I havent installed yet. How about your fittings? I think the box is inverted flair. I know CPP has the specs on their site. I bought aeroquip fittings to convert to AN6. I havent started the install yet, but if its not leaking on the box side then changing the fittings might be a step in the right direction and it does provide hose flexibility. Also you can get the pressure hoses from Summit and make any necessary turn with the AN6 fittings.

I am using AN6 on the box, pump and hydroboost.

Just a thought.

S

The problem with CPP500 boxes leaking at the high pressure fitting is that they use a brass cone seat that's too thin. Because of that, the threads bottom out before the tube or fitting fully seats on the cone. This has been an intermittent problem on CPP boxes for over 15 years (some are ok and seal up, others don't). The answer is a cone seat that's about .060" thicker. I got a new cone seat from them over 15 years ago, and they still will provide them. Maybe you need to get ugly with them to get one. Another solution might be an aluminum or brass washer under the thin cone seat, or I've even heard of using a metal/rubber sealing washer.

Why CPP has chosen not to fix this problem after 15 years is a mystery to me. For me, considering their other questionable products and lack of customer service, makes the Borgeson box the obvious choice if I was ever to buy another power steering box, and ANY other vendor's product for other things. The only worse thing you could do is buy a CPP product from Ecklers.

On the other hand, that's the worst rep a CPP box has, and since it's so easy to fix with a box in place, and so expensive to change to a Borgeson, stick with it and fix it.

Thanks Scorp and Rick!
The leak seems to be caused by a mismatch between the hose fitting that threads into the steering box, and the brass cone seat in the box. The brass cone seat shows a gouge on half of the seat, and no gouge on the other half of the seat. I have tried getting a bit cowboy on tightening the connection, but can't close the gap. The hose fitting still has threads showing, so not bottoming too soon in the box. I am supposed to get the replacement hose Tuesday, which has the fitting already installed on the hose. I will hope to get the hose on and test for leaks on Wednesday. I hope the two fittings will match up, and that the existing gouge in the brass cone seat won't be a problem.
Thanks! Doug

Update: The leak I had on my CPP500 box was fixed by installing a new line between the pump and the steering box. The line I originally installed had a bad flare on the formed fitting end, that I couldn't massage/tweak to fit properly. Nice to have that big leaker fixed.