VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Started 1931 Engine After 40 plus years

Well, I finally got around to starting the engine on my '31 Sedan. My Grandfather and my Father are surely smiling down on me from up above. I found it easier to sit it in the frame and use temporary wires to hook everything up. It took a little bit, but with the help of spray starting fluid, it fired up and kept running. When it did start, there was some smoke, but not a large amount, from the tailpipe. It subsided a little after a few minutes. I have tried to keep the cylinders lubricated with Marvel Mystery Oil over the years, so I am sure that some of that smoke was that oil.

Today, I put the radiator in and hooked it all up to see if I had any leaks. The engine fired right up, no problem. Found one small leak on the upper radiator tank which looks easily fixable. I left it run for about 30 minutes and the temp gage never got above the "N" in Normal. The thermostat even opened as it should. Again, the engine smoked from the tail pipe some, but after about 15 or 20 minutes the smoke was not noticeable.

So, I guess my question is: Is it normal for this engine to burn some oil and smoke some on starting, and as the engine heats up and things get to normal temperature, will it stop burning oil?

Thanks all.

A little smoke from the tail pipe after 40 years not running is expected. The metal parts need to adjust to each other. I would not worry about it as 200-500 miles per quart of oil is normal for older engines.

Some of the smoke may have been coming from some MMO trapped in the muffler.

Thanks Chipper and Chev Nut. Good to know.
One more question. After I fix the radiator leak, should I run use some cooling system flush to try to clean the system at all? I was thinking it might do more harm than good though.
Thanks

when i did my flush, did hte radiator separately to keep any debris out of it.
then flushed out the block so that any debris would come out.
when i put it all back together i put a Gano filter on the return just before the radiator, so any debris would be caught and not make it to the radiator. I then ran EvapoRust/ThermoCure in it for a few months, as noted on the instructions works best when warm, so going through cycles aids in it working. this stuff cleans up the iron and removes rust and is very impressive. there are a TON of postings about people doing this on their antique cars on the AACA forum, actually before EvapoRust developed ThermoCure specifically for this purpose.

when i did my 1930 https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/449445/

BearsFan315 kids giving great advice. Get the radiator cleaned separately. Then do what you can to flush the block before you start circulating coolant from the block to the radiator. The Gano filter will prevent plugging a perfectly good radiator.

If it had a coolant in the system all those tthose years the block will be full of rust.

I agree with Gene that rust will be left after many years of an engine sitting with coolant in it.

Such was the case with my '28 Canopy express. The rust mass was particularly heavy around the rear two cylinders. The engine had been sitting since the early 1970's when the previous owner (PO) tried to fire it up (unsuccessfully - long story). I resurrected it in 2012.

First, I took the radiator out to be boiled and cleaned. The local radiator shop said the unit was good but a lot of junk came out of it.

I took off the head, thus gaining access to the water jackets in the head and the block. Then, I was able to poke around (screwdriver and coat hanger wire) and vacuum out a whole lot of crud.

I also found that the PO had put extra gasket sealant on the head gasket around the water passages. How much did you ask? So much that he actually almost closed up the water passages in between the block and the head! See the attached pic.

After putting the head back on (with a new head gasket), I then flushed the block (with the thermostat out) forwards and backwards with clean water from the garden hose. Some more stuff came out.

Then, I put the radiator back in and have been running it for a few years without problems.

Cheers, Dean

Thank you all again for the recommendations and comments.