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I have a big block Ford, 390, that has been sitting 33 years.  It's in a 1956 F100 pickup.  It was stored inside a garage and sealed up the entire time.  Also, the cooling system was completely drained prior to storage.  This motor only has about 200 miles on it since a complete rebuild back in the early 1980's.

My question:  I want to remove the spark plugs and soak the cylinders with some kind of oil before I try to rotate the crank by hand.  I've heard of using Marvel Mystery Oil or using ATF.  What are the best choices for this?  The motor should be good but I want to be safe and not damage anything.  My plan is after the crank rotates a little is to change the oil and filter with some Lucus Hot Rod and Classic Car motor oil (with high zinc content) and prime the heck out of it with a drill motor to get oil throughout the motor.  Then try cranking it with the starter.


Any info is appreciated.
Hey Mike I asked this question a couple years ago, when I was starting the Jacobra build, and had bought my 71 Lincoln which had sat for 30 years. I was curious, if anyone new of anything better then the Marvel, or ATF, as there have been a significant number new products out there, since I used to do this a looooonnnngggggg time ago. Guess what ??? No one had any Ideas that were better. Some offered mixing them, or a long list of how to do it correctly. Other then that ?????? It seems the tried, and true Marvel, or ATF was the go to remedy. Maybe somebody knows something new since then? good Luck.

JTS
I was leaning towards Marvel Mystery Oil.  I know ATF cleans well.  But I don't think it lubricates as well.
The motor on my son's Camaro sat for well over 30 years.  I actually don't remember we what we used in the cylinders but I know we prepped them with some type of oil.  I am sure he will remember so I will get back to you on that. I do remember we drained all old fluids, hand rotated the assembly and primed the oil pump.  Remarkably the engine fired right.  I was really surprised there was no valvetrain/lifter issues with the motor after sitting for so long.
With a good oil prime before initial firing, I am always amazed at how well these old "sitting" motors will fire up and run.
Follow up:

I removed the spark plugs and put some Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder.  Let is soak for a short time.  Pulled the distributor and primed the oil for quite a long time.  It had 60 psi on a mechanical gauge spinning the oil pump with a drill motor.  Put a socket and ratchet on the crank and wow, the motor turns over just fine.


Next is all the stuff no longer any good from sitting for 33 years, water pump, fuel pump, hoses, fuel lines, fuel tank (it smells great if you like varnish), rebuild the carb, and on and on.  You get the picture.  I'm actually shocked how stuff corrodes or deteriorates from just sitting.
I recently used some Marvel's Mystery Oil to wake up my Jeep CJ-7 after having been sitting around for the past 5 years - worked like a champ.  Just like the others mentioned, pulled the plugs, squirted some into the cylinders, and poured about 6oz into the oil filler and let it trickle down to the pan.  While I had the plugs out, I hand-cranked the engine about 18-20 full revolutions.  I also filled the tank with about 5 gallons of premium along with some Royal Purple Max-Clean Stabilizer/Octane boost, and shot some Berryman's into the bowl vents, along with a shot down the throat then fired it up - which it did almost immediately, but I had to shoot a couple more blasts down the throat while the mechanical fuel pump got fully primed and it ran on its own.

Then about a week later, I had to replace the cap & rotor while chasing some fouled plugs, only to discover that the spark plug wires (the only thing I didn't change) gave up the ghost and needed to be changed.  All is good now, though.

Hope that helps!
Thanks for documenting and sharing your successful  CJ-7 pulled out of hibernation process.

Good information to consider.