My 1987 IROC-Z has been stored for 5 years now and i want to take it this summer. The car has a 305 TPI engine and manual trans. milleage is 81000 miles. What should i check on the car before to take it? The seels? Injectors clean up? Transmission oil change? anything else?

 

and you now want to start it up?

drain gas, refill with premium from jerry can
change fuel filter
change oil & filter

i'd put in new plugs and rotor and cap, but that's kinda optional I guess.

oh, I guess jump starting or trickle charging or replacing the battery is a given.

 

I'd pull the Pickup connectors off of the distributor, so the ecm won't fire the spark or injectors, and crank it until the oil pressure starts to go up.

 

Also, make sure to remove you ignition wire and spin it over to get oil pressure before you start it, you may even want to pull the dist, and prime it that way. And also maybe put it up on jack stands and let it run in gear for a little while like you breaking in the rear end in, like maybe a few min in the forward gears and a few in reverse, make dang sure you have the rear wheels stoped before you go between forward and reverse/park. Also you may want to flush you radiator, and change you belts or belt, it may be dryrotted. GOOD LUCK and get that thing back on the street.

 

Replace belts, heater/rad/vac hoses. Check inside and outside of radiator for general condition. Check/replace brake fluid. Get a can of contact cleaner and clean every elec connection you find. Especially ecm sensors, like tps, maf, coolant temp, O2, etc. Check general condition of sensor wiring.
Check/clean the connections for the fuel pump and maf relays.
Remove the spark plugs, squirt a little oil in each cyl. Crank eng over with fuel injs unplugged (or with inj fuses removed) until you get oil press. Check plug wires and replace if needed. Replace fuel filter and get new fuel. Remove valve core from fuel rail shrader valve. Run a hose from shrader valve to a sutiable container, and cycle key from "off" to "run" untill you have purged 1-2 quarts (pump will only run a couple of secs each time the key is turned to "run"). This will flush old fuel from the fuel lines and fuel rail. Put everything back to normal, start it up and check for leaks. Once it's warm, shut it off and replace oil/filter. With eng running, press brake pedel hard and verify no "sinking pedel" or leakage. Drive it!

 

I wouldn't use premium fuel. Lower octane fuel is actually more volatile, so it can help dissolve varnish and deposits. Personally, I wouldn't bother cleaning ane connections except the battery cables.

Your brakes could very well be stuck. They certainly will be rusted unless you applied rust prevetive to the rotors when it was stored. As mentioned, you'll want to chage the brake fluid since it may have picked up atmospheric water during storage.

You will need to change oil and filter once it's been run. You'll need to change transmission oil. The rear axle oil will need a change if it wasn't done before storage.

Plan on a cooling system flush and refill.

Unless you have trouble with the injectors, normal fuel flow through them should be adequate to clean them.

Inspect the intake track for "guests", and plan on a filter unless you sealed the intake openings when you stored it.

If you fogged the cylinder for storage, you shoudl be O.K. If not, you may want to pull the plugs and intoduce a little 2-cycle oil to each cylinder, the crank the engine several times with the plugs removed to distribute the oil.

If the engine has used synthetic, the seals should be good. If it had mineral oil, you may have dried seals and the subsequent leaks. So long as a seal is not mechanically damaged, you can switch to synthetic to soften the seals again.

And I'm guessing you'll find more once you start driving it.

 

Thanks a lot guys! I will check everything and hope not to find any big surprises. Anyway everything in bad condition i will find will be replaced because this is a rust free car and i own it since 1992 and expect to keep it for ever!

 

This will be a realy good feeling to take my IROC again!