I have a 350 on a engine stand with no heads/intake/oil pan. A bunch of dirt and crap is in the lifter valley and the cylinder holes. Without taking it apart is there a way I can clean it all out? I was thinking I could spray a lube through everything but that sounded stupid in my head.

 

Any idea how it got there? U pull it motor, or a short block stored uncovered for x amount of time?
What do the crank & rods look like?
You ** may ** be able to wipe it out with some oil soaked rags, & hope you got it all out. Its a gamble.

Are the lifters in?
How long has the motor been out of use?

 

I would start with the old shop vac and a little brush. Get all you can with the vac and then keep it running in the same area as you are brushing. An old paint brush will work good. Then you could use an oiled rag to get the remains, take your time.

 

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I know that cleanliness is next to godliness, and I am meticulous when I'm around an open engine, but to be perfectly honest, in my college days I helped buddies change intake manifolds on crusty old cars in parking lots, and we watched all kinds of crap fall into the motor when we pulled the dirty old intake off. We'd pick out what we could, then pour a little oil into the valley to wash it back into the pan, then be on our way. Those motors continued to live a happy life for many years thereafter.

The point I'm making here (yes, there was a point!) was that although you absolutely should follow the advice that others have given and get it as clean as possible, once you do that, don't freak out about it. I'd definitely want to get every last bit out of the cylinders if some is in there, because it can score your cylinder walls, but a little bit in the valley isn't really something that I'd get overly nervous about as long as you get as much as you can out, and then just pour some oil into the valley to help the rest drain into the pan, followed by an oil change.

 

With Jim

Grab a gallon of diesel and start pouring with a catch pan under it. Wipe the cyls down flip it over, ck. Youll be fine. Ive left wrenches bolts rags in the lifter valley and the motor lived just fine LOL

 

That works good but if the material is like a wax then I would use a flat blade screw driver to scrape the material out first and then do what is described above.

Back in the mid 80's I helped a friend swap out a 2bbl manifold for a performer manifold and everywhere the oil would puddle he had a waxy material built up. They used Valvoline oil and changed it every 3-4K and the motor only had 40K on the odometer. It had to be scraped off