For about 2 years, I drove a 86 Camaro w/ the 2.8 MPFI v6. Last summer, I bought a 2000 Grand Am SE2. I took the Camaro off the road. While the weather was still warm, I would start it and let it run about 20 minutes once or twice a week. Once the weather got cold here in NY, I bought a cover and covered her up. So the car has not run since probably early November. Is there anything I should be worried about when I fire her up in the spring? (Besides a dead battery.) By the way, the car was losing little or no coolant or oil, and the tranny was rebuilt and has about 4k on it.

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"Little girls play with ponies!"

The valve seals might have hardened/cracked/dried up from lack of use. This would leave you with a harmless puff of blue smoke for every start-up.

You might also want to find a way to prime the oil pump with an electric drill; this will help get some oil back through the engine before you turn the key.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

i wouldnt worry to much about it. I barely drive my car in the summer and its in storage for the winter so i know how it is not to run ur car. I am always afraid of someone crakcing my baby up so i never drive it and if i do its at like 3 am. But back to ur question just make sure the battery is good and i might(might) wanna throw some fresh gas in it. U can acctually do that after u run the car its no big deal.

BTW where in ny u from???

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1989 pontiac firebird
bright red exterior(just repainted)
grey interior
5 spd
305 TBI (stock)
WS.6 formula wheels
3.73 posi rear end
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/Mikey89.html
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1985 trans am
factory bright yellow
4 wheel disks
16 inch wheels
305 TPI
power antenna and mirrors
t tops

So far I'm starting to feel better. I should have mentioned though that the car is stored covered OUTSIDE. Will this make any difference? And any ideas how to prime the oil pump?

To the guy who asked- I'm from Babylon, on Long Island.

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"Little girls play with ponies!"

You need to either make, buy new, or get a junkyard oil pump drive. It's below the distributor; the distributor gear spins it, and the shaft spins the oil pump. Hook up an electric drill, and spin away! If you have a mechanical oil pressure gauge, you should see the pressure kick in.

It's not enough to just spin the motor with a breaker bar, because you need speed to "build up" oil pressure.

After my car sat for a month totalled, I didn't ever think about priming the oil pump- but I did squirt some regular engine oil into each spark plug hole. Don't know if that helped or not, but it made for one hell of a smoke show! Oh- my valve seals leaked ever since that month of sitting; that was almost 5 years ago.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

Hay Mike My Good friend lives in Babylon li im allways there i love it over there i currently live in old millbasin brooklyn



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Dont Race Cops apparently you cant do that! -Dellz

Anyone else know of anything I should be concerned about? And are there any simple things I can do to make the first start-up easier on the motor?

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86 Sport Coupe, 2.8 V6, dead stock, but not for long!

"Little girls play with ponies!"
www.geocities.com/camman86
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