Thread: Long Standing Jag Engine Start

Drop engine oil first and replace with cheap clean oil... (+New filter)
Plugs out...
Oil in each pot...
Let sit overnight
More oil in each pot...
Rags over each plug port...
Gently key engine over...
Once happy its turning over, few more cranks with the key.
Should be building oil pressure by then... (check)
** if not entirely sure, remove oil pump and prime with Vas..
Refit plugs and prepare for proper start-up.

To get it firing quicker, get some "Start Ya B_stard" and inject down inlet manifold...

Done this to several vehicles in long term storage

I did this many years ago on the FIL's 48 model Jag which had been dormant for 10 yrs. It was on blocks, plugs had been left in, couple of squirts of oil in each pot and exhaust and aircleaner blocked and there it sat under dust covers...

First thing we did was change the oil/filter and also replaced the coolant with demineralised water having removed the thermostat first.

Removed the plugs and poured in about in 20ml SAE 30 engine oil per pot and turned the engine through 2 revolutions using a ratchet socket on the harmonic balancer (plugs out!!)

Unplugged the exhaust, removed the aircleaner and squirted couple of generous shots of engine starter (which contains ether) into each carby throat... waited a couple of minutes, gave it another squirt then fired it up... out in the open took about 5 seconds to fire then ...after the smoke cleared.... "sweet" The vehicle was stored in a small warehouse which was later torched by bored school kids trying to break in... bybye Jag
Saved future arguments about who'd "ïnherit" it when he passed away

I know nothing about jag engines, but in older chevy engines the oil pump is driven off of the distributor. You remove the distributor out of the block and get a tool to go down and using a drill prime the oil pump and pump oil into the engine - can this be done to the jag engine? I would do this after changing the oil. It may also be wise to drain the fuel tank first and put in some fresh fuel additional to what has already been mentioned.
I would also be worried about stuck valves.

Thanks for the the comments - supports what I was thinking. Oil pump will not need priming. The oil has had virtually no use so will leave it until I at least have the engine running.

I have a fresh can of "Start you Bastard" and will use it to help it on its way after I have confirmed everything is turning as it should be. Even when tis engine is running it takes a long time to fire due to the very long inlet pipes between the carbs and head so I am mainly concerned at the amount of time I will have to crank the engine with the cylinder walls not being lubricated however on the basis of information supplied I should be OK.

The tank is out of the car so fresh fuel be taken from a 25l jerry.

Cheers

Garry

hi garry, can we have a sound byte of its start up please? or a vid if that is easier

thanks,

jc

Originally Posted by justinc

hi garry, can we have a sound byte of its start up please? or a vid if that is easier

thanks,

jc

Why? What are you not telling me.

Going on past experience there will be a lot of pops and bangs with a a bit of smoking from the exhaust - then when it finally fires there will be a large backfire out the exhaust and the carbies at the same time then thick acrid smoke once it starts running - quite lumpily for about a minute then the smoke will clear and the engine will settle down to the nice smooth idle that V12s are famous for.

Garry

oh, i was hoping to see the odd mouse or other rodent blasted from the tailpipes....

no just hanging out to hear a carb v12 running again, such a fantastic engine


jc

Originally Posted by justinc

hi garry, can we have a sound byte of its start up please? or a vid if that is easier

thanks,

jc

Well I finally got around to giving the jag engine a go today - after I rigged up a 25litre (box style) jerry can as the tank.

Actually started a bit easier than I thought it would. The carby slides were a bit sticky as were the float needles as you can see at the start. The passenger side rear carby spewed out petrol the whole time but finally freed up at the end.

The camera audio got over whelmed so the sound is crap and even though the engine in some spots sounds like it is revving its guts out I only took it up to about 2800 rpm, well less than half of its 6500rpm red line. The sound is a bit better over the last minute but is a bit soft (taken on the phone).

Unfortunately the editing software had an issue so I couldn't take out much of the cranking for the first 1.50mins and the engine starts to come to life at about that point. It does idle nice and the view at the end shows it idling smoothly at 500 rpm. I double checked my records and the engine was last run in 2004 - nearly 9 years ago not the 5 I thought it had.

I will see if I can get it out of the garage tomorrow for a once around the block drive to annoy my neighbour who has been working on a earlier 6 cylinder for the last 2 years who point blank refuses to believe I could have it on the road in 2 weeks if I ignored the cosmetics.

After that out comes the engine, gearbox (currently a Commodore 5 litre getrag and rear end and the body will be off to get some repair work done before painting in signal red.

I have owned this car for 30 years (almost to the day) and it will be good to get it back on the road - 2013 is the Year of the Jag.

[ame="http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e334/gazzz21/Forum%20Posts%20Album/?action=view&current=output.mp4"]Forum Posts Album :: output.mp4 video by gazzz21 - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid42.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid42.photobucket.com/albums/e334/gazzz21/Forum%20Posts%20Album/output.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid42@@AMEPARAM@@42@@AMEPARA M@@e334/gazzz21/Forum%20Posts%20Album/output@@AMEPARAM@@mp4[/ame]

Garry