Reply to "1996 rebuilt Cleveland - never started?"

I would agree with all the comments. Did they break in the motor? You may want to put some break in lube on the cam lobes also. If the motor was never started and cam break in lube was used, it's been wiped away from the lobes and not sure how long it could stick to lobe and lifter surface...it may have dripped down into the crank assembly and pan area or just hardened up and might not give the lobes too much protection at start up. Come to think of it, you may want to pull a few bearing caps off and check to see what condition the break in grease is in on the crank, rod and cam bearings. If it hardened up it might be useless or may not offer any protection at all, or could clog up the oiling system??? This is a question for the petroleum engineers...what happens to the break in grease applied to bearings over that many years?

I would also seriously consider replacing the valve seals if they are the umbrella type...I think they are old enough that they could crack and start to disengrate. If teflon seals were put in you might be ok??? Not sure of the shelf life of teflon seals, someone else can comment on that. I purchased a set of 4v heads that had been rebuilt and the umbrellas were cracked. Possibly later umbrella seals have longer life due to advances in umbrella material?

Also I would buy an ARP or FRP heavy duty oil pump drive shaft...if the stock one is still in the motor and put with the new high volume pump you could have issues down the road. As some have commented the stock shaft seems to have been made from coat hanger wire.

Good luck!