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I have a '72 pantera pre-L (#2725) that I received after my father's passing in December. My father owned the car for approximately 15 years. He purchased it from a gentleman in NJ who had lost his leg in a motorcycle accident and the car has always been cared for-maybe not babied, but cared for. My father had all of the "typical" upgrades done to make the care safe to drive and cared for the vehicle to the best of his ability......now on to my question!

Over the last 10 years, the car has been driven infrequently-approximately 3x a year. The engine is healthy, featured good compression, has an aluminum intake, headers, and a slightly lumpier-than-stock cam. My dad ran Amsoil 10w-40 (I believe that was the weight). The car has always fired once fuel made its way to the carb and purred like a kitten afterward. Due to my Dad's illness, the car wasn't driven for @ 1 1/2 years.

So obviously I want to fire the car up. I've read many articles dealing with this topic and each has different ideas of what you should do in this situation. I've read to squirt Marvel's Mystery Oil (or just motor oil) in each spark plug hole and I know some folks pull the distributor and use a spade bit to pump oil about. I'd rather not pull the distributor unless you guys think it absolutely necessary to avoid damage.

What would you guys suggest?
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quote:
Originally posted by Clockwork:
... the car wasn't driven for @ 1 1/2 years.

A year and a half is not long enough for anything to seize in the motor. Change the oil, filter & plugs. Drain the gasoline and refill with fresh. Pull the coil wire and crank 'till you get oil pressure, then connect the coil and fire it up. Once it runs, change the coolant and gear oil.
With an engine that has been sitting for some time it is adviseable to pull the coil wire off, at the coil, and turn the engine over until the engine has built up some oil pressure.(may take a few minutes) At low RPM there will be the least amount of damage to a dry engine. This saves pulling plugs etc. I would also disable the fuel pump during the procedure, only if it is electric. Then replace coil wire pour some fresh fuel down the carb, and try to start.
I'm definately doing an oil change-my dad was using Amsoil in 10w-40 (folks here seem to use heavier weight oils so that's another one i'll have to figure out). I will drain the fuel and replace the zf oil as well. The coolant, I'm sure needs replacing.

Thank you all for the advice! The last thing that I wanted to do was get a great car that's ready-to-run and gouge the pistons.
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