HiG4s

I have an 86 Trans Am with 350, Vette heads, Edelbrock intake, Holly carb and Headmen headers that my son bought years ago as a project car, he put it in my garage and lost interest. It was running when it was parked. I want to get it running and out of the garage.

I changed the oil, pulled 5 of the plugs and squirted a little oil in the cylinders. I can't get the other 3 plugs out without pulling the headers.

The battery is dead, but I have a new marine deep cycle battery with 600 CCA, I hook up with jumper cables with the old battery completely disconnected. The engine will turn over, but only very slowly.

I assume it is just because it has been sitting so long, but want to see if anyone thinks the battery is not strong enough, or there might be any other reasons.
Any suggestions to help me get it running would be appreciated.

1badeagle

Well 600 cca should be more than enough to turn it over. Are you sure the battery your using is fully charged? Maybe try some starting fluid in the carb while cranking it. Also check your wires over well. Mice love those precious num nuns we know as wires.

Dustin

HiG4s

Battery is only 6 months old and on a battery tender. It is not actually turning over fast enough to even try to start it yet, so I haven't put the plugs back in. I need to get a wrench that will allow me to get the plugs out where the header is close. I suppose it could be the starter or starter connections.

1badeagle

I don't know, maybe put the plugs back in and try to start it slow rolling it may suprise you.

BigBadLou

Careful:
1. Marine Deep Cycle batteries are not designed for cranking engines, excessive use for starting will damage them. You don't want to destroy your new expensive marine battery.
2. Jumper cables do not provide good enough connections to transfer the hundreds of cranking amps from the battery to the starter. That's why the engine is turning over very slowly. And the jumper cables will get hot the longer you crank.

At least you know that the engine is turning over, that's a good sign! *thumb up*

I would recommend either putting the marine battery in temporarily (if the cables will mate up but most likely not because marine batteries have commonly different terminals from car batteries) if you just want to start the car.

Or if you have a strong battery charger (with start assist), you can hook it up to the car's battery cables as well (not to the battery) and that might be just enough current to turn the engine over fast enough to start it up.

Otherwise I'd recommend just getting a new car battery. If you want the car actually running to use it, it will need its own battery anyway.

If you already changed the oil, I recommend changing it again after a few days of driving. The new oil will dissolve some of the built up sludge and you don't want that circulating in the engine.

If you want to flush the oil system better, you can do this:
After you drain the oil (warm engine), you can put in two quarts of cheap thin oil (e.g. 5W-20), run the engine for a few minutes, drain the sludge, repeat the procedure with two more quarts. Like I mentioned, don't use expensive oil, you're just flushing the engine.
Then replace the oil filter and refill the engine with 4 fresh quarts.

Hope this helps.
Lou

HiG4s

Thanks Lou,,

The marine battery will not fit, and the battery that is in it is so bad it kills my charger with start boost. So, looks like new battery Monday.