1986 Chevy Caprice

81NURSE2009

MEMBER
1986 CHEVROLET CAPRICE

1986 Chevy Caprice V8

Am very interested in a used but rebuilt engine near by my city it has 400hp bored over.40 1/4 race cam. It was driven for 1 week and then taken out and stored indoors for about 5 years. Main thing this engine is not in a car to hear run. Price is far 1,500 but don't have money to waste on junk. My question is just based on the engine being out of car for about 5 years, how good is this engine? What do u suggest I do before purchasing this item? Consider dyno testing. But are compression testing enough? Please help me with this big decision. Is someone's trash my treasure or could it be a fluke.

1 Reply

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

It could be trash or a fluke. It really depends on how it was done before it was shut off. If oil was dumped down the carb and let run then it may be ok. Bu tif it was stored with no spark plugs or anything else covered like exaust or intake or cooling jackets, little buggers tend to make that their happy home. If you have access to a small camera to look down the bores then you can better assess what condition things are in. The thing about stored engine is that valves can stick open an dnot close like they are suposed to as well as valve springs breaking after having pressure put on them and so on and so on.