Engines been sitting

[68'barracuda]

I know it's not an a- but it's a 1966 Chrysler New Yorkr with a 440. The car has been parked since 1983, it turns over freely but sounds like there is no compression rings, valves might be stuck how can I free them up if that's the case... Or are there any other sugestions?

 

[oldmopardude]

I removed the valve covers, and sprayed around the springs and seals,removed the plugs, sprayed WD-40 in all the cylinders. After a bit I cranked for short periods. I watched to be sure all the pushrods were moving properly, and kept a finger over the spark plug hole to see if there was compression. once I was confidant that there was a good chance of starting, marvel mystery oil went in each cylinder as well.. It started, smoked, but eventually it all came back to life. They are tough engines, They usually come back to life,assuming there wasn't a real problem before it was parked.

 

[TrailBeast]

If you plan on using this motor you probably want to tear it down for inspection anyway.
If you want to just fire it and see what happens it would suck to have a piston hit an open valve.
I personally have pulled valve covers and compressed the valves to see if any hung up, but that is a pretty sketchy way of doing it.

The guide seals are probably trash by now also.
Then you can shoot each cylinder with a little oil and crank it with the plugs out till you get oil pressure reinstall the plugs and see what it does.
You could also compression test it at this point if you wanted, but after sitting so long it might not tell you much that could be counted on until it ran for a bit.