My friend and i decided to dig out his moms 71 firebird. it's been sitting for 20 years in his garage, still in drive and everything, just driven in and stopped. so we took it out, washed it, and i put a socket on the harmonic balancer, and for some reason it was not seized. my question is whats our next step? its a 350ci 2 barrel. I know brake lines are an obvious, as well as new tires. it needs a new water pump(will a pump off a chevy small block fit a pontiac small block?) could we put coolant and oil in it and give it a shot, or is there something else we should watch out for? Any input is greatly appreciated, i know its a very vague and expansive topic. thanks again!

 

pull the carb off make sure a army of wild animals aren't living in your intake manifold. if thats not the case. clean the carb make sure u aren't blowing crap into it the 1st time u start it. uhm check the trans fluid. oil oil filter. rust in the gas tank get a inline filter to the carb or change it so ur not sucking crap into the 2bbl. uhm thats a start of "extra" stuff i would do and did. i had water in my trans but its flushed and fine now. u just dont know unless u explore though it. i would do that stuff before getting a battery to it.

 

Change all the fluids in the car; motor oil, trans, brake fluid, rearend oil, coolant. Clean the brake fluid out of the master cylinder, add new, bleed the system, and watch for leaks at the wheel cylinders and calipers (wouldn't be surprised if something did leak). Rebuild the carb. Drain the gas tank. If the gas is orange and slimy, pull the tank and flush it out. Replace fuel filter. Replace the plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. While the plugs are out, squirt some penetrating oil (PB Blaster) down inside the cylinders and turn the engine over by hand a few times. It wouldn't hurt to give them another shot and crank the engine over with the starter (put rags in front of the spark plug holes to catch the crap that will get shot out). Pull the distributor and prime the oil pump to lube up the engine.
And no, the water pumps wont interchange. The older Pontiac engine is different from the SBC.

 

all Pontiac motors are considered "standard" blocks. but Pontiac of those years made there 350s in a BB format. while chevy has a small block big block idea. Pontiac had 1 size different motors kinda

 

Spot On. do all of that and it should start right up... thats what i did when i bought my 77 Camaro that was sitting for about 15 yrs. runs like a champ.


Good luck on it

 

same here. got my 305 to fire up with a leaking Q jet. not its got a holley 600 CF and it ran great. in posses of painting so its out. going rebuild said holley soon.