Tips On Safe Start Up

69 Charger 440. Has not run in 4 years. Yikes. Tips for a safe start up. I have a fresh battery and new in line fuel filter ready.

New oil and filter. Fire extinguisher and at least one helper for an extra set of eyes.

I'd sure want to spin up some oil pressure 1st, and have some gas in a squeeze or spray bottle.
Can't hurt to turn it over by hand, make sure it's not stuck, has decent oil/water/fuel/ignition system.
I'm hoping it ran fine 4 years ago and has been properly stored.
Could need fuel pump or accelerator pump if it's had ethanol in it that long, maybe a carb rebuild.
If it lights & warms up, check the ATF, heater core, brake fluid, gauges & general operation.
Better as stated to have a knowledgeable buddy so there's 2 sets of eyes, ears, & hands.

Ran great 4 years ago. Have it on video. More worried about the gas now than anything else. Might have it pump a few squirts into a bottle first right before the carb at the in line filter. Oil was fresh Royal Purple at the time.

Did you drain the gas tank and all lines before it sat this long?
If not do that now and put in new fresh gas to start and run it on
I would probably drain and throw away the oil and filter also and once the new oil and filled up oil filter is installed prime the oil pump and spin the motor over on the starter to lube everything, 4 yrs is a long time to sit without running

I just spun up one that was sitting longer than that and here's how I went about it:

Gas tank was bone dry because emptied when parked so put some gas in it. Used a syringe to put some gas in the fuel bowl through the vents (TQ). Changed the oil and filter, topped off the coolant. Put a big breaker bar on the crank bolt to make sure it was free. Poured a little trans fluid down the intake anyway. A lot of people will say mystery oil in each plug hole, old timers use trans fluid. I went down the intake to get some on the valves. Let it sit at least a week, spun it at least 1/2 way around with the crank bolt. Ok, some steps out of order.

On the big day I used white out to mark the distributor and drive gear orientation while pulling both. Used an oil pump priming rod and an electric drill to spin the oil pump for at least 5 minutes. Ran it until I at least had oil flowing in to the lifter gallery (from the rockers) and then a little longer. Put the distributor back in, cranked it up, let it run in neutral on fast idle for a good 15 minutes.

I also had it on jack stands with the back tires off the ground just in case. While it was parked had worked on the shift linkage and better paranoid than fixing the garage wall [again]. Checked the trans fluid while it warmed up, ran it through the gears with the wheels still up, ignored the tail pipe smoke from the trans fluid. Checked the timing.

If I hadn't been able to put some fuel in the carb, would have checked the timing while bumping the starter a few times. That's usually enough to get the fuel pump to prime the line. I'd say the most important thing is run the oil pump right before starting.

Do not try and run it on 4 yr old gas......drain and refill the fuel system....This should be your main worry, old bad fuel.

Agreed
I would probably pull the plugs and let the starter spin it to get oil pressure.
Fresh gas and light it up.

Thats not gas anymore.... varnish... dont run it...unless you want a WHOLE lot of issues...

the heads oil at #6 & #8 TDC compression (BB) so you could get there by hand then preoil if desired. Go to TDC on the tab for #6 then turn the dampener back 3/4 of a turn & preoil some more. I'll defer to others on this but what about some spray oil of some type on the cyls? Good idea or not? EDIT easiest way to confirm you are on #6 compression at the timing tab is to turn it till the rotor is on the #6 plug wire then pull the dist/intergear

Smells like varnish. Easiest and fastest way to drain?

if you can get a super cheapy electric pump, hook it up to the sender feed line and pump away.
i have an old stewart warner pump i use for that purpose. when done, i suck through a gallon of mineral spirits to clean up the gunk left over inside the pump.
my charger has a full tank of gas from 2006. boy, does it SMELL good !
glad i have a new stainless tank for it !

I do have an electric pump. The issue I have is not sure how much gas is in the tank (gauge not accurate), how many jugs will I need and then what to do with that crap once I get it out.

Open the fuel line, patch in a piece that will reach a catch can as needed. Put an air line in the fuel filler neck, stuff shop rags around it to get a reasonably tight seal. Apply air pressure to force the fluid out through the pick up. Once it starts flowing it should continue on its own until near empty. Sometimes takes a couple tries to get it going or restart it.

You are in Fla, I am on the Texas gulf coast. I forgot to drain the tank before storing my wifes "Cuda for 5 years. The inside of that tank looked like five miles of bad road and it rotted the brass float to pieces. High humidity and 10% ethanol is a death sentence for the tanks if not properly drained. Shine a light in it and look!

That works fine and is what I would do. BUT, you need to be careful with the pressure or you can balloon the tank. Use a blow gun and apply enough air to get it moving. Maybe drop the tank. Shouldn't be hard on that. I wouldn't use anything other than gasoline unless the tank is dropped and cleaned out. Never get it all out otherwise.

Pull the distributor and prime the thing that way. Bar the engine over some while doing that to get everything lubed.

Pull the carb, Turn it over to drain it. Hit it with some 2+2 down the vent. Slosh it around and drain that. Give the cylinders a shot of JB80 down the the runners and/or pull the plugs and give them a shot through the plug holes.

If it's primed and lubed, spin the engine to get pressure before firing it.

That's what I would do