5 years on the hard

[hcrisp]

Hello,
I am a new Bristol 27 owner. 1969 with original engine. This is my first post, my first A4 and my first gasoline inboard. In addition to reading as many posts as I could I have also read Don's manual and his postings concerning what steps I should take with starting an engine that has been idle for 5 years. I have visited the coil, the distributor, spark plugs and thermostat so far. Installed are: new plugs and wires and electronic ignition (Moyer store). Took the thermostat out, cleaned it and the housing. At this point of installing the thermostat (Holley, double action) I am wondering if a sealant is necessary to "grease' the new gasket. When I removed the housing there was a polysulfide type of material that gave me a little grief as it squished inside and baked the thermostat to the housing. Fun getting the thermostat out.
Any help you oldtimers can give me will be greatly appreciated. I truly look forward to the day when I am knowledgable enough give advice to newbies.
Howard Crisp
Traverse City, MI

[Al Schober]

Howard,
You're going to get a lot of opinions on what sealants to use where.
The thermostat itself doesn't need or want any sealant. For sealing the housing to the head, I use the blue RTV silicone - as I do for all my 'water' joints. On oil joints, I use the brown permatex 'Aviation Form-A-Gasket', NAPA item 765-1210.

[TomG]

Holzer,

Welcome aboard.

Although I am still a neophyte A-4 operator, I recently purchased a boat that had been laid up for about 2 years. I used the vast wisdom of this wonderful forum and its participants to revive my dormant A-4 to a wonderfully sweet-running machine. Many thanks to Don and Bill for setting up this forum and to the extremely knowledgeable regulars (like Dave, Neil, Russ, Bill (ILikeRust), Joe, Shawn, Mo, EdC,. Al, Hanley, and a hundred others!) that help us newbies out. I will offer this simple advice: If you don't have Moyer's A-4 Manual, call Ken and order one (or two - one for the boat and one for the "throne room"). That manual is a treasure trove of information and will help you know what questions to ask to big brain trust as you bring your engine back to life. In the meantime, here is a good trhead Don started about 5 years ago that you might find helpful in the meantime:

Spring Start-up

Regards,