Winter Wonders

I didn’t have the time to get
my new crate 408 LA into my truck. As it is
salt season here it probably won’t go in until
late April. It hasn’t run since early July when
it was broken in and dynoed. What do you
suggest to winterize it? And before it goes
in again I’d like to spin the oil pump shaft to
relube the engine. I’m just not sure of how to
do it with the cam drive gear separate from
the distributor.

Since it is out of the vehicle, my usual
advice about stalling it by fogging WD-40
through the carb. Best advice is to simply
seal it up tight, intake and exhaust.
Priming the oil system won’t really be
necessary, but if you must, remove the
drive gear (twist with large screwdriver)
noting which way the slot was facing. Buy
a hex primer shaft and insert, chuck top
into electric drill. On a SB, run the pump
clockwise. To do a thorough job, slowly
rotate the crankshaft while running the
drill, if you do this, however, you’ll have
to re-index the distributor gear when you
reinstall it. Here’s how: Rotate to TDC #1
cyl, then install the gear so the slot is facing
the front left manifold screw. Then the
usual caveats about ignition timing, compression
stroke, etc. apply.
Also, be sure you have drained all coolant,
there are pipe plugs at the bottom of
the water jacket on each side of the block.