start or not? old cars with missing the air cleaner,

I live in the dry desert and lots of dirt blows around here at times! I have bought many old cars and for some reason most of them are missing the air cleaner, so dirt/dust and and if they have no hood rain/snow have got into the carburetor over the years. My question~ in your own experience what have you done to get the car running? Or would you even try to start it with all the dirt down inside!? What would you do and why? Pros and Cons?! Thanks Scott

 

Start the engine with the intake runners full of sand?
Come on now. Pull the intake and use a vacuum. Use a blow gun to blow the sand out of cylinders with open intake valves. And anything else you can think of to avoid having sand in the cylinder destroying the cylinder walls and valve seats when you fire the engine. On an engine that has been sitting in the desert for years with the carb open, if you are going to start it without getting the sand out first, you best just go ahead and order a complete rebuild kit now. At least .040 over on the pistons, probably .060 or more.

 

And then put an air cleaner on the fing thing.

Don't even rock the thing in gear to see if it spins if it's something you want to keep.

 

All good advice.

If it's a flatmotor (above pic) I'd even pull the heads to get all the crud out of the cylinders. Don't forget to lube up the cylinders (ATF, Marvel Mystery oil, Liquid Wrench, etc.) before you turn it over. Maybe even pull the pan, remove the oil pump and bearing caps and oil (fresh 30 weight is fine) those up too.

You'd be amazed what you can resurrect from the dead (or a long sleep) with a little patience.