HELP, water in oil!!

I need advice, I have a 324 for my project that has been rebuilt .040 over, had the engine completely assembled in car, making progress on other areas I had not messed with it in a while. Yesterday I was going to tackle a oil leak around the timing cover/balancer area, so I go to drain the oil and about a gallon of water comes out of the pan, Fuck! the car had been sitting outside(no garage)(no hood just a tarp over it. Soo the ? is where do I start, Am I totally f-ed, can I save it. Im just so pissed and upset right now. I was starting to see a light at the end , now I just dont know.

 

Is it clear rain water or green antifreeze water?

 

crystal clear but lots of it, I did rain alot around here over the summer and the car was out in it, but is it possible for that much water to leak in, shit im talkin like 3/4 of a gallon or so

 

Has the engine been run since the rebuild? Could be something as simple as a leaking head gasket. Let's have a little more information.

 

Is your coolant nice and green?
If your cooolant is green and the watercoming out is clear, I'd guess rain was somehow getting down the carb.
Was your cooling system still full or was it pretty low?

 

You would be surprised at how much water can get through a tarp if it's one of those woven deals.

Did you drain the coolant? What did that look like?

 

engine has not been run since assembled, used a new gasket set from kanter, sat outside under tarp for 4 months during the most abnormally rainy summer(if you live in central Texas you know what i mean)no mixing of the oil and water , while it was sitting I noticed the balancer leaking after about a solid week of rain, just thought I didnt tighten the nut tight enough, put a pan under it and continued on body work, All the oil drained out, I did nottice alot of water sitting on the valley cover after a rain and would always try to soak it up.valley cover bolt sit in a sump in the cover.

 

If it is rainwater I would remove the sparkplugs before you try to turn it over...then turn it over with the plugs out as you could have a cylinder full of water which could really screw things upif you try to start it.

 

Will it spin now? Remove the spark plugs first.

 

the cooling system was a little lo, after I drained out the water from the oil pan there was still quite a bit of water in the radiator,took off the upper radiator hose and there was water in the water neck(324 intake has the water crossover to the heads

 

Although I'm not sure what you mean by the last sentence, I think you just answered your question right there.
If it's a lot of new internal parts, I would personally pull it apart and clean everything up. If there wasn't any oil left in it, it's going to be corroded. Your best hope is that the thick ass assembly lube you liberally smeared on everything kept the water off the parts.

You might be able to get away with a Marvel Mystery flush or some other trick, but why waste all the effort of the rebuild?

Get in there and get scrubbin'

 

im going to get out there and get on it. hope its fine. Thanks for all the responses.

 

OK, here is what to do. COming froma guy who used t owheel across rivers, and had his fare share of water in the engine.

1. If it has not been run, drain the water, and pull the pan. All the water would sit on the bottom seperate from the oil. There MAY be a rust issue. You do NOT want that going back into the motor.
2. Clean the pan with a rag, and then re-install it on the motor.
3. New spark plugs (basically a fulll tune up). If water got in the oil, it got elsewhere.
4. New oil. The type does not amtter, because you will drain it after running the motor for a bit anyway.
5. Run motor at idle for about an hour or so. WAtch the temp. If it climbs dangerously high, you may have other issues.
6. Check for water in oil (will look like Chocolate milk).
7. Drain oil again, and then put in fresh oil for the last time.
8. Go run the piss out of your ride.

If you got more questions, let me know
Dima