First Start in 18 Years

[cjandmm]

Ok....

I have an 88 GT that belonged to my dad. He gave it to me around 2003, when my parents moved out of the country, and he didn't want to sell it. It's been parked in my shop since about 2005 and has not run in that time. It's been stored inside the whole time, but other than that has pretty much been neglected. I'm planning to get it running in the near future and looking for advice on what I need to do.

After the new year I will be replacing the complete fuel tank, fuel pump, etc. There has been funky gas sitting in the tank for 18 years and I'm assuming it's going to be a rusty mess.

Other than changing the oil (its currently full, and the oil was basically fresh when parked) and pulling the plugs to fog the cylinders with oil, should I do anything else? I have heard of pulling the distributor to run the oil pump with a drill. Is this really necessary? The car was running when parked and I hate to pull the distributor and mess with the timing if I don't have to.

If the car didn't have any sentimental value to me I'd probably sell and look for another Fox but this one is special to me.

 

[broncojunkie]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to prime the oil system. You already have the fuel system covered. Why drop the ball now? Setting timing is not a big deal. Somewhat of a pain? Yep. But very minor, compared to replacing the tank and pump (also very good to do IMO).
Even if you didn't remove the distributor, chances are you'll be messing with the timing for some reason. Getting oil to the bearings quickly is worth it.