1929 Plymouth Coupe. Advice welcomed.

So yea that vacuum fitting in the intake NEEDS to be plugged, find the thread size and buy a plug, or you should be able to find an adapter for the vacuum line, I’d buy both, install the plug to get the engine started, running, and tuned, then install the adapter to restore vacuum so you can track down vacuum leaks (there’s gunna be a ton). To get it running definitely clean the points, if you haven’t already pull the carb off and clean it out and rebuild it, usually there’s an accelerator pump diaphragm that always goes bad from sitting. Get a new mechanical fuel pump, those also have rubber diaphragms in them that like to dry rot and quit working. You might be able to find a rebuild kit for your fuel pump also.

Definitely don’t go with 5w-30, it’ll be good for now, but don’t run that in the long run, you want at least 15w-40, I recommend shell rotella t-4 heavy duty diesel oil, it’s got all the zinc you need already added. But definitely run 5w-30 in it when your first fire it up, that thinner oil will provide more flow to everything which will help flush out the old oil in the passages and a thinner oil is better for the break in process after sitting, don’t bother with the zinc additive right now, you only add that when your planning on going thousands of miles between oil changes, won’t hurt the cam at all to fire it up with the oil your planning on using at the moment.

As for lead additive, I wouldn’t bother with it, it doesn’t prolong any life out of anything, the best reasoning I’ve heard to use that stuff is it supposedly lessens wear on the exhaust valves, I’ve personally never seen that be an issue. Intake valves always wear out on these engines before the exhaust valves no matter what you do, the intake valve is always larger than the exhaust, that means there’s more strain on the intake valve guide so the intake guide wears out before anything else, that worn out guide eventually causes the intake valve to rattle which creates a bad seal and burns up the intake valve.

Honestly you shouldn’t be worrying about any additives right now, they aren’t going to hurt or improve anything about this, fuel and oil type really doesn’t matter because your not going to be immediately driving the thing thousands of miles. The only thing about fuel I’d recommend is you should probably look for ethanol free gasoline if it’s going to be sitting in the tank awhile, it lasts longer and you shouldn’t have to drain it when you finally get the project road ready. You should really be worrying about all the mechanical issues your going to need to fix, especially all the diaphragms and rubber pieces on this vehicle. Everything that’s vacuum operated is going to need work since every vacuum operated system uses some type of rubber seal or diaphragm, whether that be a brake booster, distributor vacuum advance, vacuum operated windshield wipers, vacuum modulator on the transmission, all that has probably dry rotted and gone bad. Also wouldn’t be surprised if the engine needs to at least have the heads taken off for valve stem seal replacement, you’d be surprised just how much an old vehicle smokes when those valve stem seals have deteriorated to the point they are non existent.

/r/MechanicAdvice Thread