Engine is hard to start up and run?

We have received a RV with a dodge truck front, which has 440 V8 Engine.

Problem: The RV has not been run in over ten years, and has been in the back of my wife's father house. It' just been in the backyard all this time.

We had it pulled to our house, and I have done some work on the RV part of it.

Question: How do I turn over manually, or initially start this V8 motor, which has not been running in 10 years or so, "without hurting the internal parts, and causing some damage".

I've been told not to do a "hard start" of the vehicle.

What steps should I intially take, before attempting to start the engine after all of this time?

Tony

I agree about what has been said, and also to drain the old possibly "gummy gas" in the gas tank!

One of you guys said to crank or turn the engine over manually? How do I do this? Do I put it in "neutral", and then put a wrench on the nut holding the fan belt. What I am saying is this. On Model T's, they had a hand crank that was placed and connected to the crank, just as on old propeller planes, to get them started.

I would like to crank the engine over, "manually", but this RV truck (440 V8 engine) is a "automatic transmission".

I also don't understand why I have to pull out the "distributor from it's shaft", that doesn't make sense to me. Please respond.

T.

I have replaced the starter, brain, coil x2, alternator, battery cables, new filters, (fuel and oi)l, radiator (due to a pin hole leak) distributor cap, thermostat, valve cover and oil pan gaskets, had the timing adjusted, and increased the idle slightly, remounted the coil to the firewall, (was mounted to the engine) and all spark plug wires. I have also had to wire a push button start, due to a loose ignition switch in the column. The problem is the truck turns over, but it doesn't always start, sometimes it rolls and fires right away, but half the time it refuses to start until I open the hood, and bridge the starter with a wrench, and give it a little starter fluid through the air filter or to the carb. Once its running it goes like a champ. It always starts -eventually-, sometimes it just takes a while. A secondary problem, the engine has a click that comes and goes, louder when it first starts, and then goes away, and comes back randomly as the truck is run. I will be replacing the spark plugs, and doing a compression test, though from a visual inspection the plugs are clean. Any help would be appreciated.

Fixed the starting issue, by bypassing the ignition switch, and creating basically, a controlled hot-wire, with toggle switches, but now the alternator is pumping out too much voltage, melting the volt-meter and nearly causing a fire. Help would be appreciated.

Engine starts right up when engine is cold. But when it's been run awhile and then shut off, it won't start again sometimes until it's cooled down.

I have a 1975 dodge tradesman van. It will start no problem in the morning and run but as soon as its turned off after about an hour of running it will start again but only for a minute or so and then it will cut out and not start again untill its cold. Ive replaced the plugs, plug wires, dist cap, dist rotor and air filter. Im not sure if its the choke not coming off properly and flooding the engine? I will try and disconnect it today. But I ckecked last night when it cut out and I was not getting a spark from the plugs so im not sure if its something to do with the wirinmg or the distributor. Any ideas? Thanks.

After I sent the last msg I was able to try a different module that was given to me be a friend. As soon as this was fitted the van would not start at all. So thinking this to be the problem I went and bought a new module.I also bought some wire connectors as there is a wire that runs from the battery to a bolt in the bodywork under the hood (the earth?) That has a connector joining it but it has come loose. I put a new connector on this wire and thought I would test the engine before I put the new module on. The engine would not start. I disconnected the connector tried again and the engine started, I left the engine running and reconnected the wire the engine continued to run? The wiring is a bit of a state, there are wires running everywhere. In doing all this ive now lost the horn and the interior lights? Do you think I have a bad earth or do you think I still need the module replacing. Also if you change the manifold on the right hand bank should I get coolant coming out from the bolt nearest the rear of the engine? Ive heard somewhere that some bolts on 318's pass through water jackets. Thanks for your help.
Steven

Sorry should have been more clear in my description. Im talking about the exhaust manifold not the inlet. The bolt on the right hand side nearest the back of the engine leaks anti freeze when removed. I think this is because it passes through a water jacket. I was just checking as when I first took this off I thought that the block had been cracked in some way but after checking on the internet I think this is normal. We blew the gasket on the exhaust manifold but have a new one fitted now and the engine is running fine for the minute. Not fitted new module yet and still have no interior lights or horn. Just waiting for the next time it cuts out and will fit new module to see if this cures the problem. When it comes to finding a wiring fault im a bit clueless as to where to start.

Yes the wire going to ground is the negative. The positive goes to what I think is a fuse link (small black box, loads of wires, some going through to the dash, some going to the ignition module, some going off into the engine. Any suggestions for a good place to start to find a wiring fault would be really appreciated thanks for your help.