I recently has the good luck of comming across a 87 Turbo II for very little money... here's the catch: The owner knows nothing about it because it were her husbands and he left years ago and left it in the garage. Its missing the tranny and exhaust and it came with a small block 350 ready to swap in (but I don't want to do that).

The car has 153,000 miles on it, but I have no more information then that. Is there a good writeup of steps I could do to safely check the engine to see if it runs.

Thanks ~ Sorry I'm a newbie.

 

You're going to get lots of opinions on this, but the easiest thing to do for now is pull the bottom two spark plugs and inject a little engine oil into each rotor housing with a syringe (maybe 30cc's each)...Then, with a 19mm socket on a 3/8" or 1/2" breaker bar (or BIG ratchet), turn the big front bolt (inside the main pulley), clockwise (looking at the front of the engine). You should hear distinct air compression and exhaust "puffs" every 1/2 turn or so. If it's locked up & won't turn, it may be time for a rebuild, it's your call...