Hello, I am new to this forum as I just recently purchased a 78 Fiat Spider as my first project car. Lot's of great tips so far in this forum so far, so thank you all! The good news... I was told this car sat under a barn roof overhang, and as such the body is in fairly good condition. It has only 53K miles and I got it cheap. The bad news was the engine likely has not run in almost 30 years (inspection sticker on car expired 1989) :O I was hopeful that I could get the engine started. Anyway, I replaced flat aged tires on the car so I could move it and get it in my garage.
Now I am looking at the engine... I removed the plugs (all looked good considering) and scoped the cylinders... several tiny spots of rust on cylinder walls, and what appears to be rust at piston/wall interface on some cylinders, so likely rusty piston rings. Soaked cylinders in Marvel's Mystery oil over night as I read about in several prior posts. I then tried to turn crank shaft by hand with big breaker bar, no luck, does not want to budge. I even tried pushing the car in gear but would just drag the wheels. I suspect the rusty rings are holding it up. Trying to figure out what to do at this point... Should I at least keep trying to break the pistons free, or leave that to a machine shop? I expect once pistons are free, I will still need to get cylinders bored out, replace pistons, rings, etc. anyway from a machine shop. If so, and I am going that far, I may want to get higher compression ratio pistons to get more power. I will certainly disable all emissions claptrap as well. Or should I just look for another engine? If so, any ideas on reputable places that sell new or rebuilt engines? Sorry for so many questions, and more to come, but I will stop here for now... Thanks in advance for any advice for a first timer.

Remember to put it in 5th gear if you push it to turn the engine.

Marvel is nice but a non-aerosol can of Pb-Blaster will be much better. Really put it in heavy and let it sit for a few days to a week in a warm area. If its below 75 degrees the oil is going to take a lot longer to work. Check it a few time a day to in case you need to add more penetrating oil.

If the car sat for 30 years, it's a good guess the engine had a significant problem to begin with that caused it to be put out to pasture. I wouldn't waste any time trying to get it to turn over at this point as it should be pulled and completely rebuilt to make sure the real reason it has sat for sooooo long is taken care of.

Thanks for the advice... I was able to locate another engine and some excellent help on learning how to work on this engine. I will pull this one, and eventually see if it is salvageable, but have one to work with...