1988dxsedan

iTrader: (2)

hello all. been a long time since i have posted. i did have a thread on my engine build a few years ago that sort of died out. life got in the way, wife and i bought our first house, had a kid, etc etc etc. anyway, the engine build still slowly continues. the short block is together and cylinder head is at the machine shop, hoping to have it back within the week. my question is this:

How long is royal purple assembly lube "good" for? I assembled the short block last October, thinking i would get everything else done over winter, and well that never happened. now that i have heat in my shop and my cylinder head is about done, Im ready to get this thing together. i used liberal amounts of assembly lube in all the proper places. i oiled the pistons liberally on install, and continuously keep the cylinder walls lubed and gently spin the motor over every few weeks. it feels exactly as smooth as it did the day i assembled it- like butta. a lot of people have told me i am good, not to worry about it. at work, when i overhaul engines, they typically don't sit for very long, so i have no experience with long term storage. i personally think it will be fine, but want opinions. i mean, ive seen guys drag junk out of fields that have sat for 30 years, add oil, fuel, and crank them right up and they do fine, so i figured i would be okay. but like i said, just trying to hear some thoughts from maybe some more experienced people. i plan on asking the machine shop as well when i pick up the cylinder head. thanks again everyone. have a great holiday weekend!

TomCat39

I've seen freshly rebuilt engines sit for years in storage, come out of storage and are just fine.

It's my understanding the assembly lube is synthetic and as long as it's not contaminated with impurities (like starting an engine) will sit indefinitely without change. You should be 100% totally good to go.

Now if you dropped the short block into the river at some point, it might need a tear down, cleanup and re-assemble with fresh lube.

1988dxsedan

iTrader: (2)

haha okay. thanks for your response. i really hope it doesnt end up in the river, although its taking long enough that it might be better used as an anchor. cylinder head was supposed to be done 3 weeks ago, and of course they have not touched it yet. thanks again.