Ok I was wondering what peoples theory on storing a motor. I have a few motors in my garage and I will be leaving to go to school for about a year, and the motors are off the ground, Should I have the motors have oil in them or should I remove the oil if the motor is sitting. I dont want the cylinders to create surface rust. And if they do hand cranking the motor over a few times once oil is in the motor, would that provent any problems with the rings. What do you think out there.

 

Bump, Anyone have there opinion

 

BUMP

 

What kind of climate are they stored in? Are they in a garage, wrapped in thick plastic? You said they are raised off the ground which is good. You can leave the oil in them. Keep the oil filters on them. Seal <u>any and all</u> holes like oil pressure sender holes, coolant passages, etc where moisture could get in to the engine. You can use duct tape on flat surfaces, it works pretty well. As long as you keep moisture out of them, they should be OK for quite a while. A small amount of surface rust may develop on the cylinder walls no matter what you do. As long as it is light surface rust that is just on the crests of the cross-hatch on the cylinder walls you will be OK. You can dump some oil into the cylinders to make sure the rings are coated with plenty of oil. Put a small amount of anti-sieze on the spark plug threads and run them down all the way but do not tighten them - the last thing you want is to strip out the threads when pulling the plugs when you pull it out of storage.

How long do you plan on keeping them in storage?

Is there any chance someone is going to mess with them (like someone decides to rearrange the garage)? How many do you have? You should probably put them on a pallet.

When you pull them out of storage you are going to need to pull the spark plugs and valve cover to inspect for any rust or even rats or mice that may have decided to live in the head. Shine a flashlight into the sparkplug holes, you should be able to see the cylinder walls. Spray a bunch of penetrating oil into each cylinder and let it sit a while (so the rings unstick in case they froze up a bit). Pour some fresh oil over the cam(s) and rockers and crank the engine over by hand maybe ten times or so. This should knock off any surface rust that may have formed on the cylinder walls and get the rings moving in their lands to free them up. Spray penetrating oil into the cylinders through the spark plug holes to wash down the cylinder walls and flush out any debris (this method is not perfect but it is a whole lot better than not doing it). Change the oil and filter and you should be good to go.

I just pulled a Ferrari Dino engine that had been sitting for 4 years (at least) and it has no rust at all on the cylinder walls but I live in California where the weather is warm and dry. The only problem is the guy didn't seal the top of the carbs and there is a **** load of dust that got down into the carbs. Luckily, since the throttle plates were closed the dust didn't get into the intake manifold.

On a final note, I would change the timing belt while the engine is out, whether it needs it or not. It's been sitting and may have weathered and with an interference engine it's better safe than sorry.

If you have any more questions, reply to this post, I'm always happy to help.

-Scott Tucker