storing my freshly built engine

[adomakin]

im putting a 3.3 turbo engine together at the moment but the rest of the car may not be ready for a year or two yet. whats the procedure for storage?


Andy

UK

[Wayne 962]

Lube everything with assembly lube and motor oil so nothing will rust.

-Wayne

[adomakin]

cheers Wayne.

[Grady Clay]

Andy,

With a nice new rebuild like this some real effort should go into the preservation. You want to be able to purge the preservatives and have the engine start and run exactly as it is today without damaging itself.

Try this thread:

Storing and preserving an engine

Some additional thoughts:

Wayne has the right idea. I recommend MMO because it has good preservative qualities.

Make yourself a container, 4’ plastic tubing, and a fitting to replace the oil pressure switch. With the container up in the air and full with a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil, occasionally turn the engine over by hand until most of the oil is in the engine.

The fuel system needs attention also. I would devise a container, fuel pump and filter. Use kerosene and 5-10% MMO. Circulate the mixture through the engine fuel system. Make sure you get it to the injection nozzles also.

Leave this stuff attached to the engine because you will want to repeat the process every few months (I think four times a year is OK, more is better.) Leave the intake valve covers and chain covers easily removable. You will want to take an oil squirt can of MMO to the chains and cams periodically.

Where the engine is stored is of critical importance. On the ground in the garden shed next to your mower won’t hack it. The engine needs to be stored in a dry, constant temperature environment. As the daily environmental barometeric pressure varies, the engine will “breathe.” You must minimize the introduction of moisture.

Putting the engine back in service will be doubly critical. Not only do you have a new engine to break in but a stored one also.

With your fuel system you can replace the kerosene with gasoline and some additive. I would repeat several times over a couple of weeks prior to trying to start it.

You will want to drain the engine of the MMO and squirt fresh oil and MMO on the cams & rockers and the chains.

I think the two biggest issues you will face on start-up will be the lip seals and chain tensioners.

Best,
Grady

[garibaldi]

I agree with Wayne, do your assembly, use the proper lubes. What we do if a motor sits for long periods before use is to additionally hose it down with a non moisture absorbing oil, we use Quaker State 32 hydraulic oil, also use it on all of the machine equipment to keep it from rusting. Kerosene, WD-40, etc can and will absord moisture over time, so be aware of that. Once you have it all soaked, bag it tight and store it in a dry place.

[Grady Clay]

Christian,

If preserving a fuel system with a mixture of kerosene and MMO isn’t appropriate, what is? As I recall, Bosch recommends kerosene and a “preservative lubricant.” Certainly no one stores a fuel system with gasoline.

Manufacturers build all sorts of engines, both diesels and gas, to be delivered all over the world and are expected to be able to sit for years occasionally. What do they do?

Should a fresh Porsche engine just sit for a year or more with the assembly lube or should it be turned over occasionally and re-lubed?

I won’t claim to be an expert in the field, just common sense and experience.

Best,
Grady

[garibaldi]

I think staright tap water works well for storing a fuel system. Only joking, Honestly, I have never stored a fuel system for that long, so I am no expert either. I woudl suppose that a mix like you describe would be alright. I was just stating that those compounds can absord moisture. I have in the past hosed down raw iron blocks that were clean and freshly machined with chemicals like WD-40, only to find that I still got some surface rust evidence. You can pull the moisture from the air on a humid day. I think it depends on the time, what is used, etc. The best thing is to keep it dry, and turn it over and give it a squirt every once and a while. The best thing would be to just use it, but if the situation does not allow that, then do the best you can, just dont leave it dry, open and sitting on the floor of your damp garage obviously. Like I mentioned, all of the lathes, mills, tooling, and other equipment in the shop here we constantly hose down with the oil I mentioned- constantly! It gets messy, but if you saw some of the peices which are over 30 years old, they look brand new.

[adomakin]

cheers blokes, i wish i could have put the car together first but it just aint an option unfortunately. thanks for the advice though.

Andy