Is there any special assembly work required when you are building a motor over a long

[pbs911]

Rarely8's post got me thinking about my long term project. Say you plan on building your perfect motor, but because of certain factors, $$$ and the wife, you have to do it over a long period of time. Is it best to gather all the parts and assemle all at once? Or can you do the assembly in stages, such as the short block over a 6 month period, complete the long block over the next few months and then the injection system?

Is there special assembly lube for long term motor rebuilds or any other precautions you should take?

[Wayne 962]

There's no point in assembling it and letting it sit, gathering dust. Just assemble it at one time, when you have all of the parts together. Unless you can assemble it all at once, I wouldn't do it piecemeal.

There are internal parts of the engine that will rust if not coated with oil. Inside your engine, they are naturally coated with oil, so they usually don't rust, unless sitting for a long period of time...

-Wayne

[RarlyL8]

Unfortunately, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I tore down the motor in one weekend. It stayed at that stage for many months. The long block was then assembled over about a one month period. Another dry spell of several months passed befor the CIS was completely taken apart, cleaned, painted, and assembled. It sat on the shelf in that state for several more months while the exhaust and turbo bits were detailed and assembled. Then it all came together.

All in all it was a 2-year ordeal. Will it be OK? I can only pray. My garage is heated but not air conditioned. It gets really hot and humid during days like today.