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Chevy24
01-29-2010, 10:02 AM
I'm having the L72 427 lifted from my 1969 Camaro RS Yenko tribute when it is pro-toured. I will be keeping it, the M21 4 speed, and all the other date coded parts.
The engine will be on an engine stand in my garage, as a bit of a showpiece.
So it doesn't rust up or get seized over time with humidity etc, what should I do for the engine? Any tips are appreciated.
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I did some checking around, & an auto parts store here said to squirt a bit of oil into each spark plug hole, spray CRC engine store spray in the intake and seal off all the holes (or bag-it).
This ties close to what I found on the web (below).
Sound good?
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http://www.guy-croft.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1569&view=next (http://www.guy-croft.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1569&view=next)
Drain all coolant and old oil and coat the whole thing incl flywheel and bores and coolant galleries with WD40. WD40 will not hurt any part of the engine whereas moisture will. WD lasts about 4 months even in damp environments but must be renewed. Avoid storing in any location other than a dry garage with stable temperature regime - or similar. Seal up in a large plastic bag (bin liner). Avoid small garden sheds.

The real problem with storage of a previously run block is that the old oil is sulphurous and it can attack the bearings and cause severe corrosion of the crankshaft. This is why it's a good idea to start or at least turn over stored engines once a month or so.

In your case it might be an idea to take the whole block apart or at least somehow get a load of new oil into those galleries before you store it.
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http://www.seqair.com/skunkworks/Engine/Storing/Storing.html (http://www.seqair.com/skunkworks/Engine/Storing/Storing.html)
I've been getting a lot of questions recently about storing engines for a long period of time before putting them on your airplane. I quizzed Steve Wilkinson about this, because I remembered that he had done some research on the subject. Steve's method was suggested by a friend, and Mattituck said it made sense.
First, let's define the problem. The internal parts of the engine that are most susceptible to corrosion are the freshly machined surfaces. This includes the polished lobes of the cam shaft, the cylinder walls, and the main bearing surfaces of the crankshaft.
On the typical engine, the cylinder walls are a big concern. The freshly machined interior surfaces of the cylinders are very prone to corrosion until the engine is broken in. Once the engine is run for a while, the steel is coated with a varnish-like substance from the oil that protects it somewhat.
The typical protection against corrosion in the cylinders is to spray LPS-3 oil into the cylinders. LPS-3 is a medium-weight corrosion protection oil that comes in an aerosol can. It's much thicker than the WD-40 or Tri-Flo, and you can get it at shops that sell to machine shops. Call any local machine shop, and they can tell you where to get it.
The spark plugs are normally removed, and you install dehydrator plugs. These are things that screw into the spark plug hole and which hold a desiccant. The desiccant is simply a drying agent, which absorbs moisture from the air, thus preventing it from getting into the engine.
Most people pull the plugs out every couple of months, spray more LPS-3 into the cylinders and turn the engine over a couple of time to insure that the oil stays smeared over the cylinder walls. Steve said he didn't bother with this because his cylinders were Cermichrome cylinders, and there's no risk of the chromium corroding.
Now to protect the insides of the engine, Steve's friend suggested filling the engine with oil, as full as possible, with any kind of oil you can find-and then store the engine upside-down. This insures that the camshaft will remain covered with oil. If a little air space remains, then who cares if there's some corrosion on the inside of the oil sump? With the engine filled with oil and upside-down, the polished surfaces of the crankshaft, cam and the valve train are all bathed in oil.
Steve bought a bag of desiccant from somewhere (Aircraft Spruce? Edmund Scientific? He doesn't remember) and made a sock-like thing from a rag, filled it with desiccant and stuffed it into the intake manifold. Every couple of months, he'd take it out and put the desiccant in the microwave until it turned blue again. All the other openings were taped over.
The only other thing you have to be concerned about is to keep the engine out of areas that have strong humidity and temperature changes. In Steve's barn, for example, sometimes the tools on the wall would gather dew when the air warmed up in the morning after a cold night.

MonzaRacer
02-02-2010, 09:48 PM
DO NOT GET WD40 ANYWHERE NEAR THIS ENGINE IF YOU DO NOT WANT IT TO RUST.
For storing the engine, if your not going to tip it over simply leave the oil in it, drop the coolant drains on sides of block and maybe run little water through it to get gunk out, then reinstall them after it quits dripping. drain carb of gas by removing and tipping upside down. Remove valve covers and back off all the rockers till all are loose, this will save the springs.
If you drained the oil dump couple of quarts back in new is ok, every so often you can spin it over with breaker bar and socket.
If your gonna store it inside not sitting in old barn or anything, use a squirt can and squirt 2 or 3 squirts in each cyl, hand tighten plugs back in, and turn it over few times.
now go get a spray can of Pennzoil outboard fogging oil and spray down intake, you can spray carb base to to keep the shafts from sticking.
Every few months try turning engine over, if you have oil and filter in it turning it over can help keep pump primed and if turned enough it will even push oil into good places.
you can then if you want bag it with a storage desiccant bag(i think you can get them from uline) if you want, if you have nothing on exh ports either tape them up or make a plate from wood or thin metal and bolt it over the exh holes. I use lifting plates to cover carb holes, cheap and easy.
Also the LPS3 nothing wrong with it but if used it has to be completely torn down and cleaned, its too heavy if you try to restart said engine.
Oh and its carp about old oil hurting bearings, I have seen engines DECADES old with old oil in them and it does no harm, unless it was burnt up crap that shouldnt be in the engine in first place.
Besides oil slightly used protects better than new oil as it makes additives start working, new oil just drains away.

Jim Nilsen
02-03-2010, 06:45 PM
When loosening the rockers to let the springs loose record the number of turns you make and that way you can be certain you get them right back where they were. Not quite as important on a hydrauilc lifter engine but it is really worth the time on a mechanical lifter engine. I know I wish I had been that smart with the stock car engine I have, it would have made it run better from the start up as they had already had the lash figured out and I had to go thru a learning curve to figure out what it really wanted again.