Epic2112

Sort of learning as I go here:

What's the best way to store a disassembled engine for a while? I've got it pretty much completely taken apart, and any tips are appreciated. Assume I know nothing because, well, that's pretty much true. Some specific questions I've got are:

1. What's the best way to protect the journals on the crank, is there some sort of oil/grease I should coat it with?
2. How do I prevent rust on the rods, crank, balance shafts, etc?
3. What's the best way to protect the mating surfaces on things like the balance shaft housings, oil pump housing,, head, cam tower, and any other sensitive surfaces?
4. The crank needs to be stored standing on end, cam on it's side, correct?
5. Is it a good idea to leave the main & rod bearings in place for protection?
6. Is there anything I need to do to the block, or do I not need to worry about corrosion since it's aluminum?
7. Any other tips?

The plan is to get everything machined and freshened up, and rebuild the engine over time as money and space become available.

As always, thanks for all the help everyone!

Voith

Use heavy oil for parts that like to rust, keep it away from excess humidity and sharp hard objects.

I keep my stuff on 5cm thick isolation styrofoam, covered with pvc.

Gravity will not bend crankshaft, so you can store it in any position.

Epic2112

When you say heavy oil, you mean something like gear oil?

turbodave

A good assembly oil works good to fight corrosion. I would lube the entire assy. IE: cam, crankshaft, ect. Always treat machine surfaces like gold! As for the block lube the cylinders with assembly lube and use shrink wrap or even large garbage bags to keep oxidation to a minimum and keep dirt out. Unless you have all the steel stuff off of the aluminum parts a certain amount of electrolysis (aluminum oxide corrosion) can be expected over extended periods of time. Treat the machine surfaces with assy. lube to keep this to a minimum. The better you can seal the parts from surface and airborne contaminants the better. Store in a safe place. Hope this helps!

Epic2112

I'm thinking that I'll cut up pieces of cardboard and put the machined surfaces of things like the balance shaft covers on them, than shrinkwrap the whole thing together so the cardboard stays in place. Just a little extra safety for the machined aluminum surfaces.

william_b_noble

there are special oils for coating machined stuff for storage, one is called SDB, but there are others - apply one of them - they leave a waxy film behind as the volatiles evaporate.

Mueller944s2

I have mine in plastic tubs with packing foam to protect mating surfacings such as the edges of the head and girdle.

JimV8

I spray parts with a light mist of oil spray and then wrap in shrink wrap. Oil spray is used to lube cylinders for annual storage of small engines such as lawn mowers, weed eaters and chainsaws.

Epic2112

I can't find any product by that name, got a link?

fortysixandtwo

7. Other.
Put the engine back together, with everything oiled up. It takes up much less space, parts are typically more protected from the environment, and its nearly impossible to loose a part when its bolted to all of the other parts.

Epic2112

Unfortunately that involves sending the block out to be freshened, the cylinders need to be polished at least, if not honed, and the price of that plus the price of shipping it to somewhere that can work with the Alusil block is not in the budget at the moment.

Epic2112

Anyone have any experience with products like this:

Voith

Any oil that sticks to the surface and doesn't smell too bad, will be ok if you wrap it in pvc.

I use this and it sticks nicely..

Epic2112

I'm definitely going to wrap everything, can I just use the cheapo motor oil I have laying around?

morghen

this is how i do it