Hey guys, I've been re doing a lot on my F100 and the engine is out of the truck on a stand.. So far it's been a mild winter.. but we have some pretty cool weather coming in the next week. Cold for Arkansas anyway-- high around 30. The engine is in my garage.. it's fairly insulated. but it still gets cold in there. Im pretty sure there is still some coolant in the engine.. but I don't know how much. I plan on in the next week or 2 to get the engine back in.. but if I don't make it before the Cold weather gets here what can I do to protect it from any damage .. is there a way to put anti freeze in it ? looking for tips . Thanks
If it is out of the truck presumably it is drained so no problem. If there is water in it, drain it out and forget about it. To protect against rust coat exposed parts with oil or grease, a used engine should be good and greasy.Pour a little oil down the spark plug holes. DO NOT cover it with plastic, it will cause rust. Cover with cloth and plug up openings with rags. It should keep indefinitely.
well she's all cleaned up. I have it still attached to the engine hoist I guess I could run then engine tilt over more and get more of the fluid out. Hadn't really thought about it from that approach. no water nothing to freeze. guess that isn't totally indifferent than winterizing a boat.
Thanks. going in my f100. I tried to get away from the finned muscle car look that plagues sbf.. Still not tickled about the "racing" on the valve covers.. but with my breather. it won't show too much. I just picked it up a couple weeks ago... going to restore it and make it look a little bit more.. old.. and less 5.0. I've got a fab guy that is going to make up some classic velocity horn style snorkels in the same shape and tilt without the vacuum ports and ribs. will have fresh air inlets on the bottom of the snorkel similar to the heat risers on these.. he wants to add die stamps in the top. dunno about that.
there are drain plugs on the sides of the block that you can remove and drain the block completely ( should be 3/8 plugs under the back frostplugs , otherwise remove the thermostat and pour some rv antifreeze in it and then flush this out when you install the motor .
Thanks. I was just wondering I have an open port there for the heater hose by the thermostat... wonder if I could put an old flex hose on there thermostat to water pump and fill it up with anti freeze or rv stuff from that port?
good lookin engine and truck! How about just pouring some anti-freeze in the t-stat housing. It will get to the bottom.
the heater hose nipple should be open to the cooling jacket so yes you can possibly put it in there , careful as when the block fills it will come out of the water pump and at that point your full and protected . on several I have stored that had some questionable mixture in them , I just opened the drain plugs and poured the a/f thru it mixing any liquid up .
I had drained the radiator till it stopped last year to add a new gauge sending unit .. added 50/50 premix from prestone I believe .
remove the drain plugs on the side of the block, and that's all you have to do to prevent freezing problems. I would be more worried about condensation forming in the cylinders....every time the temperature cycles, it collects a little bit of moisture in there. After a bunch of heat/cool cycles, the moisture will condense on the cylinder walls and cause rust. As mentioned, squirt some oil in the spark plug holes, and get in the habit of turning the crankshaft a few revolutions at least once a week.
not a bad idea either.. I'll do that. I've got a drill tool for priming the oiling system.. would that do the job?
Don't over think this. I live in Canada and have stored engines for years with no problem. Keep it inside. Drain the coolant, a little water laying in the water passages won't hurt anything. Oil the cylinders and plug openings to keep out 'critters' and dampness. Cover with an old quilt or cloth sheet, do not use plastic it will cause rust. If you do just those things you can leave it for 10 years no problem.
Circulating oil with a drill motor on the pump won't do anything for it. If it's inside and the temperature in the building doesn't cycle much, then you might be able to get away with just letting it sit for years. I can do that in my shop here in AZ, the shop is very well insulated. But I've had issues with other types of storage...maybe it's because we have such high daily temperature swings? I just wanted to let you know what you can do to make SURE you don't have problems.
I can certainly shoot some oil in her and spin it around. Since its been out it's been high 30s-75 or so november -december.. Its in my garage towards the back. and Its going back in with in a couple weeks.. my goal is to have it alive by end of January so I can focus on little details that I can't do till its back together.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Long term storage outside kills many good engines...mostly because the owner doesn't get around to working with it when he thought he would.
yeah. I just don't want to see 2k dollar engine block go down the toilet. lol. alllllthoughhhh... would be a good excuse for me to finally build that stroker I've been wanting to build.. but with baby number 2 a few months away.. I don't think that would be a good idea. I gotta get'r buttoned up and ready to roll by the spring.
Don't let it sit on the ground. On a stand is good, or on a pallet, or a home made wood stand just high enough for the pan to be up a few inches.
It was on an engine stand .. I put the AOD on it so I could check it over before I install to see if it needs rebuilding.. fingers crossed I got a good one?? no chunks in the pan and fluid was dark cherry with a tinge of old.. the car had sat for about 10 years.and only had 49k miles on the 93 mustang Gt .. anyway its now sitting on 2 pieces of wood straddling the engine hoist legs with the oil pan bump between the 2 pieces of wood.. so it's probably 4 or so inches off the ground at the bottom of the oil pan.. and a good bit more to the engine block.
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