I have a good complete 8BA in the garage that i recently took the heads and intake off of to inspect. Everything looks good enough that when the time comes out I think I may just try to get it running as is with just a quick cleanup. My question is, I know i wont get to this engine for some time, before i put it back together is there anything i should do to keep it safe while it sits in the corner of the garage for an extended period of time? I have heard I should put grease on the cylinder walls? Good idea? what kind of grease? The engine is on a stand and full of oil.
Put it in a place in the garage that you can keep a wrench on it to turn it over every month or so, and just use engine oil on the cylinders. That how I would do it! Bones
Turn the crank until the pistons are down a little ways .... Won't get them all even of course but you want some room above them. Fill each cylinder with motor oil. Stuff some oily rags into the intake where the carb mounts and put some kind of blockoff plate on it to keep them there and mice out. Make sure there is no water in the coolant passages. Make sure the crankcase has oil in it. It wouldn't hurt to pull the plugs every few months and turn the crank a full revolution and re-oil the cylinders. Make sure to turn the motor by hand several times before hitting it with the starter once installed.... Get as much oil out as you can. Yes.... It will smoke like a freight train when it lights up!
I don't know if it was the right way to go but, I once filled a flathead engine all the way to the top of the intake valley for long tern storage. Oil covered the lifters and valves too. Didn't hurt anything as far as I could tell. Valve seals didn't dissolve. Probably better ways of doing it today.
My 350 sat in the corner for 32 years. I fogged it good (MMO) before it came out of the stock car. Squirted more MMO into the spark plug holes, plugs back in. Got the water out of it. Taped up all the external ports. Any time I walked past it, I grabbed the damper and turned it a little. Still mice got into it, found seed pods all through the engine so you need to make sure it stays closed up tight.
I rescued the '51 Merc in my car from sitting upside down in a mud puddle after some local yokels removed it from a very nice '51 Merc Fordor. I cleaned it up and stored it under the stairs at my shop. After 20 years, I pulled it out and mounted it on my engine stand. When I tried to turn it, it turned easily, so I pulled the plugs and took a compression test. It was over 100 lbs on all eight. I thought, "What the hell" and changed the oil and plugs and put a good carburetor on it. It started right up, ran great, and hasn't missed a beat since. I'm just lucky, I guess.
biggest issue imo is rings seizing in the lands.. turning it over wont cure this.. id fill the cylinders with oil/atf? and let it slowly drip down into the sump.. that should get some in the lands, and then turning it just a crack (by hand not starter) every other month.. leave plugs in so damp air cant get in..
Remove the plugs , couple squirts of oil , reinstall the plugs , give her a twist every so often , and remove the distributer , spin the oil pump to prime the system once a year and call it a spare ready to go .
Ok, ill dump some oil in each cylinder, put the heads and intake back on and shove it in the corner. the intake does have a carb on it so that should stop mice from getting in. ill stuff some rags in other holes like the exhaust ports and the filler and road draft hole in the intake.
quick question, and I don't mean to hijack the thread but it could be helpful info, if I were to take the dist out to run the oil pump could I put a mark on the dist and engine to get the timing close when I want to fire it up?
Yes. Mark the housing with a scribe or sharpy or paint marker. Eyeball the rotor location too, at TDC, maybe mark that as well. If both are re-installed to that location it will start right up.
Run a dehumidifier in your shop. Regardless of what you do, some valves will be open and their seats and faces will rust if it's humid in your shop.
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