Building and engine and storing it
Discussion
Hi all,
I will soon be starting on rebuilding the engine for my kitcar. Realistically, it might be a year between the engine being built and actually started for the first time. So I'm wondering if I can (or should) do anything to help protect it during that time, and at first start up - I'm thinking particularly of oil draining out of bearings etc.
Advice welcomed as always.
I will soon be starting on rebuilding the engine for my kitcar. Realistically, it might be a year between the engine being built and actually started for the first time. So I'm wondering if I can (or should) do anything to help protect it during that time, and at first start up - I'm thinking particularly of oil draining out of bearings etc.
Advice welcomed as always.
Use a specialist engine assembly lube when you build it, I use this:-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TORCO-MPZ-FRICTION-REDUCER-E...
Then when you do come to start it, spin it over with no plugs in and the ECU disconnected to make sure you've got good oil pressure before you actually fire it.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TORCO-MPZ-FRICTION-REDUCER-E...
Then when you do come to start it, spin it over with no plugs in and the ECU disconnected to make sure you've got good oil pressure before you actually fire it.
I always put a splish of oil down the cylinder before it gets stored and find I go out every so often to turn it.
Never really stored them for very long. I would just say as above, good assembly lube and keep everything in oil and you should be fine. Have an engine in the shed at the moment I took out last year, still got to rebuild it but I put oil in it and some in the cylinders before storing it, turned it last week and everything feels fine - that is pre build though
Never really stored them for very long. I would just say as above, good assembly lube and keep everything in oil and you should be fine. Have an engine in the shed at the moment I took out last year, still got to rebuild it but I put oil in it and some in the cylinders before storing it, turned it last week and everything feels fine - that is pre build though
What most people don't realise is engine oil used at assembly time drains out of bearings and oil pumps pretty quickly anyway so basically any engine that sits for more than a couple of days before fitting and starting up is in about the same condition as one that sits for a year and yet generally causes people no problems.
The key thing is to prime the oil pump before first start up which you can do on most engines by feeding oil into the side oilway under the oil filter (this oilway usually goes back to the pump) with a small funnel and some plastic tube and turning the engine over backwards. The pump will then suck oil in so when you turn the engine on the starter with the plugs out it'll build up oil pressure quickly.
Assembly lube is a fine idea although I've never felt the need to use it.
Clean engine oil is also useless at corrosion protection as you'll find if you coat something ferrous with it and leave it somewhere damp. The oil runs off and thins out to a microscopic layer very quickly, moisture gets in (engine oil actually seems to attract rather than repel it) and rust starts forming. So freshly built engines are much less tolerant of storage in damp conditions than old used engines in which everything has a nice coating of black gunge which keeps rust at bay for ages. So store the engine somewhere warm and dry like in the house not the garage if 'er indoors will let you.
A good idea is to give everything inside the engine a spray with WD40 or similar before finally fitting the sump, cam covers etc. This will protect the crank, rods, cams, valves, valve springs MUCH better than engine oil and will wash straight off and do no harm once you actually start it up. You can do the bores before you fit the head too.
The key thing is to prime the oil pump before first start up which you can do on most engines by feeding oil into the side oilway under the oil filter (this oilway usually goes back to the pump) with a small funnel and some plastic tube and turning the engine over backwards. The pump will then suck oil in so when you turn the engine on the starter with the plugs out it'll build up oil pressure quickly.
Assembly lube is a fine idea although I've never felt the need to use it.
Clean engine oil is also useless at corrosion protection as you'll find if you coat something ferrous with it and leave it somewhere damp. The oil runs off and thins out to a microscopic layer very quickly, moisture gets in (engine oil actually seems to attract rather than repel it) and rust starts forming. So freshly built engines are much less tolerant of storage in damp conditions than old used engines in which everything has a nice coating of black gunge which keeps rust at bay for ages. So store the engine somewhere warm and dry like in the house not the garage if 'er indoors will let you.
A good idea is to give everything inside the engine a spray with WD40 or similar before finally fitting the sump, cam covers etc. This will protect the crank, rods, cams, valves, valve springs MUCH better than engine oil and will wash straight off and do no harm once you actually start it up. You can do the bores before you fit the head too.
Thanks all, very useful. Alas it will have to stay in the garage, I'm not so much putting it into storage as fitting it to the car, but it will take me a long time to finish the rest of the car around it.
Think I'll try some of that assembly lube on the grounds that it doesn't cost much and can't hurt.
Top tip on the pump priming Puma, I certainly wouldn't have thought of that.
Yazza - it's a 24v Alfa v6 to go in my dax (link in profile).
Think I'll try some of that assembly lube on the grounds that it doesn't cost much and can't hurt.
Top tip on the pump priming Puma, I certainly wouldn't have thought of that.
Yazza - it's a 24v Alfa v6 to go in my dax (link in profile).
It's the 3.0 24v - it's very hard to find 3.2 donor engines, otherwise I'd have used one of them. It's having bigger valves and a set of fast road cams, and I'll have it on an aftermarket ECU, so I can ditch the old restrictive flapper air meter. It'll be interesting to see how much difference all that makes, hopefully some 
Gearbox is from a honda s2000, the ratios are very similar to the 6-speed in the Alfa GTAs. And I like making life hard for myself
Gearbox is from a honda s2000, the ratios are very similar to the 6-speed in the Alfa GTAs. And I like making life hard for myself
If it's going to be stored in a garage that sees a big temp swing (for example a garage that doesnt share a wall with a heated house etc) then i can recommend getting some large sachets of silica gel and wrapping the engine tightly in cling film to keep the moisture out (put the sachets under the wrap) That way, evertime the engine gets cold, water vapour won't be able to condensate out of the air and ruin the bare ally parts (you can easily see engine that haven't been run much by the white dusty alluminium oxidiation on the parts like ally manifolds etc
GRAPHOGEN ENGINE BUILDING PASTE IS WHAT YOU NEED. SOUTHERN ENGINES IN LONDON WILL SELL YOU A TUBE OR 2.
COAT THE VALVE STEMS WITH IT AS WELL AS ALL THE MAIN AND END SHELLS, THRUST WASHERS. OIL PUMP SHOULD BE PRIMED WITH VASELINE. BORES WITH THE PASTE OR A GREASE AND OIL SEAL SURFACES LIKE FRONT AND REAR CRANK WOULD NEED THE PASTE. WHEN BUILT TURN IT OVER A COUPLE OF TIMES.
I WOULD THEN LISTEN TO SOME OF THE OTHER ADVISE AND STORE INSIDE IN THE WARM.
GOOD LUCK WITH THE REBUILD
COAT THE VALVE STEMS WITH IT AS WELL AS ALL THE MAIN AND END SHELLS, THRUST WASHERS. OIL PUMP SHOULD BE PRIMED WITH VASELINE. BORES WITH THE PASTE OR A GREASE AND OIL SEAL SURFACES LIKE FRONT AND REAR CRANK WOULD NEED THE PASTE. WHEN BUILT TURN IT OVER A COUPLE OF TIMES.
I WOULD THEN LISTEN TO SOME OF THE OTHER ADVISE AND STORE INSIDE IN THE WARM.
GOOD LUCK WITH THE REBUILD
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