Freeing up the 331

[James Landi]

Many of us have experienced the challenge of seized, long out-of-service engines, which brings up an interesting thought... those among us who are boaters will use "fogging oil" as part of the seasonal winterizing lay-up... and some of us pull spark plugs and pour a few ounces of light oil into each cylinder prior to spinning the starter.  If one were to know for certain that a car was going into storage for multiple years with no prospect for any cyclical commissioning, what would make sense to do, knowing that daily cycles of moisture laden air will eventually cause surface rust as is the case with your fine engine. Happy day, James

[62 driver]

And the crew strikes again!! Hope all went well with the wedding. Dave

[76eldo]

James,

I think the cars sometimes get parked, but not with the intention of long term storage, and 20 years later..... along comes someone that wants to do something with the car.  I can tell you, if the cars are in unheated storage for decades they will seize up due to condensation inside the engine.  I saw this with the one I am working on, but yet, another 60 I bought several years ago sat on blocks for 30 years and started right up.  That one was in an attached residential garage that never went down to freezing temps.

Brian

[Dan LeBlanc]

That's exactly it. At the time the car was decommissioned, it was just an old used car. It was probably occasionally started and moved from time to time until it became a hassle and then eventually forgotten about. Time does strange things to old cars. I'm my case, the car is good where one would expect it to be bad and bad where you would expect it to be good.

[James Landi]

I wonder if simply filling the engine with 10 weight oil would not entirely "pickle" it for long term storage... I can't imagine the issues confronted by those with flat heads and in block valve trains.  Perhaps the same approach with gas tanks... pumping light weight oil throughout including the carb.  Amazing story about the '60 in the attached garaged! Happy day,  James

[35-709]

I have heard of completely filling an engine with 10 weight for long term storage before, seems like an effective, relatively inexpensive way to solve the problem.  As Brian points out though, long term storage sometimes just happens, or the car's owner just doesn't care.

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

You can buy "sparkplugs" that are full of that stuff that pulls out moisture ( i cant remember the name,dessicant?) For airplane engines. Just put in tbe plug holes for long ferm storage. Wonder if there is the same thing for car engines.
Jeff

[Bobby B]

You can buy "sparkplugs" that are full of that stuff that pulls out moisture ( i cant remember the name,dessicant?) For airplane engines. Just put in tbe plug holes for long ferm storage. Wonder if there is the same thing for car engines.
Jeff

Jeff,
  Those spark plug capsules have silica gel desiccant in them and they change color when moisture is absorbed. They can be refilled, so you only need to buy them once. I know they make them in 14/18 mm threads. I've used them in British cars….
                                                                                           Bobby

[35-709]

You can also empty them and put the desiccant on a tray and place them at a low temperature in the oven until they dry out and return to their original color --- at least you can with the aircraft type.

http://www.silicagelpackets.com/dehydrator-engine-desiccant-spark-plug-14mm-thread.html