Looking for help. What is the best way to store an engine block that has been prepped and ready? I have it wrapped up in a thick plastic bag but I'm still worried about environmental moisture getting inside and rusting all the bare metal. In a perfect world I'd love to dunk it in a tank of clean oil until I was ready to ***emble it.
The tank of oil idea would be good if you have the space. I'd suggest a 55 gallon drum with a removable lid if possible. Then go to transmission shops or shops that flush automatic transmissions and haul away the oil to soak your block in. Be sure to clean it REALLY well when you're ready to ***emble as there could be filings. Another thing would be a spray product that is like bees wax. Can't remember the name but it works good too.
Bring it to my house I’ll store it for you. As long as it ain’t a ford. Those go right through the floor. Put it in a giant garbage bag and oil it down real good. Then duct tape it up real tight. That’s how we used to store them.
I’ve had a SBC on my stand for way too long. I ran an oil rag through the bores and cam bearings. Crank is in it though and oiled as well. I bought desiccant bags and laid them on the lifter galley. Use a contractors bag, and twine it up when I let it sit. So far so good.
Years ago I was told to never store an engine block in a plastic bag for fear of condensation forming. I guess it may depend on what part of the country a person lives in or ... maybe what I heard was wrong
Bag with a good coating of some type of anti rust spray. For short term WD-40 is all that is needed but you need to check on it and reapply as needed. The nice thing is it cleans off easily. For a longer period then you need to get more aggressive with the product choices. Also store it on the bell housing off the ground with the mains torqued in place.
Off the floor, spray with Gibbs or Fluid film. Cover it with a permeable sheet. Plastic traps moisture.
Wide temperature swings should be avoided, warm humid air hits that cooler m*** of iron when stored outside and condenses on cylinder walls, unless it's sealed really well. Keep it in the living room or bedroom, should help!
Or Ship it to Squirrel & let him store it For a Year or So. Ha Ha Ha Just my 3.5 cents or Move top AZ. Live learn & Die a Fool
Regarding Fluid Film, my wife is a metal artist and we needed (for the old guy she is married to) a rail for the steps off of the deck, it was all raw metal, we installed it over a year ago and right after installation I sprayed it with Fluid Film and a year plus later there is no rust, pretty darn good stuff! Edit....I grew up on a farm in SW Iowa, dad couldn't get the M***ey Harris moldboard plow in the machine shed so as soon as plowing was done he greased the devil out of it with "gun grease", it would sit there for a year enduring Iowa weather and all he did the next year was go to the field and drop it in the ground. It would be a little harder cleaning it up when you got ready to build an engine though
Good idea if you can find one of those desiccant packs that absorb moisture....Sometimes AC repair shops have them....Just put it in your plastic bag and oil up the block...
Depends on how long I need to store it. Short term - Oil / trans fluid whatever's on hand Long term - add bearing grease on machined surfaces. I bag them and leave the end loose, Mainly to keep debris off. Loose bag lets it breathe to prevent condensation, petroleum products prevent rust. Whatever you do it needs a complete scrub / flush / prep before ***y, don't ***ume the machine shop got it clean.
Labor intensive but. . . . . . I have used wheel bearing grease with a brush (and by hand) on all machined surfaces, don't forget the cam and lifter bores! The grease won't drip out but you must cover every bit. Have fun
Put it a plastic bag with a Vapor phase Corrosion Inhibitor emitter cup: http://www.bull-frog.com/products/
so it'll be close to the transmission, which was also recommended to be stored in the hall closet recently.
I've had good luck with using ALL the blankets and sheets over the years, like most of us I can't throw this stuff away. I have found that if the temperature of the block or heads doesn't change condensation doesn't form. And it's a place to store all those blankets. Pat
Smear it down with Cosmolene! It will never rust. Of course it will also be a bear to clean. I used to buy old war relic guns from WWII and the goo was nasty to remove, but the rifle was as nice as the day it was coated once cleaned. And that was after decades of storage. I don’t know if you could find the stuff these days.
My NOS V/8 Studebaker block is sitting next to the fireplace that I don't use on account of my beagle.....
I had a freshly machined Chevy 4.3 V6 block and heads that I coated everything with a mixture of ATF and motor oil mixed together, just a couple of quarts that I had at the time. Put block in one garbage bag, heads in another, and tied them up. Let them sit on my carport against the house where rain couldn't blow in on them for a few years. When I finally got around to opening the bags, everything was rusty. Two of the cylinders were pitted so bad the block was junk, it was already bored .060 over. Apparently moisture condensed in the plastic bags. I put the whole mess in the s**** pile. I'll never store a bare block again without putting grease in the cylinders.
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