Long story short, I have a filed Jeep CJ project that needs to be gotten rid of. Originally I picked the whole package up for the 232 that was in it to build a stroker out of a later Jeep 4 liter. I took afew wrong turns and at one point I was going to rebuild the Jeep and drop a 304 in. Those plans have since fallen by the wayside, and I'm back to my original idea. The main thing I need to salvage from the 232 is the crank. I'm not ready to start building the engine so I need to store the crank for future use after I break the seal on the engine and dis***emble it. I've always read you should stand them on end to prevent warping. Is this correct, or would it be better to build a wooden cradle for it that supports it along the lengths? Also, could I just fog it down with some fogger/light machine oil and wrap it in several layers of plastic to keep it fresh?
DONT spray it with WD40 and put it in a plastic bag. This is OK overnight, or so, but not a long term solution. Good Luck
Jim may be right, but I've always been told to store them on end or supported, supers***ion, old hot rodders tale, whatever, I still do it that way. I built a sort of rack out of 2x4s along one wall of my storage, so they cant fall over. Its pretty simple, just 2 2x4s about 8 feet long about the same distance from the floor as the top counterweight, with 8" long cross pieces every 8" so it forms a series of 8x8 boxes, the inner longitudinal is screwed to the studs in the wall with lag bolts. Works good, and saves space too.
i know it's probably BS, but have always stored them on end. as falcongeorge said, make sure it doesn't fall over. and put some grease on the journals under the bed sounds good too....if you are not married
When we did have a $#!TLoad of cranks (racecar days) we had, home/made one like this, i now have cranks in several locations, BUT still TRY to store in the UPRIGHT position. It cant bend/droop (might take 100 years to get out of shape) if it AIN'T laying down.
Vertical saves space! But if it's under the bed you'll need a step ladder and the ladder negates any space savings Some form fitting packaging materials are nothing more than expanding foam shot into the equivalent of a plastic grocery bag.
One good reason for storing crankshafts vertically, is that condensation won't settle on the journals, and start to rust them...quite as quickly. Another is that they take up less room. But downside is they can fall over, so make sure they're not likely to fall over.
In the early 60's I went into the back room at C-T to see how my 327 crank was being made [ chromed & counterweighted ] Every crank was standing on end with a round steel plate under the flywheel flange for more support Boy talk about crankshaft city as they were every where you looked, quite a site to see DND
Compression and tension. If your ***embling a short block you stand the crank up. If your ***embling a long block you hang the crank.
That actually gives me an idea. I have a junk flywheel from a 304 I got that ended up being in worse shape that the PO claimed. I also have the flywheel that comes with the engine (both flywheels are junk). I wonder if I could bolt the flywheel to the crank and stand it up to keep it from tipping over. Also, in reading more, I've read about cosmoline for engine internals. I figure if it kept a nearly 100 year old russian rifle in good shape, maybe it would work for engine parts. Any reasons not to?
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