rossman Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Hopefully I'm just being anal.... I received my L6 from the builder almost 1.5 years ago. All I have done to it is keep it in an semi-air conditioned garage (cool enough to keep the humidity down) with the ports closed off with masking tape. I did turn it over a couple of times to relax some of the springs that were originally compressed. There is no motor oil in the engine or in the pan. I primed the oil pump when I installed it but that was prior to turning it over. I am worried that letting the engine sit for so long could somehow damage it. Should I be worried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Hopefully I'm just being anal.... I received my L6 from the builder almost 1.5 years ago.  All I have done to it is keep it in an semi-air conditioned garage (cool enough to keep the humidity down) with the ports closed off with masking tape.  I did turn it over a couple of times to relax some of the springs that were originally compressed.  There is no motor oil in the engine or in the pan.  I primed the oil pump when I installed it but that was prior to turning it over.  I am worried that letting the engine sit for so long could somehow damage it.  Should I be worried? This motor sat on the floor of my non-climate controlled garage, with no spark plugs, no valve cover, wide open.  Protected only with a few squirts of WD40 in the plug holes and on the cam.  It sat for 7 years.  I cleaned it up extenally, poured oil over the cam, cranked it over with no spark to prime the oil pump, and it fired right up and runs very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 No. It'll be fine. I had a rebuilt long block (read honed/new pistons/rings/bearings and all the other work that machine shops do) and had it in my front yard under my carport (but still exposed to the elements) wrapped in about 4 layers of heavy duty trashbags while bolted to a shitty engine stand. Sat there with no liquids (oil, coolant) in it for about 12 to 14 months. It was turned over once every few months by my brother who wanted to make sure it wasn't seizing. Dropped it in my ZX about 4 months ago and drove that baby to Florida to break her in. Now you say it wasn't fully covered in trashbags like mine was. Hope that you taped off everything, and no serious amounts of moisture got into the cylinders. That would be when you get problems I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Sounds like you guys are lucky, I wouldn't think even wd40 would last that long. and masking tape is far from moisture proof. Ideally I'd want to dip the entire thing in solvent and put in dehydrator plugs. If you spray a corrosion preventative in the cylinders, you don't want to rotate it from then on or it will break the seal, so checking to see if it seized technically makes it seize faster. There are corrosion preventatives you can add to the oil and run the engine for a few minutes to get it through the system and coat everything internally. I guess being rebuilt helps especially if you coated everything as you reassembled it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 Thanks for the feedback. You guys are making me feel a better. I guess the main concern is corrosion. I suspected that. I was a little concerned about the springs taking a set being fully compressed. I'm going to assume Rebello used quality springs. So that's probably not a concern? Hopefully I'll get the thing running this summer and I won't have to worry about it anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerAce Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Sounds like you should be fine as long as you pour oil on the cam and chain before starting, and crank it for a little without spark bit to get oil into the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue72 Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 How about 5+ years? I'll let you know how it goes when I fire up the engine in my Suburban this summer. I rebuilt it in 2005 and it hasn't run yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letitsnow Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 How about 5+ years? I'll let you know how it goes when I fire up the engine in my Suburban this summer. I rebuilt it in 2005 and it hasn't run yet. My bottom end hasn't run since 1986. It was sitting as a longblock in a car in a (leaky)barn, completely uncovered for 23 years. It had oil, but no coolant, it wasn't turned over at all either. I pulled the head and pan to check things out, it all looked good so I put the new stuff on(p90, gaskets, oil pan). It's one of the few parts of my powertrain that actually works correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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