I will be needing to store my 12A street port out of a car long term. I don't have an engine stand but I can build something out of wood. I do like in colorado so I don't have to worry about bad rust.

Do I need to dump oil in the motor or anything like that?
I figure I need to drain all fluids real good?
Sould I leave the intake and header on or remove it?
What is the best way to get all the coolant out?

 

i pour automatic trans fluid in thru the exhuast ports while rotating the engine over to keep the rotors and irons from rusting. then use tape to cover any open ports. there is a block drain bolt on the driver side center iron that will drain the majority of the engines coolant. done this on my stored engines with no problems. when the engie is reinstalled it will smoke a bit and clean the rotor housings with the tranny fluid in there. good luck.

 

Use oil. Don't use ATF.

 

IMHO the biggest threat is from rusting side/intermediate irons. I recently lost a motor after it had been stored for an extended period. When I tore it down there was evidence that the irons had rusted, ever so lightly, the resulting rough surface caused premature wearing of the oil seals, resulting in excessive oil consumption and excessive carbon buildup which in turned led to the loss of an apex seal, catastrophic failure, so my goal would be to keep the side irons from rusting, some areas are always exposed to ambient air. I agree with Jeff, use oil, heavy oil that will cling well.

 

Once well oiled, remove the intake/headers and tape the openings with aluminum tape preferably, if not, duct tape.

 

Aluminum tape is great. The adhesive doesn't break down like duct tape does. I removed an oil pedestal in '05 and just covered the upper part of the rear plate with aluminum tape. I removed it a couple of weeks ago. Only a tiny bit of adhesive was left stuck to the iron, and it came right off after resticking the tape a couple of times. Excellent stuff.

 

For LONG term storage would you need to worry about the coolant passages? Fill them with oil, too? Or perhaps plug, purge, then pressurize with nitrogen maybe with a gauge to read a few psi's so you know no moisture could gather/be in there? Just curious for myself...

 

Oil in the coolant passages, no. When oil mixes with coolant in an engine or cooling system it foams up. Case in point, my 2nd 57 Chevy had a rebuilt engine when I bought it. Little did I or my friend who rebuilt it in shop class knew that the block had 2 longitudinal cracks just under the intake mani. When I drained the oil, out came 10-12 quarts of gooey chocolate colored foam.


Coat the coolant passages with straight coolant, add desiccant packets, then seal with tape.

Jeff, yes, the aluminum tape is great stuff with the adhesive it uses. Has to be good to last decades sealing HVAC systems.

 

In addition to any oil you may pour into the block, can't hurt to fog the engine internals with something like Pennsoil's Engine Fogger - its a spray can. I'd fog from the plug side as well as the intake and exhaust if they are removed. Biggest enemy is moisture so sealing engine internals from free-flowing outside air is vital. Adding little dessicant packs anywhere that they won't fall into the block can only help to.

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska