For a motor that hasn't run in 1.5 years...

[SHOtimer]

I am in the process of transplating another 3.2 into my SHO. The motor going in has not be fired for about a year, and I won't get it in for another few months. I am beginning to prep it though, and I am going to be doing the valve lash and reconditioning the tensioners. The heads are completely dry of oil except for in the low spots of the head (ie: shims and cams are dry). I am going to be using prelube on the cam lobes and shims to ensure that it won't be a hard start on those parts. However, I am concerned about the cam journals, how do those get oil? Should I pop the caps and put prelube in there, or just squirt the whole head down with oil before I patch it up and let it go with that. I am afraid that those journals are dry also, and I don't want them to get damaged when the engine is first fired.

I will be cranking the car for awhile of course with the ignition disconnected before I fire it up, but I'm not sure if that will do enough for those journals, or if I should even worry about it?

So, what are your thoughts?

Thanx, Doug

 

[MI-SHOFEAR]

Cranking the engine to prelube everything is your best bet. You can spray a penatrating oil on the journals but you have to be sure you change your oil right after your first startup(break in) Personally I wouldnt worry about lubing them except for the whole cranking to prelube thing. But, If you are really concerned you could take the caps off and use some cam assembly **** to help with the first start.

JEff

 

[oh_SHO]

out of curiosity do you plan on cranking the engine with or with out the spark plugs in? I will be doing my RBs when I take mine out of storage and planned on cranking it with no plugs in it before the initail start-up.

 

[revhardSHO]

Leave the plugs in, as long as the engine is not firing you'll be fine.

 

[AutoSHO]

I would remove the spark plugs and turn the engine over until the oil pressure light goes out. This keeps load off of the bearings and also the starter.

As for the cam journals, chances are they will still have enough oil film on them to not worry about the wear 10-15 revolutions will produce.

 

[Shoaz]

I remember this coming up with Click & Clack once (Car Talk), and they had an interesting observation: The difference in residual **** left on engine parts after a few weeks and a few years isn't much. In other words, an engine sitting for a few years isn't much different as far as the internal **** is concerned than an engine that has been sitting for several weeks. So their conclusion was that whatever you're comfortable doing after a few weeks is probably good enough for an engine that has sat unused for much longer. Since most folks are fine just cranking it after a few weeks (I've never worried about it much), there doesn't seem to be much motivation to do anything different after a longer period.

If it was something like a very rare Mercedes aircraft engine or something for which parts are extremely difficult to find I'd probably be careful to run the oil pump or somehow pump some **** up through the galleries before a start after a long time of disuse, just to be ****. But for a SHO motor, if it has good oil in it and the filter is full, there may not be much reason to not just crank it for a while. Cranking it for a bit with the ignition off is a good idea, but there seems to be agreement on that already.

 

[SHOtimer]

Alright, thanx guys. I'll just crank it over untill the light goes out, with the plugs out.

Doug