What have you done to your CUCV today/lately - Part 2

[Bighorn]

You don't think pressurizing the oil system will help ? It will spray oil all over everything. Including the piston pins and rings and by extension the cylinder bores. As far as filling the whole engine with oil. All you will end up with is a mess. It will come out every pore that engine has, plus the seals. The seals are not meant to hold back a solid mass of oil. Also pouring oil in the combustion chamber will only work for a few days. Then the oil will drain down. If you want to know the "correct" way to seal an engine for long term storage, the military has an excellent program listed in one of the TM's. I cannot remember which one off the top of my head, though you could look it up. It involves totally "draining" all the oil though.

I know the Willys F Head motors have a hole in the connecting rods that sprays oil onto the underside of the piston and cylinder walls as do some diesels.
I don't believe the small block Chevys have that feature.
They rely on splash from the crank case and oil thrown out of the rod journals.
Either way, the piston and rod combo needs to be in the proper position for that oil hole in the connecting rod to spray the cylinder walls.
My understanding is that connecting rod bearings get variable oil pressure anyways due to the crossdrilling of the crankshaft journals needing to line up.
You would need to prime the oil pump WHILE rotating the assembly.
If you want to store an engine for years, install it in a vehicle and drive it once in a while or make it run on an engine stand.
Leaving a freshly rebuilt engine to sit; new rings against freshly honed cylinder walls, is asking for trouble.
Better to leave it in pieces and assemble it when needed.
Or break the rings in by operating it before storage.

 

[Another Ahab]

Let's try again. Interesting. No problem this morning. Probably a server glitch.

View attachment 705023

That cleaned up nicely, but now I forget what the story was, just "gunked" up from sitting around?

Just water to clean it up?

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Just gunked up from too many years of not worrying about washing the old firewood hauler, and it gets parked in the shade, and we live in the forest, so, things get pretty dirty. Because of our high humidity, and that nice CARC surface, lichen was growing all over it, too.

That's actually the very first bath it's had since I bought it, and you know how GovLiquidation always polished the vehicles before they sold them.


That was just cold water from a rinky-dink 115 volt pressure washer I bought at Lowes on sale. I think it's rated at something like 1500 PSI, so it's not a monster by any means. It didn't bother the CARC at all, but it sure got it clean.

What it did NOT do was to remove the mud that's caked on the underside of the hood, and a few other places. That stuff is like concrete. I don't know where it's from.

 

[gottaluvit]

......can you hear a „clonk“ during the steering?
Maybe the heart stud ( don’t know the correct englisch word), in germany we say Herzbolzen......on the springs is knocked out?

You can almost always tell if a center pin is sheared if the vehicle is "dogtracking". That is when the rear axle don't follow directly behind the front axle, causing the vehicle to "walk" crooked. Then one has to measure spacing of each axle between the tire and fender (or tire and bedside on the rear), checking both sides for equal distances. The one off center usually shows itself clearly.

 

[computer54]

Just gunked up from too many years of not worrying about washing the old firewood hauler, and it gets parked in the shade, and we live in the forest, so, things get pretty dirty. Because of our high humidity, and that nice CARC surface, lichen was growing all over it, too.
That's actually the very first bath it's had since I bought it, and you know how GovLiquidation always polished the vehicles before they sold them.
That was just cold water from a rinky-dink 115 volt pressure washer I bought at Lowes on sale. I think it's rated at something like 1500 PSI, so it's not a monster by any means. It didn't bother the CARC at all, but it sure got it clean.
What it did NOT do was to remove the mud that's caked on the underside of the hood, and a few other places. That stuff is like concrete. I don't know where it's from.

It mite be Ga clay that's on your truck because when it get's on something it stays for life. And is hard to get off too.

 

[rustystud]

I know the Willys F Head motors have a hole in the connecting rods that sprays oil onto the underside of the piston and cylinder walls as do some diesels.
I don't believe the small block Chevys have that feature.
They rely on splash from the crank case and oil thrown out of the rod journals.
Either way, the piston and rod combo needs to be in the proper position for that oil hole in the connecting rod to spray the cylinder walls.
My understanding is that connecting rod bearings get variable oil pressure anyways due to the crossdrilling of the crankshaft journals needing to line up.
You would need to prime the oil pump WHILE rotating the assembly.
If you want to store an engine for years, install it in a vehicle and drive it once in a while or make it run on an engine stand.
Leaving a freshly rebuilt engine to sit; new rings against freshly honed cylinder walls, is asking for trouble.
Better to leave it in pieces and assemble it when needed.
Or break the rings in by operating it before storage.

Your correct in saying the best way is to rotate the crankshaft while pressurizing the oil system. Which could be easily done. You missed the initial question though. The engine had "already" been bought completely "assembled" . It would be silly to tear it down to store it. So you either completely seal it up like the military does, or you provide some way to lubricate it while it is in storage. Also putting it in a vehicle would be great if you had a "spare" vehicle to put it in. But then if you put it in a vehicle then wouldn't you already be driving it ? So again your left with an engine sitting in your shop/garage rusting away. So like I already stated, get an oil primer and get some oil through that engine.

 

[cucvrus]

Our get a big enough boat and use it for an anchor. Or like me let it sit on the engine stand because it looks so pretty. It also takes up shop space that you always need.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

It mite be Ga clay that's on your truck because when it get's on something it stays for life. And is hard to get off too.

I had thought of that. Dunno where this truck has been. I found a bunch of this in one alternator when I bought it and in the resistor when I did the bypass.

 

[Bighorn]

Your correct in saying the best way is to rotate the crankshaft while pressurizing the oil system. Which could be easily done. You missed the initial question though. The engine had "already" been bought completely "assembled" . It would be silly to tear it down to store it. So you either completely seal it up like the military does, or you provide some way to lubricate it while it is in storage. Also putting it in a vehicle would be great if you had a "spare" vehicle to put it in. But then if you put it in a vehicle then wouldn't you already be driving it ? So again your left with an engine sitting in your shop/garage rusting away. So like I already stated, get an oil primer and get some oil through that engine.

Or sell it to me so I can replace the 400 in my 76 K5 with something that gets better than single digit mileage.
I like the torque but sheesh!
Always liked those smaller gas v8's.
The GM 283, 305, the IH 304, Fords 302.
Alltime favorite gas motor being the little Ford 200 cu inch inline six.

 

[Bighorn]

Also wanted to add, for future engine storage;
Not a lot of oil is spraying around inside the engine when you prime the oil pump on an engine stand or even crank the engine over with a starter.
It drips out between the bearing journals.
Even engines with oil holes in the connecting rods that lube cylinder walls will only do so during specific angles of the crank shaft rotation.
Just priming the oil pump and turning the engine over by hand ain't gonna do much for the cylinder walls.
If I bought an assembled engine I would install it immediately.
If I absolutely had to store it, I would remove the heads.
You have a large mass of iron with partially enclosed air spaces.
Moisture in the air gets in there and as the block resists heating and cooling each day you will get condensation inside the cylinder bores.
Pop the heads off, it's just a pair of gaskets.
Much easier to keep the cylinders lubes for storage and reduces the chances of condensation, and you can see if anything is in the bores.

 

[The FLU farm]

Bighorn, I've been wondering about the current health of a 350 I pulled out of a '76 GMC quite some time ago. It's now on standby for when/if the 6.2 in the M1008 gives up, but you're painting a grim picture here.

 

[Bighorn]

Bighorn, I've been wondering about the current health of a 350 I pulled out of a '76 GMC quite some time ago. It's now on standby for when/if the 6.2 in the M1008 gives up, but you're painting a grim picture here.

I would think you would pull the heads anyways before you install the used motor just to be sure there are no problems.
Why not pull them now and that way keep the cylinders lubed and be able to see if any obvious problems exist.
I just can't imagine installing an engine that has been sitting without checking it out inside first.
That is a whole lot of work.
Then again, people do it all the time and mostly get away with it.
I have seen some very old engines that sat and undoubtedly had rusty cylinder walls be brought back to life by spraying penetrating oil in the spark plug holes and breaking the crankshaft free with leverage.
Personally wouldn't trust one of those motors to be a daily driver in my rig.
You can bend the piston ring lands, break the rings.. and not find out you did it until weeks or months later after you already invested all that time.

 

[The FLU farm]

Yeah, in an ideal world I'd replace all the gaskets and seals before putting that one back into service. I'll try to remember to try turning it a tiny bit today, just to satisfy my curiosity.
If I remove the heads now, with my luck I wouldn't find the heads again when it came time to reassemble the engine.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Since this is the CUCV forum, you could always put it in a 6.2 can and fill it with argon or whatever the military did. I've opened cans that have grocery size bags of oxygen absorber in them. It's an option.

 

[rustystud]

Also wanted to add, for future engine storage;
Not a lot of oil is spraying around inside the engine when you prime the oil pump on an engine stand or even crank the engine over with a starter.
It drips out between the bearing journals.
Even engines with oil holes in the connecting rods that lube cylinder walls will only do so during specific angles of the crank shaft rotation.
Just priming the oil pump and turning the engine over by hand ain't gonna do much for the cylinder walls.
If I bought an assembled engine I would install it immediately.
If I absolutely had to store it, I would remove the heads.
You have a large mass of iron with partially enclosed air spaces.
Moisture in the air gets in there and as the block resists heating and cooling each day you will get condensation inside the cylinder bores.
Pop the heads off, it's just a pair of gaskets.
Much easier to keep the cylinders lubes for storage and reduces the chances of condensation, and you can see if anything is in the bores.

It's much easier to remove the rockers then remove the heads. Or just back off the bolts and let the valves close. That's what the military does or did for long term storage. That and fogging the bores with a good penetrant spray. Also having had an engine that I installed a oil primer on it does move a lot of oil. At 30 psi it is spraying pretty good inside that engine ! At work we always primed the engines before installing them back in the trucks or buses.

 

[cucvrus]

It's much easier to remove the rockers then remove the heads. Or just back off the bolts and let the valves close. That's what the military does or did for long term storage. That and fogging the bores with a good penetrant spray. Also having had an engine that I installed a oil primer on it does move a lot of oil. At 30 psi it is spraying pretty good inside that engine ! At work we always primed the engines before installing them back in the trucks or buses.

OK I triggered this conversation. At what point do I say the engine is scrap. It has sat for 5 years and been untouched. It has a 7/16" bolt in the front and is locked up tight. I think I will just scrap it for parts. If anyone needs a set of small block heads. I could have used the engine several times but it is carbureted. Everything I had that needed an engine was EFI. 1985 engine with a 4 bbl.

 

[Ilikemtb999]

5 years does not seem that long to me. Must just be humidity. My Buick sat for over 12 and just very recently started up with a fresh battery. Even ran on the sta-bil filled fuel from the day it was parked.

 

[cucvrus]

Maybe because it was never run. Just a thought. Not sure. Maybe. Seems logical. maybe bolt a starter on it and see what I can do. Maybe even a flywheel would help get some leverage.

 

[DREDnot]

I once got a CB900C given to me free because it sat outside uncovered for 10 years with the carbs off. Guy said it was locked up with rust, which it was. I put a couple squirts of ATF in each cylinder and tried to get it to break free with the starter. Two tries each day...Clunk...Clunk...let it sit. On the sixth day it cranked over. After I got it running and checked compression, it was still within spec and ran like a champ. Great bike.

 

[Another Ahab]

I once got a CB900C given to me free because it sat outside uncovered for 10 years with the carbs off. Guy said it was locked up with rust, which it was. I put a couple squirts of ATF in each cylinder and tried to get it to break free with the starter. Two tries each day...Clunk...Clunk...let it sit. On the sixth day it cranked over. After I got it running and checked compression, it was still within spec and ran like a champ. Great bike.

And on the seventh day it rested.

Sounds like biblical prophesy.