i am putting my motor (98 LS1) back together in the upcoming weeks. unfortunately the motor wont be implanted into its new home -my TJ- for about six months. what can i do to keep everthing fresh inside the motor? i dont want anything to rust inside. also what if any harm could this cause?

 

Are you going to be storing it with heads on or off? I would coat all cylinders with a heavy oil. Make sure everything is lubed up. Then just use tape to seal off all openings on the block and heads. Find a large trash bag and bag it up until you are going to use it. If you can I would keep the heads off of it then when you are putting it in you will have soaked lifters to put in before heads...so they dont bleed down over the next 6 months.

 

Chino's got some good points. Use fogging oil into the cylinders to prevent corrosion and rust instead of regular oil. I've been in the marine world for a few years and we commonly let engines store 6-7 months with the above methods with no problems.


LS1 TJ! You lucky dog! My TJ is powered by the lil 2.5L 4 banger...

 

i really need to put the whole motor together. as it is now it is spread out on our shop floor and i need it together so i can make some space. i have to be able to get heep in there so i can tear it down. Chino you said something about the lifters bleeding down, is that something that is really a big problem. hypothetically if they were to bleed down what would it take to pump them back up while in the motor.

 

Yeah Ryan it might feel a little more peppy than the factory 4.0. hahaha

 

If you need to get stuff out of the way I would just put the heads on without torqing any of the headbolts down. Then when you goto install the motor pull the heads, throw on some gaskets, put in the lifters and put the heads back on. Tape the openings up before storing though. Keep as much moisture out of the motor as possible. It can be hard to pump up a bled lifter. Oil pressure is the only thing that pumps them back up. When they are totally collapsed this can be hard. Obviously a collapsed lifter can cuase complete loss of control of the valve....bouncing valves, pushrods, etc. This is very hard on the valvetrain.

If I were you, I would do what I stated and put some freshly soaked lifters in when the motor is ready to be installed.

 

that's a pretty good idea. thanx for the info man.