ALFAGTV6.COM

Hi again,
Got the 3.0L V6 engine rebuilt over the winter but unfortunately I ran out of time to replace it with the original in my GTV6 as I am now off to the USA for a three year job contract. Anyone got any do's and don'ts regarding storing the engine for three years? I intend to put in synthetic oil, check that the oil pressure is OK by cranking the engine and then leaving it with a friend who can manually crank the engine now and then so that the valve springs etc don't stay in the same position for the next three years. What about the injectors? Should I fill the fuel rail with fuel? The fuel could degrade and "gum up" the injector seals. Should I use injector cleaner or light oil (or just nothing) instead??

Thanks,
Brian.
Arizona here we come !!

generaly speaking if an engine is "inside" of a dry fairly temp conrolled area and not neer the beach an engine will be fine for almost forever..when i say inside and dry i mean a garage attatched to a house

now that being said is the storage area is questionable what i do i pour oil down into each cyl(remove spark plugs insert funnel) about 1/8th of a quart or so depending on engine size...rotate the carnk a few times...then reinstall plugs..now for the kicker you need to "seal" the engine up and the best way i know is to close the vavles..probelm is these alfa engines would require cam removeal to do that so its out of the question.....so you have a few options depending on how much of the engine is "complete"...if the plenum is on, then pull the TB and make a steel plate to bolt on in place of the TB and silicone sealant it down...if the plenum is not on the car then you will have to go old school and soak a bunch on rags in oil and stuff em down each port....do the same for the exhaust.....with the oil soaked cyl's you will NOT need to have the engine cranked over by hand ever..she will be good for 10+ years......

now as far as fuel goes you need to forceably remove any and all of it you can..if this means removeing the rail and spraying it out with cleaner so be it...as long as theres not a standing pool of fuel on the injectors they should be fine

ive got bare engine blocks that got nothing more than an oil coating back in 92 that still show no signs of rust and have never been re-coated...as well as assembled blocks that i let sit outside with the same treatment that sat for more than 5 years and still looked as good as the day i put them there

Brian16,

no need to waste money on synthetic oil here either....use the cheap stuff for the crankcase (turn the engine to get oil everywhere) then follow shOrtlife's recomendations. There is no advantage to synthetic oil for corrosion (rust ) control. You will also want to break in your new engine with regular oil so as to get the rings to seat. The rings need to wear a bit to seat right and the synthetic is too slick to allow that to happen. Get about 1000 miles on her then change to synthetic.

HTH,
Scott

actualy ive heard going to about the 3000 mark befor going synth is much better for the engine life....or so my machinest says and he builds/races drag engines...500 mile mark is the bare minimum

go to your local marine supply store and pick up some engine storage spay lube and lube up everything, cylinders, pulleys, etc.....then wrap the engine in plastic (plastic drop cloth) and tape up well.

unrap next christmas...

sh0rtlife wrote:actualy ive heard going to about the 3000 mark befor going synth is much better for the engine life....or so my machinest says and he builds/races drag engines...500 mile mark is the bare minimum

He breaks in the racing engines for 3000 miles?
Guess they're not very highly tuned then, sounds like it's time for a rebuild right about there.

x-rad wrote:go to your local marine supply store and pick up some engine storage spay lube and lube up everything, cylinders, pulleys, etc.....then wrap the engine in plastic (plastic drop cloth) and tape up well.

unrap next christmas...

Yes, fogging oil is the Schnitzel.
No need to wrap it though.

Hi,
Thanks for all the tips guys. I will unwrap 2010 and see how it looks, sounds and goes.

Brian.

Mats wrote: He breaks in the racing engines for 3000 miles?
Guess they're not very highly tuned then, sounds like it's time for a rebuild right about there.

nah he just recomends not going to synthetics till about the 3000 mile mark ...course he isnt a big fan of synthetics anyway lol

For break in I used Castrol non synth10w 40 and just ran the engine fairly hard after about ten miles....then after 100 ran all out

Had the head off for other problem at ~2000 miles and clyinders looked great