Hey guys quick question. How long can you let a rebuilt engine sit before you install it. I'm redoing the whole car and I'm going to have the engine rebuilt. I was just wondering should I wait until I'm ready to install engine or can I have it rebuilt now and have it sit until I'm ready to install. Any thoughts. When I bought the car the engine was not running so the thought was to rebuild from the get go. If I wait until I'm ready to install and I find out theres any problems with engine, well then I have to find one. I guess I just want to everything NOW.
Thanks
Impatient

 

Just wondering,... What kind of engine is it?

 

Sorry, 65 Pony 68 302

 

It should not be a problem for a fresh rebuild to sit for a year. Spray some oil in each cylinder and turn the engine to lube the cylinders. Rotate the engine ever coupe of months and keep it covered, tape up all the holes too.
Jim

 

A good layer of oil on all the bare metal and seal it in a plastic bag. If you have access, fill the bag with pure nitrogen and make sure it's sealed tight. For any case, add some desiccant to keep the moisture out of the bag. For the same reason, you won't want the engine seeing large variances in temperature.

 

when i rebuilt my engine 351w, i bought a short block and redid the heads and everything up to rocker arms and i put the the valve covers on and the oil pan and then it sat for about 8-10 months i had it double bagged as close to air tight as possible and that was it, never had a problem. i did reprime the oil pump and have the oil run for a couple secs. before i started her up... im not saying its the best way to go about it but it worked for me. hope this helps

 

If you are in charge, why not just wait on the rebuild until you are ready for a fresh engine?

 

I guess I should really wait, but like I said I don't know anything about the engine. When I bought the car the engine was just sitting in the bay not hooked up. The person I bought it from got it just like that so he didn't know either. I have torn down the engine to the bare block and it looks pretty good, but looks can be deceiving. I just want to make sure everything is ok now, you know checking the block and the heads to make sure there ok, and I thougth that since I had that much done to go ahead and start the assembly. I know you can't tell just by looks but heres a couple of pictures of the engine.

[IMG]local://upfiles/60561/128958AC8991436BA194F48DC5961EFC.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/60561/6F11A659E1B3410F8978F8A56D343F7E.jpg[/IMG]

 

Nothing wrong with taking your block and heads to a machine shop to have them magnaflux checked for cracks. Doesn't cost much at all and you will know that you have good heads and block when you are ready to build it.