Anyone know of a good way to store bare metal parts that may have to sit around for awhile? I'm thinking something the size of an engine block. The outside will be painted but the guts will be exposed and oil free while I wait to have the bottom end balanced and the cam ground etc. Texas is extremely humid so rusting may be an issue. I say that but my partially bare metal shell has been sitting for over a year with no obvious problems but I think you have to be more careful with parts that won't be painted like the inside of an engine. Thanks -

Michael

Can you wipe it down with 30W oil?

To add to what Rob has said, after you wipe it down with the 30W....stick it in a big thick plastic bag and through in a few packs of desecant (moisture absorbing stuff) and then seal the bag. Should be good for quite a while!

I'd definitely oil exposed bare metal area's.

If you bag the block, be sure to put in desicant, otherwise moisture will condense out of the air and F@%*-UP your bare metal area's. It would be worse than leaving the block un-bagged.

On my engine which took me almost a year to complete I would spray WD-40 on a regular basis and very liberally all over the engine. Then I would bag it in a 39 gallon trash bag. The bores I wiped down with motor oil just in case. I never had any problems. I would spray WD-40 all over (especially in the bolt holes) then wipe it down with motor oil, then bag it.

Ed

Thanks - I'll do the WD40 thing when it's ready. I learned about bagging the hard way. I stuck my freshly reworked head in a bag and a few weeks later there was rust on the non-aluminum parts anyway. Any idea where I can pick up desicant? Thanks again -

michael

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&q=Desiccant&spell=1

I have always done as Ed did, but with Marvel Mystery Oil-it doesnt "dry" as fast as WD40.

Will

Paint it, if the surface is oil etc free. Also when the engine is running the oil runs down into the sump more quickly, plus the paint helps to seal and secure the surface.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1969-53,GGLC:en&q=Desiccant&spell=1

I guess I meant more like "yeah my local blah blah blah shop carries it". I'll do some searching if one one knows off hand. Sometimes you find weird things like this in unlikely places. I'm guessing mcmaster-carr probably has it but I'd like to avoid online ordering if possible. Thanks for the tip on that oil hls30 - I'll look around for that too.

michael