How long did you store your engine.

Now that my wings, tail, fuse and canopy are pretty much finished excluding all fiberglass, wiring and avionics Im thinking of ordering my engine after the first of the year. I'm concerned with the engine sitting for a extended period of time during the rest of the build.

Guess my question is for you guys that are finished and flying.

When you took delivery of your engine how long did the rest of your build take before first flight.

If it took 6-12-18 months or longer what steps did you take to preserve the engine ?

Once flying have you had any issues due to long term storage during the final build ?

Thanks Ed

It depends on where you have it stored.
If it's in a controlled environment, especially low humidity, it can last for years.

1999 to 2004

Bought the O-360-A1A through Vans, drop shipped from Lycoming in long term storage condition in 1999. Kept it in the cardboard box it came in from Lycoming then mounted it on the airplane in our garage in Laguna Hills, California with attention at all. Removed the preservative stuff (I don't remember what all was involved anymore), ran the engine for the first time and flew the airplane in 2004. No problems of any kind in 1050 hrs.

Bob Axsom

I bought a high time 0-320 for a project about three years ago. I asked our FBO expert if I needed to prep it for storage. He told me to mount it on an auto engine stand, so I could rotate the whole engine every time I went to the hangar. I squirted oil into the cylinders and then never rotate the crank...only the whole engine. The engine has about five quarts of regular oil in the crankcase. I got rubber plugs from the hardware store to plug the openings. I live in Colorado, so this may not work in a humid area. Hope this helps.

Jim

My engine was in an unheated garage (My workshop), then a draughty hangar for 3 years before first flight. I occasionally squirted extra preservative oil into the plug holes and kept the dehydrating plugs blue. I was a bit worried, but the engine has been flawless for about 2 years.

18 months from receipt of the pickled engine in the box from Lycoming.

Took it out of the bag @ about 3 months. Did not turn the engine until about 12 months where I drained the preservative oil and started turning the engine for the purpose of installing the prop and spinner. First engine start was about 16 mo.

No storage issues

Vacuum packed it.

Bought a new 0-360 TMX four years ago and fabricated a rotating stand for it. Filled it with two gallons of Shell preservation oil, pluged all ports, installed desiccant plugs in all cylinders and fogged them also. Wrapped the engine in clean sheets & 3M pads with 10 pounds of desiccant bags. Then double sealed it in two large plastic bags and vacuumed all the air out of it. I rotate the entire engine at least once a month and three times a year regenerate the desiccant and re-fog the cylinders. Then re-vacuum pack it. There's not a spot of rust or corrosion anywhere and looks as good as the day I bought it. I have yet to find the desiccant turned pink so I know it's keeping pretty dry. Keep a log on it so I can keep track. A lot of work but then again that thing cost almost as much as my first house many , many years ago.

17 Years!

I bought a new engine from Van's with the long term storage treatment. I always tried to keep the humidity low and never turned the motor over. fogged it now and then and for awhile I used the moisture absorbing plugs. I gave up on them after a few years and then never did a thing but keep it dry. 17 years later....It has about 130 hours time on it after one year of flying. Runs great. it's not very scientific but that's my story.

storage

3 years storage of XP-IO360. I double bagged it in a matress bag with an aluminum pan full of dessicant that I refreshed every three months. It worked well if not overkill. I used to co- own an L-19 in the 1980s and we bought an engine that had been covered with cosmoline and packed in a continer with a couple psi of nitrogen. It was in good shape after 20 plus years of storage

Just amazing, these sure weren't the results I was expecting to hear.

Why didn't I think of that ?

packed in a continer with a couple psi of nitrogen. [/QUOTE said:

Brad I like the Nitrogen blanket. I could keep a small feed of Nitrogen into my storage bag and that engine thing would keep dryer than a popcorn fart. A bottle of Nitrogen is cheap and with the right regulator it would last months.

Click to expand...

Habor freight

HF sells a really cheap auto eng stand ,add oil, rotate every couple of weeks,use the dissident plugs and tape a bag or to to the open valve ports.

Our O-360-A1F6 was hung on the airplane early in 2006. Since then it has been filled with preservative oil. I mean FILLED, likely 5+ gallons. Oil is right up to the top of the filler neck. Intake runners were removed and ports plugged, exhaust was removed and ports plugged, and "dud" spark plugs installed. Cylinders are full of oil and all other ports are plugged. Yes, it leaks a bit, but not more than a couple of quarts per year (way less than the last Pratt & Whitney I flew! LoL).

In August I drained oil from the two cylinders with their pistons closest to the bottom of the stroke. Ran a borescope into the bottom spark plug holes. Honestly was expecting the top of the cylinder bores to show some rust. Imagine my surprise when I had to dial down the borescope light because of the amount of light reflecting off the cylinder walls. Once I got the lighting reduced all I could see was a beautiful cross-hatch honing pattern. (Insert deep sigh of relief...)