Engine/Vehicle Storage Advice

[Erni902]

Guys,

As you know the silver VR-4 is now off the road. Due to the ramping up of the workload and tempo at work I am finding it extremely hard to find the time to even investigate the gearbox issue let alone get the engine and gearbox swapped from the purple one.

Due to the above I am looking at making the difficult decision of stripping the purple one and scrapping the shell and storing the engine and gearbox and storing the silver one as a whole until such a time that I can devote the amount of time needed to get it back on the road.

I am after some advice on storage.

A) Storing the car as a whole. Obviously better off out of the elements. Is there anything I can do before hand to prep the bodywork/underside from rust etc?
B) Once the car is stored should I start her up every now and then? If so at what sort of intervals? I will remove pads and discs so they do not seize but is there anything else that I need to stop from seizing other than engine.
C) 1 engine will be stored inside the car and the other will be stored outside of the car but in garage. Is there anything I can do to prep the engine for storage? Change oil etc?
D) Once the engine is stored outside of the vehicle what can I do to stop it from seizing? Manually crank it every now and then?

I am probably looking at storing for at least 6 months but could be even longer.

I appreciate some of this will seem like stupid questions to some people but I genuinely have no idea on this subject so any help/advice will be much appreciated.

Also does anyone know how I can go about hiring storage space/garage for a car. I have found a couple of council sites that you can hire them from but they are in extremely dodgy areas that I wouldnt trust.

[Confused]

In my opinion, just park the car up, and leave it :)

[Davezj]

I was always told if storing a engine for any period of time remove the coolant, it will separate out and the water part of the coolant will start to rust out the block. Obviously if only storing an engine for a couple of months the it is not a problem but longer and I would drop the coolant out.
Longer term storage and I would do a spark plug out put a bit of engine oil in the cylinders before you store it and crank it over to coat the in side of the cylinder. Then add I little more oil plugs back in and just leave it.
No turning over after you store it. You can still do this for engine only and hand crank the engine.

However if it is not at all damp then you can get away with just doing inch nothing.
I pulled and engine that had been in a garage for 3 years fitted it put fresh oil in it hand cranked it for a few minutes and it ran fine I have it on my car at the moment.

[TAR]

Rikki, if you need storage, I know some near Dunstable. PM me if you want any details.
:happy:

[adaxo]

As all above 6 months do nothing bad to engine or car, well it may become mouldy inside if not open for whole 6 months.

[Erni902]

Many thanks for the advice guys it is much appreciated. Tim a PM is on its way to you.

If I cannot source any dry storage then is there anything I can do to help prevent the onset of rust as the weather starts to turn and throughout the winter.

[Confused]

I think covering a car makes it worse - it traps moisture/condensation, and doesn't allow air to circulate properly to dry it out.

[Erni902]

I think covering a car makes it worse - it traps moisture/condensation, and doesn't allow air to circulate properly to dry it out.

I agree Garry, was wondering if there are any kind of coatings I can put on the vehicle to protect it from the elements. Is it just a case of getting a full underseal done on the entirety of the underside and arches etc? How can I ensure that leaving it stood wont hurt the underside of the side skirts and rear bumper etc?

[HPRULZ]

I hammerited all up inside the front wings with silver hammerite when I had her before it was undersealed so even if it needs re undersealing now there should still be a real sound base underneath to protect her. When she stood for the time that I was paralysed and in a wheelchair she still fired up first time when I had recovered (as you know she was garaged) don't know if that helps at all mate.

Kev

[Davezj]

If it is going to be years of storage then draining the fuel tank is a good idea. And I mean years and years of storage. Fuel goes off relatively quickly so I would drive the car to get down to min amount of fuel in the tank. Then when you want to start it again after years of sitting you can put fresh fuel in and the old stuff will be a tinny percentage of the total fuel in the tank, so should not cause a problem.

[Erni902]

I hammerited all up inside the front wings with silver hammerite when I had her before it was undersealed so even if it needs re undersealing now there should still be a real sound base underneath to protect her. When she stood for the time that I was paralysed and in a wheelchair she still fired up first time when I had recovered (as you know she was garaged) don't know if that helps at all mate.

Kev

Cheers Kev, thats handy to know :)


If it is going to be years of storage then draining the fuel tank is a good idea. And I mean years and years of storage. Fuel goes off relatively quickly so I would drive the car to get down to min amount of fuel in the tank. Then when you want to start it again after years of sitting you can put fresh fuel in and the old stuff will be a tinny percentage of the total fuel in the tank, so should not cause a problem.

Aha Dave that is also some useful information there I did not know that this was the case. The only bummer is it has pretty much a full tank of fuel when it broke down and also I cant drive it until its empty as the gearbox is fooked haha. Non-the-less still handy info.

[Grid]

Aha Dave that is also some useful information there I did not know that this was the case. The only bummer is it has pretty much a full tank of fuel when it broke down and also I cant drive it until its empty as the gearbox is fooked haha. Non-the-less still handy info.
You can siphon the fuel out with a silicon hose and any kind of manual fuel pump from Ebay (just make sure the hose dia and pump connectors match of course).