Storing a new rebuild for the winter

[General_01]

This past summer I had my 383 stroked to a 496. It did get broken in on the dyno. I now have it in the car, but I am not going to be able to fire it up. I have not changed the oil from the dyno run yet. I was going to do that when I was ready to fire it up. I have not put any water or antifreeze in it. Water was run through it with an electric pump during break-in, but that was it. Will the engine be fine sitting in the car over winter, and if so, is there anything I should do before I fire it up next Spring? Do I need to pull the distributor and prime the the pump? Anything else? I just spent a good sum of money on this thing and I dont want to do any harm when I fire it up next year.

[aifilaw]

If you think there is possibility that there is still water in it, and/or the climate will get below freezing, I would take pure antifreeze and fill the block.
Priming it with oil is unnecessary until you plan on starting it, but if I thought about it with metal shifting due to aluminum, iron, and steels different expansion rates, for absolute security it would be best to prime it every 2 weeks to a month, but again... unnecessary until you do start up.

[Sublime/Sixpack]

If you think there may still be water in the block, it wouldn't hurt to remove the two block drain plugs to let the remaining water run out. One other thing that comes to mind is possibly loosening the rocker shafts so your valve springs aren't compressed while the engine just sits there all winter.

Also, some people like to shoot oil into each cylinder then turn the crank a couple times by hand (flex handle and socket) before putting the spark plugs back in.

[firefighter3931]

If you think there may still be water in the block, it wouldn't hurt to remove the two block drain plugs to let the remaining water run out. One other thing that comes to mind is possibly loosening the rocker shafts so your valve springs aren't compressed while the engine just sits there all winter.

Also, some people like to shoot oil into each cylinder then turn the crank a couple times by hand (flex handle and socket) before putting the spark plugs back in.

Good advice. 



Ron

[General_01]

Thanks for the advice guys.

[ITSA426]

Dean, why don't you see if you can't get it into the snowblower and just break it in over the winter?

[General_01]

Dean, why don't you see if you can't get it into the snowblower and just break it in over the winter?

I sure would get the driveway done alot faster.