"Stored dry" he said.....

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TomLouwrier
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Joined: July 28th, 2010, 3:09 pm
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
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"Stored dry" he said.....

Post by TomLouwrier »

Hi guys,

Went to pick up a 5-speed gearbox and 1.6 engine from an 80's Simca recently. I was after the box really, but the engine would be a nice bonus since there is a difference in the bellhouse bolt pattern between the 4 and 5 speed box.
These parts came out of the storage of a man who used to run a small local garage and had retired. He flogged the cars and parts he had and 'my' seller had to take some stuff he did not really want or need.

Anyway, the seller decided to give me the engine for free because he found that wouldn't turn over readily. Pretty decent of him.
But, he said, everything had been lying in dry storage, so with a bit of oil down the bores it would certainly free up again. No worries.

So last weekend I pulled the head. It's an OHV engine, just get the cam cover off and undo the head bolts. Easy.
Well, look what I found....
How much poor can you find in a block?
How much poor can you find in a block?
12040004-klein.jpg (231.06 KiB) Viewed 3378 times
What's that? Mushrooms?
What's that? Mushrooms?
12040003-klein.jpg (312.68 KiB) Viewed 3378 times
Where was this dry storage? In a tropical rain forest or what?
You can clearly see that the one cylinder that had both valves closed did in fact escape reasonably well. As for the rest, I doubt that any amout of reboring will ever reclaim this block. Luckily I can salvage about all other parts but the block itself seems lost.

So, my friends, if you are going to lay up an engine, DO make sure you pour oil down the bores beforehand, turn it over a couple of times, and DO put enough oiled rags in all ports to keep the moisture out!

Have a good weekend
Tom
GC_29
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