starting race motor during winter storage

[BOOT]

In terms of preheating the motor, I'd just use a $20 Walmart cheap electric space heater and put it under or near the oil pan for about an hour before I started it up. Your motor will start up like it's the summer.

Seen a hotplate under the pan before too.

[rally]

Different things can be done. I have idled engine before putting it up for the winter. Spray some Sea Foam in carb slowly then let the engine stop or die. Close off all valves. This saves on valve spring life. Other option is to spray oil fooging oil into each cylinder also. Leave the engine alone during storage. Agree with other posters, dont run engine off and on while its sitting before you race again. Also turning engine over with rachet and socket by hand wouldnt hurt. Make sure block has no water in it. Check antifreeze for proper protection if used.

[cv67]

Leave mine sit for months at a time never turn it over springs havent lost a lb in 2 yrs.
Used to do it every week saw joe post a long time ago about it he was right.

[MadBill]

Wonder if maybe it depends on the percentage of the elastic limit to which the spring is being stressed? I can see a max-effort drag engine, maybe with 1"+ lift, having springs that would sag if parked for the off-season at max lift, but I think it's unlikely in an endurance or hot street engine which is not designed to run at the ragged edge of failure.

A shop I frequent builds engines of the former persuasion; I think I'll talk him into putting a big nut and bolt through such a spring (in good used condition), crushing it to 0.050" short of coil bind and parking it on the shelf, to be pulled out and load tested every three months for a year or more...

[woody b]

I always raced pretty much year round, but if there was a while I wouldn't race I'd just spin it over with the starter once a week.

[CREngines]

Wonder if maybe it depends on the percentage of the elastic limit to which the spring is being stressed? I can see a max-effort drag engine, maybe with 1"+ lift, having springs that would sag if parked for the off-season at max lift, but I think it's unlikely in an endurance or hot street engine which is not designed to run at the ragged edge of failure.

A shop I frequent builds engines of the former persuasion; I think I'll talk him into putting a big nut and bolt through such a spring (in good used condition), crushing it to 0.050" short of coil bind and parking it on the shelf, to be pulled out and load tested every three months for a year or more...

Checking a spring cold doesnt always tell the tale. Sometimes they fall off more when hot.

Backing off the valves is a good idea for more then springs as mentioned earlier in this thread. If you have an exhaust valve open with open headers its a short path to travel for moisture, most especially in a garage that is not heated and condensates from the temp going up and down.

People that want to spend all this time and money and thought on cylinder wall finish, but risk trashing it by not loosening rockers or pulling pushrods its just beyond me. Race gas doesnt leave a nice oily film to protect everything like pump gas does. It corrodes and oxidizes everything.

[donc]

Another culprit in winter storage is mice, dirty little bastards. I winterized my race car ,fogging oil anti-freeze, plugged ex.didnt back valves off , mice got into collector where tubes meet was a small hole,went up into #8 cyl. and setup home. Mouse urine does some damage to aluminum and cast iron. Since that incident, I plug every hole and crack,someone recommended drier sheets,so I place them all over and under.

[cuslog]

I've been backing off the rockers -- I "Hear" the guys that say it doesn't hurt them to leave them compressed, and I don't dis-agree but its not like it costs any more to back them off.
I also think that a closed valve may be less prone to corrosion, especially with race gas.

[MadBill]

Ironically, the most troublesome rockers to back off are usually associated with the springs that might most need it, e.g. Jesel shafts, our own Loctited Yella Terra pedestal mounts, etc...

[vincenelson]

At the end of every race weekend I remove all the rockers, which in my case are T&D's. With large amounts of seat pressure and large amounts of pressure on the nose I try and protect my investment as much as possible. In my case I have a 1" lift cam....but I started doing the rocker removal after every race when I was running .750 lift cams. I do believe that having all the valves closed does help to keep the moisture out of the cylindars. When your springs cost $600.00 bucks a set you kinda want to keep them alive as long as possible. Can you get away with less maintainance? Shoot I know some folks that only set their valves once a season. I check spring pressures and lash after every pass, in hopes of not taking any steps backwards.

[racinnut15xm]

Ironically, the most troublesome rockers to back off are usually associated with the springs that might most need it, e.g. Jesel shafts, our own Loctited Yella Terra pedestal mounts, etc...

yeah i just did mine, t&d, it sat a couple months before i finally made the time to do it. Suppose doing it now is better than not doing it at all.

[novadude]

Any concern about flash-rust on cylinder walls? It's something I've always wondered about, but never really worried about. It would seem that there should be enough residual oil on the walls to prevent this provided the car is stored indoors. I know I've even fired engines that sat outdoors for long periods of time with no apparent issues. Anyone ever seen any flash rusting over winter storage?

[cuslog]

Any concern about flash-rust on cylinder walls? It's something I've always wondered about, but never really worried about. It would seem that there should be enough residual oil on the walls to prevent this provided the car is stored indoors. I know I've even fired engines that sat outdoors for long periods of time with no apparent issues. Anyone ever seen any flash rusting over winter storage?

Not so much on bores but I have seen it on valve seats ~ was it one that sat there open all winter? - I have no real proof but I suspect it was. This was stored indoors in a heated shop (about 50 F).

[cv67]

With an in lift sure. Guessing that may take some extended load off the needle bearings also.
Personally wouldnt worry about rust soon as the valve closes or rotates gone. Maybe Im just lazy

[nitro2]

Any concern about flash-rust on cylinder walls? It's something I've always wondered about, but never really worried about. It would seem that there should be enough residual oil on the walls to prevent this provided the car is stored indoors. I know I've even fired engines that sat outdoors for long periods of time with no apparent issues. Anyone ever seen any flash rusting over winter storage?

Years ago we saw serious flash rusting on 2 strokes stored in a shop with condensation issues. This only took a couple days, even in the summer, and if you didn't specifically look inside the cylinder you probably would not know that the rust ever happened i.e. it would disappear when the engine was run. Manually coating the cylinders with 2 stroke oil whether cheap oil or synthetic did not fix the problem and in fact some 2 stroke synthetics seemed to amplify the problem. The solution was to manually coat the cylinders with either 4 stroke oil or 2 stroke castor oil.

On a 4 stroke, we always close all the valves to eliminate any chance of rusting or other corrosion, mice, bugs, etc. Even during a short shutdown period we cap the exhaust and intake. A little extra work, but great peace of mind.