Pickling an O-320

[bergy]

I purchased a 0-time O-320 a couple of years ago for my Patrol project. The builder said he had run the engine for about 20 minutes. He recommended that I turn the engine over by hand every couple of weeks while in storage. I've followed his advice. I mounted the engine on a homemade engine-stand that allows me to rotate the crankcase 360 as well. I made covers for all the openings into the engine and bolted them on finger-tight. The engine has chrome-cylinders.
I was reading last week in one of the magazines that Lycoming recommends that one NOT turn over their engines in storage.
Anyone have any practical experience or advice ... my project is going slowly; the engine will not be running for quite a while yet.
My only practical experience involves, would you believe, a P-38 with its famous V-12s.
I attended the same grade school as WWII ace, Major Richard Bong. In fact, Bong's sister was my 6th grade teacher. In Major Bong's memory, we had a P-38 perched in the flower garden of our school yard (see photo) It sat out there in Wisconsin weather for about 60 years mounted on 3 posts. What is amazing is that when the P-38 was recently taken down off its perch for restoring, the right-side engine still turned over freely. The left-side engine was seized. The difference? One can see in the photo that it was easy for 60 generations of grade school kids to jump up and swing from the prop of the right-side engine, thereby rotating the engine periodically, while the left side was out of their reach
Poplar P-38.small.jpg

Therefore I am tempted to continue my periodic engine rotation routine.

[mswain]

The official procedure from Lycoming is to fog the cylinders with preservative oil mixture through the top spark plug holes. (This is after running the engine to temp with Preservative oil) If you then turn the crank the rings will wipe the oil from the cylinder walls.

Not sure what part of the country you live in, but here in Florida we routinely have > 90% humidity, so using Desiccant plugs and bags help keep things dry.

I know of some guys who use the unofficial method, and that is to close the valves by removing the pushrods cylinder by cylinder than filling the entire engine with oil.

[Bcone1381]

Do you recieve the EAA Sport Aviation magazine? This month on page 20 has an article titled "Pickle Your Engine." As I read it, I would apply this to an engine on an airframe, as they list procedures for sitting 30 - 90 days, then longer than 90 days.

I have no experience, but I have read on another forum where the recommendation If it's going to sit years was disassembly and storage in a dry heated environment.

[patrickh99]

Properly pickled, you should not need to turn the engine. Put the right oil in it, fog the cylinders, plug all the holes, stick it in a corner, and forget about it until you are ready. Lots of old military surplus engines sat for years that way without rust issues. Rubber seals and gaskets are a different story.

I'm guessing that P38 was just drained of fluids and stuck up on the posts.

[Glenn Patterson]

We bought an engine that was used & pickled for storage when removed from the airplane. We had it inspected internally before we bought it & it was good. We built a crate with OSB & 2x4's with casters to store the engine in the shop. 6 mil poly vapor barrier was laid down to line the box & extended over the sides. Set the engine on blocks inside the plastic lined box. We put a gallon of silica gel desiccant into 3 nylons socks donated by the Mrs then place a couple on the engine and one in the bottom. Vapor barrier was laid over the box and the lid screwed on to seal the engine & desiccant bagged in the box.The engine stayed in the box for at least 5 years. We checked it once after it was in the box for a couple years and there was no change. The silica gel changes color when it is spent & it can be dried in an oven to be reused endlessly. The silical gel was its original color when we opened the box years later to mount & the engine looked the same as it did the day it went into the box. Our shop goes from -25F inside to +100 and swings from dry in the winter to humid in the summer. We wanted to make sure that the climate had no influence on the engine & had no idea how long it would live in the box.
Glenn
BH727