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A few days ago their was a GT on ebay listed with a hipo PAECO engine. Very appealing if it were not for the fact that the engine has basically been in moth balls for 25 years. Question.
(assumming the engine was in a dry climate out of the weather)
Is it conceivable that this hipo engine could be brought back to life and above average performance without rebuilding or does time simply do too much damage to the engine
 

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azopelnut said:
A few days ago their was a GT on ebay listed with a hipo PAECO engine. Very appealing if it were not for the fact that the engine has basically been in moth balls for 25 years. Question.
(assumming the engine was in a dry climate out of the weather)
Is it conceivable that this hipo engine could be brought back to life and above average performance without rebuilding or does time simply do too much damage to the engine
Assuming a dry climate, I'd still tear it down and regasket the entire thing. The seals are likely shot, including the valve seals. Without regular use in contact with a lubricant, they won't last long. Otherwise (assuming the dry climate again), everything else should be virtually the same as it was when it was put together.

When I got my Opel GT in '03 from California, it had spent 20 years in the desert. When I went to remove the rear drums to replace the e-brake cable, the drums came right off in my hands, and ALL the rear brake hardware still had the paint on it....no rust. Gotta love those dry climates!

Bob
 

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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Happy Birthday Bob
Will you be at the picnic... if so I'll buy the first round
 

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azopelnut said:
Happy Birthday Bob
Will you be at the picnic... if so I'll buy the first round
No picnic this year for me. Guess I'll catch up with you at the 30th....
 

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I saw that too, and it didn't make the reserve (or maybe it was terminated early?).

It would CERTAINLY depend upon how it was initially put away (was it sprayed with storage lubricant, was the engine oil clean and new, was the coolant drained?) and how it was kept (was it routinely run, was it outside or in (out in this case), is it in a humid environment and was the temperature constant or widely varying? (condensation can play havoc in VERY short order)).

Anyway, I can possibly provide a real life example. My GT engine was sort of rebuilt and re-assembled back in 1989. It then sat in various garages, but always indoors, and always at a fairly constant temperature (i.e. it never got below freezing), and was only run perhaps a dozen times, and never for more than a half hour at a time. When I pulled it apart again last year, after 15 years, it was in remarkably good shape. That is, there was no corrosion in the cylinder walls. But the cam had several rust marks on it, as did the crank, especially under the bearings. Would it have run? Certainly, but probably with a reduced life span.

I don't recall where this car was situated. But based on the car being stored outside, and it would appear with little thought for proper storage (baggies wrapped over the DCOE horns don't constitute "storage"), I would suggest that the engine would need a complete tear down. And then likely a cylinder hone, probably new rings, possibly a crank grind and new bearings, and possibly a new cam and lifters.

I think that to suggest that an engine re-built in the '70's and then lightly used is a positive description would be a bit optimistic

JM2CW
 

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I was once told that the worst damage caused in a stored engine would be to whatever valve spring might happen to be sitting there compressed all that time. When I was in the navy I prepped my hot rod 427 Chevelle for storage (two years) by backing off the rocker arms till they all were loose. Oil was always clean, didn't prep the fuel system, I think we still had store-able gas back then, wasn't a problem.
 

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I have 2 engines that came with cars I bought and one had sat outside with a tarp and carbs covered and even had a piece off tin over it. (remember I'm in the South :D ) and one that had been kept in a garage. They were both locked up.
I had always been told the same thing Jeff said about backing off the rocker arms till they all were loose. All the other motors that are free I have, have been done in the same manner. Pull the plugs and spray some light chain oil in and turn the crank by the pully nut. Then once a month or so, spray the seals down with WD-40. Still, on a re-build, which should be manditory on a engine that's as old as they are, you're going to, or should, get the new seals anyway. Jarrell
 
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