Refreshing/prepping a stored motor - what to do?

[Jon325i]

Long time no post fellas.....hope all is well. Here's my issue....

A neglected oil leak has come back to bite me in the harshest of ways.....a spun rod bearing. I made this discovery Saturday evening, the knocking sound rises and falls with RPM and it gets loud too. I'm sure the miles left are limited. So...to resolve this problem, I have a M20B25 with approx 100K miles of use that's been in storage for 8+ years. This is the motor from my Lachsilber '89 325i I rev'd (those of you with long memories will remember this car). Anyway, when I pulled the engine I plugged all openings with rags, shot some WD40 down each plug hole and left the oil that was in at the time.....tucked it away in a relatives' garage and forgot about it. Until now.

So what I am seeking is advice on what to do....or check for.....and prep to get this motor ready for installation. Obvious items like belts, pumps (H2O and oil), plugs, seals/gaskets are a given. What else should I look into? Any helpful tips on how I should approach this are greatly appreaciated.

Side note - obviously this kind of a situation certainly begs to drop in a M/S 5x motor but I'm looking to keep the costs low as I am about 6 months or so away from buying a house and I'm still saving for the down payment.

Thanks again for your help :mrgreen:

Jon

[jlevie]

The right way to do this would be to pull the head and check for rust in the cylinder bores. But you could check for that with a borescope. If you don't want to do that, replace all gaskets, hoses, seals, the timing belt & tensioner, and water pump. Do a valve adjust and install the engine with fresh oil & filter. Then change the oil & filter after 500-1000mi.

I'd do a chemical type cooling system flush after I had the engine in the car and running.

[dirty thirty]

+ 1^

[FLG]

I agree,

Best bet is to pull the head and turn the engine over by hand making sure there are no rust on the cylinder walls. If there is any rust and its purely surface, some steel wool and oil will take care of it.

Im sure it will be fine, especially if you left the plugs in so no outside contaminants could find there way in.

Not long ago my and my uncle decided to get his old packard running again....was sitting for 30 or so years. Poured some kerosine in the cylinders and let it sit for a day, new battery and some fuel and it was running like a champ, 8 years stored inside should be cake.