RIP VAN WINKEL ENGINE

[ray_pilot]

Just picked up a C-150 that has not been touched for nearly a decade. Doesn't look too bad. Engine turns over freely. Plan is to drain the oil (take a sample for testing) and refill with mineral oil. Also to take out the top plugs and squirt in some marvel mystery oil. Then just start rotating by hand. later spinning it without fire to fill up the lifters. If things look good, get some gas and a battery and see if she starts.
Log only shows about 1,100 hours.

it works on old cars. Are planes the same?
Also plan to add an oil filter. I'm not comfortable with just a screen.

So, any advice? Eventual plan is to take the engine and use it in the experimental I am building.
Thanks.

[onetrack]

Oil drains off the surfaces in engines in as little as 2 months, allowing corrosion to commence, which is aided by the amount of moisture in the air.
If the aircraft has been stored in a hot, arid environment, then the moisture from condensation problem is reduced, but never totally eliminated.
I have seen new, reconditioned engines, stored under cover, seize solid within 18 mths of being reconditioned, despite substantial coatings of oil on every surface when they were assembled.

[ericferret]

Get a boroscope and take out the plugs, check all the barrels, corrosion in the swept area is fairly common.

[9 lives]

You should expect to have to replace at least the cam and lifters, and possibly cylinders. Have the carb overhauled before you fly the plane. It would be wise to clean out the oil screen before you run the engine at all, to check for debris. Thereafter, until the engine is rebuilt, the screen should be checked very regularly, in case the engine does start making metal - you don't want to ruin your rear case by scoring the oil pump.

If the engine is a "key start" version, equipped with the original starter clutch, the clutch should be overhauled before the engine is run. The sprage clutch inside there can be seriously gummed up, and may slip with a start attempt. This slipping, if continued more than one start attempt, can result in failure, and sending broken bits of hardened steel through your engine. Hand propping the engine will not reduce this risk, the clutch turns anyway while the engine is running. Do not run the engine with the clutch removed, the needle bearings which support it will fall apart inside the engine. The pull clutch is entirely different, and not a risk in this regard.

[m.Berger]

Strip the engine and reassemble it. At 1100 hours, It isn't a bad idea to do so, given the circumstances. Chance is pretty strong that this is the cheapest option. It will certainly be the safest.