What should I do to get my car out of extended storage?

[AnytownUSA]

Okay, I know I should probably be stripped of my car but let me explain. I had a pilot bearing going bad – not gone yet but on its way out. I didn’t want to drive my car until I fixed it so I parked it in the garage. In mean time lots of family stuff has been going on with our kids, our parents, etc. Well the car has been on jack stands for two years now.

I turned into one of those guys we hate. You know the ones, with the nice car sitting up collecting dust and saying, “I’m going to fix that thing up one of these days.” Well the day has finally come.

As far as the clutch and flywheel work, that is under way – and all over my garage. What I had planned on doing to bring the old girl back to life was:

• new battery
• change the engine oil and filter
• flush/change the coolant
• flush the brake fluid
• drain the fuel tank and lines up to the injectors.
• change the plugs and wires – just because it needs it. The car had 73k miles on it now and with the exhaust out of the car those plugs way in the back don’t look so bad from underneath.
• change the differential fluid

A good mechanic recommended that if I was going to have the transmission out I should go ahead and replace the slave cylinder – which I bought already so othe hydraulics will get flushed as well. I even thought about replacing the cats since the exhaust is out but it wasn’t a big deal to get the exhaust down so I may not go that far.

Now I have a fellow telling me that with two years of load on my valve springs, they could likely break soon after I start the car. I don’t understand how a static load could be worse over the course of two years than constant cycling and fatigue but now I am worried about the valve springs. Will these really be an issue? I don’t even know what problems a non-functional intake or exhaust valve could cause other than poor performance – would it cause the valve to drop into the cylinder?

Anyway, I need some guidance on the valve spring issue and if you guys can think of other items that I should address I would love some input. I drove the car constantly while it was in good shape and it has been hard to watch it sit unoccupied for all this time. It would be even worse to think I was going to be able to use it again only to find out I missed something when it breaks on my trip out of the driveway.

Please help.
Mike

 

[G Winter]

Are you doing a complete clutch replacement? If so and you need a good place to get the parts I found this place provides excellent service and prices. http://www.carolinaclutch.com/

I assume it is the 94 your talking about and it has the dual mass flywheel.
While you have it apart ,based on what mine looked like at 90,000 miles and information from a lot of people, I would replace the flywheel.
I have seen a lot of engines sit much longer than 2 yrs and never have a spring break. Think about all the engines coming from salvage yards, many of them must sit a few yrs.I wouldn't go out and take it up to 5000 rpm right away though. At the worst you might have a couple springs that are a little weak.
One more thing, you might want to shoot a small amount of oil in the spark plug holes , leave the plugs out and crank it a few turns before you start it .
Glenn

 

[AnytownUSA]

Yes it the 94

I have the flywheel to change as well. I got all my stuff through a local clutch supplier and when I picked up my parts they had Carolin Clutch labels on them. The flywheel is Luk brand; I forget what brand the clutch is. I had read posts here saying just what you are if I'm opening the tranmission at 73k I might as well replace the flywheel at the same time.

I'll look up a set of springs just in case I need them later - maybe this is my reasonable chance to go to rollers!

The oil down the cylinders is a good idea. Thank you for mentioning that one.

 

[G Winter]

For my 90 I paid just over $1000 for flywheel and clutch kit. Was the clutch name Valeo ? That is what I installed everything went without a problem.The clutch is very smooth now. If you have any questions I would think most everything would be the same on yours. I will be happy to help any way I can.Don't forget to put sealer on the flywheel bolts or you will have an oil leak.

Glenn

 

[AnytownUSA]

I know it wasn't Valeo; I'll look at the box and report back on that. I haven't caught mention of the sealer on the flywheel bolts before. I guess the service manual give direction on that? What type of sealer did you use. I assume thread locker or anti-seize is not what we're talking about right?

I will definetly keep you as a reference on this project Glenn. Thanks for you help thus far.
Mike

 

[JimBobC4]

Okay, Inew battery


Now I have a fellow telling me that with two years of load on my valve springs, they could likely break soon after I start the car. I don’t understand how a static load could be worse over the course of two years than constant cycling and fatigue but now I am worried about the valve springs. Will these really be an issue? I don’t even know what problems a non-functional intake or exhaust valve could cause other than poor performance – would it cause the valve to drop into the cylinder?


Please help.
Mike

I'm not so sure about that. You may have a spring or two that is lighter than the others, but I doubt they break. I think you will be fine on the springs. I have seen situations where a super hot cam with high lift and super stiff springs had sat up for an extended period and broke the valve off. However, I don't think the stock LT1 springs could do that.

I would stay on the current pathway you described (thats almost exactly what I did on my 1995) and all should be well.

 

[G Winter]

Any auto parts store will have the thread sealer. Intake gasket sets usually come with a small tube. The flywheel bolt holes are open to the crank case,I don't think ant-seize will seal. Thread lock should but not sure you want that on those threads.
Your right the Helms OEM service manual makes note of it.
One other thing you might not think of. Tighten the pressure plate bolts in steps keeping the pull even all the way up to the flywheel.

Glenn

 

[AnytownUSA]

I did see the note in the service manual and I hope I would have tightened the pressure plate bolts like you said anyway but theanks for reminding me.

I got the transmission drained and the support beam loose but it appears the differential is really loading the beam. Did you gus ys have to jack up the differential and the transmission to get the beam out of the way? I only have one jack right now but I guess I'll need to get another one if the front of the differential needs to be supported while the transmission is out.

Again, thanks for all the help guys, y'all are setting my mind at ease as I work through this.
Mike

 

[G Winter]

I did my clutch on 16 in high jack stands. I borrowed an old trans jack from the local shop which had 4 casters and I could chain the transmission to it. You have to move the trans up and down just a little to find the place to take the tension off of the beam. the beam is also glued in. Takes a bar between the diff. and the beam to pop it lose. If I remember you slide the beam forward to drop it off the diff.
then drop the trans some to clear the diff with the beam. the brake cable on my 90 has to be pushed back to get the beam past then slide back off the trans. It goes on in just the reverse order. On my 90 there was just barely enough room for the shifter to clear when removing the transmission. Easy does it. Lowered as far as engine would allow, slide back to clear preasure plate, drop transmission to where the inpust shaft is on the bottom of the bell housing opening. then slide back just to clear bellhousing then drop it down.
Hope that helps.

Diff is bolted to frame.

Glenn

 

[AnytownUSA]

Glenn, you're awsome.

The service manual says nothing about the beam being glued in. I've been incrementally moving the transmission and the differential up and down to take the load off the beam and all the time it's glued on.

I'm going to make sure my wife is watching as I dive under the car with a crow bar!

 

[G Winter]

When I did my clutch a few weeks ago I received very good help from Junk.
I thought in the manual it said to use adhesive of some sort when reinstalling the beam, but I haven't been able to find it. I was told to use silicone gasket sealer,which I did. Suppose to keep it from creaking and groaning.

Glenn