Sounds like they have a good plan for long term storage. I’m surprised they leave the oil in the pan but I suppose it doesn’t hurt anything. I might also consider fogging the motor like I do with 2 stroke outboards before winter. I cracked almost every compression ring in a 427 BBC once (emphasis on once) when I was younger and less experienced. Engine sat for around 10 years, no special storage procedure and I used the starter motor to turn it over without oiling the cylinders first and using a hand tool to carefully rotate the crank.
I do believe they fog the engines before they go back on display.
Anytime one gets started up and run until the exhaust pipes are hot, the pipes are brushed with oil. It smokes a bit and creates a nice black finish on the bare steel pipes. They look flat black on display almost as if they were painted. Pretty good way to keep them looking “period.”
I’d have guessed the best method to preserve a non-used car’s cooling system would be to keep it filled w/coolant, and replace the mixture frequently. I wonder if the two methods have been compared with experiments, one vs the other?
Dry air is inert, coolant allows corrosion.
That is interesting about the pipes. That is some sort of hot process or seasoning just like seasoning a cast iron or carbon steel cooking pan. I understand hot bluing a gun is kinda similar as well. I guess they didn’t use stainless exhaust systems back then.
I was given a cast iron griddle recently that had been neglected. It was a high dollar unit so I wire brushed all the rust off, washed clean with hot soapy water, let dry on a low oven, then coated with corn oil and baked for an hour at 500F. It is amazing how that seasoning process brought this thing back to life. I was pretty tempted to toss it in the scrap next time I hauled in a load of junk.
Also, as for stainless, it would definitely cost more. Scrap yards do not value stainless alloys that attracts a magnet as anything more valuable than junk. Those that do not attract a magnet are much more valuable. I am not sure if this is due to the actual metal content or the fact there are some many fake looking finishes that are just steel and the yards cannot tell them apart in a timely manner. Something stainless that doesn’t attract a magnet is worth breaking down. Something that does shouldn’t have any time wasted on it besides getting rid of it. I am not sure if one type is better at resisting corrosion and another better at resisting heat. I am guessing it must be a balancing act of sorts in an exhaust system.
I think you are correct… like seasoning a cast iron skillet.
Stainless steels did not exist when the earliest cars in the collection were built so carbon steel was it. Esoecially tube stock.
The 300 series stainless… the non magnetic shiny type… I’d guess gets a higher scrap price. More nickel and chrome content.
The 400 series magnetic steels… that aren’t very “stainless” used for modern exhaust is probably worth no more than regular steel scrap.
And stainless IS a good heat insulator. Good for exhaust or brake pad backing plates. Not as good as titanium but less expensive!
We used to clean a cast iron skillet by throwing it in a bonfire. season it after. Maybe I am mistaken but thought my 03 trailblazer had stainless steel in the exhaust. lasted 18 years no issues. Dad had an 1894 damascus double barrel shotgun cleaned and they cleaned the hammer end of the barrels of the bluing, so much to learn.
Do they blow untreated room air through the system or something like stripped and dried air?
There is a box of dessicant the blower blows into before it goes into the engine … so lower than the room humidity.
The museum humidity is kept pretty low but not so low as to dry out the early leather. It is a touchy balance.
It has been interesting to learn this stuff talking to the collector and the staff.
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The desiccant can also be heated to remove the moisture and reused. I think I’d use an in line particle filter to prevent particle contamination of the coolant systems.
The garage area at this place is cleaner than some hospitals!
But there is a filter on the blower intake.
I don’t think room dust or humidity would cause a problem in this case. Doesn’t hurt to be cautious, though.
Yes, the non-magnetic stainless alloys get a higher scrap price. If it attracts a magnet, they don’t even consider it stainless. It just goes in with the junk steel for the basic price and that is it. I figure it is also easier for them as some of the so called stainless finishes or just a layer of something on top of ordinary steel. Scrap yards aren’t equipped and don’t have the time to deal with figuring out the exact alloy so just have two categories.
As for seasoning a skillet, throwing it in a fire will ruin all existing seasoning. I once forgot one on a stove burner a tad too long on too high of a heat and had to start over from the start on seasoning it. The seasoning was just bits in the pan. I had to scrub it out with hot soapy water until it was pretty much all gone and then dry it and start all over. Seasoning develops over time so I wouldn’t want to burn it all off unless there was some valid reason. As with my griddle that I was given, it was the only way to save it from the scrap heap. It looks amazingly good and shiny black now. That is the thing with modern non-stick and ceramic. You mess it up and you either live with it or it gets replaced. You can bring back cast iron many times. In fact I have found several at the bottom of rivers while kayaking and canoeing, etc. Usually they rust more once I expose them to air but you would never know their story after I am done seasoning them. THat is the first thing I unload, clean up, dry off, and start seasoning. Even if you don’t do a real great job because of time constraints, you at least need to get a thin layer of oil baked into the surface pretty quickly.
I guess this is why they coat the outside of carbon steel exhaust on these classic cars. Unfortunately I assume they don’t fog the insides of the pipe which would also help. Do they or not?
The cleaning crew “dusts” the display cars with special static cling towels (not sure where those com from!). You lay the towel on the car and lightly pull it across the horizontal surfaces pulling only from the corners. That way the dust does not scratch the paint nor does it release a cloud of dust back into the room. The crew taught me to do this so I could help out.
Early paints are pretty soft and scratch easily. You can’t just keep buffing out the scratches or the paint wears away.
The HVAC system is triple filtered to minimize dust… but dust happens anyway!
Well, with older cars oil control is a “wish and a prayer” as most oil smoke the insides of the exhausts more than enough to coat them. We have posters that come here and whine about using a quart in 2000 miles… where these cars could use a quart in 100 miles, 1/2 quart out the exhaust and 1/2 on the ground.
An early MotorTrend article about the brand new Jaguar E-type commented about using a quart in 250 miles in the brand new test car… but they were driving it hard so that’s OK!
Humidity is a big deal in a number of ways. These cars are not undriven so they come with mold spores just waiting for the right conditions. Trust me, had cars closed up for long periods in garages that had some snow melt occasionally inside the garage from blowers and other cars tracking it in. Nothing outrageous but when I opened up the stored cars 6 months later, you would not believe the mold inside. I also had one stored outside that was covered and got serious mold inside.
There’s lot of cast, ferrous metal parts in vintage rides that rust readily when exposed to humid conditions. Controlling humidity is more important than anything IMO. Most historical places control humidity to minimize mildew and mold from forming.
I was referring to the air left sealed in the cooling system after it was dried out. Once sealed, a minor bit of humidity wouldn’t do much of anything.
True, those older cars naturally used oil because tolerances weren’t as tight.
My dad grew up in a family where the cars they bought used were usually on their way to being worn out. He has no desire to have a classic car and feels modern cars are so much better in all ways which is probably true. He is like “They rusted out in like 2 years, tires were terrible and always going flat, the engines overheated much easier under load and such, they were a pain to start in the cold, and they needed tune-ups and maintenance a lot more frequently.” Basically, a 100,000 mile car used to be a BIG DEAL but is now nothing.
Anyway, he definitely appreciates the creature comforts and refinements of modern cars but it isn’t all about that if you ask me.
Very old cars have full loss oiling systems. Splash lubed engines that just seeped oil out the bottom as they ran. Seals, if any were leather or labyrinth. And the car had to be greased every day!
Rings were loose and valves had no seals… but with L heads or T heads, they really weren’t needed as much.
I am not familiar with the T head but assume it is a more complex flat head engine with exhaust valves on one side of the T and intake on the other. I always wondered why it wasn’t done this way on small engines but guess it is all about cost and simplicity on those.