gas tank/engine storage

[DeanR]

What's the best way for long term storage of a tank and engine.
Right now tank is filled with stabilized gas since last summer and the engine oil is drained. Carbs are off and cleaned. Want things to still be in good shape in a few years?

[prometheus578]

I'm sort of partial to gas tank bone dry, with the cap left open. As for the engine, put oil back in it.
Dump some oil in the plug holes, crank the engine over to smear it around the cylinders, and plug it back up.
Too many variables... Humidity where you live, etc. Too many personal thoughts and techniques. (some keep the tank and carbs full, some keep things dry)

[mro]

Long term?

Can't think of name right now,
There's a spray oil (kinda sticky) made for coating metal parts to keep em from rusting. I'd spray all the chrome, rotors and inside of tank, add some to cylinders. leave the carbs dry. Cover the bike but let cover "vent" to let out moisture.

Should be available at machine shop stores.


mro

[webbcraft2150]

Heres my .02 worth. Fill the engine back up with new oil. Fill the tank and treat the fuel with something like StaBil, might want to od it just a bit. Run the engine with this treated fuel till you see the smoke coming out of the exhaust. This will ensure the carbs are full of treated fuel. Fog the engine with an engine fogger. Most likely place to find this would be at a marine store. Mercury makes a product for just this purpose. The hassle is getting into all four carbs. You can pull the bottom of the airbox and shoot it up in there. Let the fog spray kill the engine. Pull the plugs and give a shoot into each cylinder and the turn it over by hand to distribute it. Replace the plugs. Wax everything you can get to. There are aerosol metal preservatives on the market, but WD40 was made for just this purpose. Spray on the pipes, fenders anything metal. Depending on how long your going to store it, you might want to change the brake fluid and bleed the system to make sure fresh fluid is in the hoses/calipers. Pull the battery unless you have it on a maintenance charger. Store the bike on the center stand and in a garage if possible. Put a good cover on it that will allow things to breathe. The treated fuel and engine fogging trick should be good for more than a year. I have seen marine engines stored this way and they have fired right off after extended storage. Putting the rig back into service is simply a matter of replacing the fuel, add the battery and hit the button. Oh yea, make sure the tires are fully inflated and not resting on dirt or gravel.

[SG-Olli]

Special cover

There is aspecial cover for long term storage that prevents corrosion.
It is called corrodom.
Corrodom