Winter storage

[Jonijag]

Hi all, can anybody please tell me what to do for winter storage of a rotary water cooled engine it has been rebuilt and mollyed best regards johnny

[Jonijag]

I'm asking this because I have recently bought a water cooled rotary Norton and will not be using it during winter time

[rustynuts]

Hi Johnny,Firstly, just as with any other vehicle its a case of keeping it in an environment which is as moisture free as possible. For ultimate protection you can buy air conditioned pods or cheaper vac bags which you can seal the bike in along with some silica gel desiccant.Specifically for the Norton rotary engine, take it for a good ride to get it hot, then before you kill the engine, lift the oil pump cable where it enters the engine whilst it is ticking over in order to inject extra oil into the engine. Periodically during the winter you can squirt some oil through the spark plug holes and turn the engine over by hand to coat the internals. (I presume you are using synthetic Silkolene Classic 2T which sticks to surfaces for much longer than mineral oil). If you are really paranoid, you could even put some bags of silica gel inside the silencers and tape some plastic sheet over the air filter and exhaust outlets to seal it up, but that's probably going over the top.

[Jonijag]

Hi that's great many thanks my main concern is the engine I really appreciate you help many thanks

[wust588]

It might be a good idea to disconnect the fuel tap vacuum pipe and let the motor burn off all the fuel left in the float bowls.

[johnbirchjar]

I also assume the petrol tank is metal?'cos if not,drain all the fuel out,'cos b*****d ethanol just loves plastic and fibreglass ,J.B.