Alirght since my car is getting kind of old, nearly 11 year old and 153K+ miles, and I plan on rebuilding her once she hits 200K. So I'v been starting to save up and buy the lil thing that I'm going to replace when I pull the engine out and rebuild her. Stuff like motor mounts, heater hoses, radiator hoses and other lil stuff like that. So my question is will it be safe to just let these hoses and other rubber stuff just lay around my house for possible years and year with out any worries. Since they are going to be inside in a temp. and humidity controle enviornment the only thing I'm really worried about it dry rott. Do I have anything to worrie about or should I rethink about buying all this stuff right now? Did a search and nothing of any kind of help came up.

Thanks
Gary

 

Good question. I myself have wondered the same thing. Also, what about keeping a cam, lifters, bearings, and other major internal parts for extended periods inside your home and how to perserve the metal surfaces from rust? Not trying to steal your thread or anything.

 

not a problem with me when I get around to rebuilding my engine I plan on rebuilding the entier car from bumper to bumper. I was thinking about buying alot of those space saver bags that you suck the air out with a vacume cleaner. I figure how is metal going to rust when oxygen can't even touch it. I just want to have some sound of mind before I start buying all this stuff and saving it but when I go to put it on the car I find out its all dry rotted and I'll just have to spend more money buying it all over again.

 

lil bump

 

Rubber hoses last a few years dry no problem, but if they've been wet, they won't age as well. Stuff like motor mounts, no problem. Buy the weatherstripping when you're ready to install. When I worked in a parts store, I swear we had hoses older then me. Look into a goodyear hi-miler poly hose set. It sounds expensive at $100, but you're only paying $10 a hose. You can't buy rubber hose for that when you add it up. Poly lasts forever, wet or dry.

Your vacuum cleaner plan is flawed. You're not creating a perfect vacuum, things will still rust. There's still air in there, just less of it. Now if you put dessicant bags inside to help absorb the moisture, then the plan looks better. But the plastic will still let air in over years.

For engine parts and such, you should either look into some professional parts storage gel that's kind of waxy, or you should smear bearing grease on every surface you care about. It's easy to miss a spot.

One other thing to consider. Lots of people selling new parts on ebay, because they had your plan and lost interest, or life changed direction. Now they're losing their a$s on old, new parts, after tripping over them for 10 years. If you've got the discipline, instead of buying parts, put the money in a mutual fund that you can pillage when the car's time comes.
Good Luck!