Greetings guys. I'm brand new to the forum but heres my first question. I have a newly aquired Fox 36X engine from the 70's. I've wanted one of these engines for a long time and I could'ent pass this one up since it was in such great shape. The previous owner though put the engine up in storage without cleaning the engine or treating it with AR engine oil and the engine is seized from the varnished fuel leftovers. My question is what can I do to get it freed up and running again? I thought about maybe soaking it in Marvels Mystery Oil or some fresh fuel but since I've never had this problem before I'm scrating my head. I don't want to damage the engine since its hard to find parts for. Any advice would be great.

Thanks
Daniel

I like to use heat coupled with WD-40 or some other penetrating oil. They used castor oil in the engines and if the engine sits for a long time the castor oil sort of congeals or dries out. But heat does wonders for softening the old castor oil up. I normally pull the head and backplate so I can get the oil inside too.

Another method is to remove the head an backplate and let the engine soak for a few days in some fresh model airplane glow fuel. It makes a good penetrating oil too.

But heat works wonder. You only need to heat the engine up to around 250 degrees F. A oven, hair dryer blower, heat shrink tubing gun does the trick. Actually I have boiled engines on the stove with water in a old pot before too. Just dry and oil the engine up when you are done. Some guys use a old crock pot and anti-freeze as well.

Thanks! I never thought about using heat before but will give it a try.