GT-40 Winterization Proceedure

[fyerfytr]

Well I got the oil changed and used mobil one 0-40 and a Napa gold
#1515 filter.
Changed the plug wires.
Added 16oz of sta-bil
Ran engine for a few to flush the river water.
Cleaned strainer bowl.
Drained the block and the d/c'ed the heater put a small copper pipe between the hoses and blew out core with slow compressed air, tomorrow I will be doing the anti-freeze and ballast tanks etc.

[M3Fan]

I found the low-tox auto antifreeze at Ace. Keep in mind the 10.00 is for un-diluted 1 gallon bottles, so the true yeild is about 2 gallons, so that makes the price more realistic.

Ahh, I was assuming the low-tox came premixed like the RV antifreeze. That will make it go a little farther.

Did you pick up some flashing to divert the water away from the carpet when draining the block/manifolds?

No- I use an old plastic salad bowl to catch the water. Never seen anyone do it with the flashing until I saw your old man do it. Nice trick.

[coloradonautique]

I must of missed the fogging on the GT-40 note in the manual. Dang.. Hopefully I did not screw anything up in the intake since I have already winterized it. Any worries from the board that I will have trouble in the spring? If anything, I imagine I will have to clean out the intake.

Antifreeze: I use the bio-safe -50 degree stuff from West Marine. Not sure if it is the same stuff as the RV but it is what I have used in all my boats (sailboats included). They make -60 and -100 that you can dilute but the pre-diluted -50 is just easier to work with. I think it was $6-$8 a bottle.

[rotorcom]

Good suggestions on winterizing. I have never heard anything bad about Fram oil filters until I read these posts.
what's wrong with them? I seemed to have missed any previous articles written about them. Thanks.

[jmo]

Good suggestions on winterizing. I have never heard anything bad about Fram oil filters until I read these posts.
what's wrong with them? I seemed to have missed any previous articles written about them. Thanks.

Here is one article I came across while trying to research this topic - scroll down to the section of "filters to avoid"

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters.html

[Fast351]

A VERY interesting page regarding different brands of oil filters:

http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfi...lterstudy.html

I will second the Motorcraft oil filter for Ford small blocks. I've cut apart a number of different brands (I cut every filter apart to look for weird wear on my race engines) and the Motorcraft is one of the best built filters.

[kutcht1]

Ok, I did this on my 1998 Air for this first time and only found one engine block drain **** on the port side. Is this all there is for the block?
Thanks

TomK

[jmo]

Ok, I did this on my 1998 Air for this first time and only found one engine block drain **** on the port side. Is this all there is for the block?
Thanks

TomK

I have a (model year) 2001 GT-40 engine and it has 5 drain main plugs:

2 on the bottom of the block (one on each side) standard 3/8"
2 exhaust manifold plugs (large ~ 1"diameter plugs)
1 on the bottom of the housing that contains the thermostat (y junction water hose connector) standard 3/8"

and a 6th if you include the one on the bottom of the fuel filter cannister (you will dump out a cup of fuel in the process so don't let it dump into the bilge).

plus 7 & 8 on the v-drive gear box - small plugs with a square head.

I can't image the 1998 would be any different, but check your manual.

[MNSuperAir]

You can also call skidim.com. They are very helpful with what is required and where the plugs are on the different engines

[kutcht1]

Well, I did see a hole above the starter which looked like there should be a drain there but there wasn't. I however did fill with 50- antifreeze.

One additional question, even though we didn't end up using the heater this year, does water still get circulated through that system? I didn't disconnect those hoses and blow them out. I did after all was done fill with the antifreeze. It should be ok, right?
Thanks.

TomK

[TRBenj]

If you got the water out of the core before it froze, then you should be OK. After I backfill the motor with antifreeze, I blow out the heater core then fill it with A/F through one hose until it comes out the other.

[air210man]

what is the best way to fog the motor, how is everybody doing it?

[jedgell]

I sprayed the fogging oil into each cylinder. Remove plugs, spray oil for 3 seconds, install plug. If you have the GT-40 don't spray it into the intake.

[air210man]

spraying the fogging oil through the PCV valve (not intake) is much easer while adding a/f through trans cooler at same time, check for a/f on at all drain plugs by loosing them, also spray fogging oil on shifting arm where it goes into the trans is good too.

[fyerfytr]

Good point - I did the shifting arm with the fog oil also...


Mark