Can engine sit half assembled - would assembly oil run off?

[WildCoast]

So I'm taking forever to rebuild a Honda XR650L motorcycle engine. I've assembled part of it, using Maxima assembly oil on the piston/rings, etc. However, life gets in the way and now it's been sitting for months... I still need to do the cam and valves. I'm wondering if I might have an issue with the assembly oil running down after sitting for so long and the piston would start/run dry??

Being realistic, I might have a similar situation with the valves/cam - if I button everything up but then end up waiting a while for carburetor parts, any issues with it sitting there and then only starting a few weeks/months later?

 

[Bailey28]

An XR engine would have four removeable valve 'covers' on the cylinder head for valve adjustments. Prior to starting the engine take off those covers and squirt oil into the top of the valvetrain including the cam chain.

Pull the spark plug and squirt a little oil into the cylinder as well.

After that crank the engine over a few times without the spark plug in to build some oil pressure for the crank and rod.

 

[KrisZ]

It’s good practice to crank the engine without the spark plugs to build up the oil pressure first, so the engine will be fine.

 

[Ride_Red]

Pull the plugs, put a shot of oil in the cylinders and crank it before you start it to get oil circulated throughout the engine. It will be fine.

 

[JackWildfeuer]

Bag the engine. Re-oil and prime if possible as you go and before you start.

"Assembly Lube" from most suppliers today tends to stay put pretty wheel not as well as grease but usually well enough.

Shops that assembly and store a huge number of engines tend to still use EP grease for this very reason. Since all of these guys recomend a 20 minute run-in above 2000RPM's and an oil and filter change the EP grease even with solids is just fine. It would only be a problem if you did not change the oil and filter after initial run-in.

Most modern assembly lubes while thicker than oil are not as thick as EP grease and do not have any solids in them that might plug a filter. That said they do not stick around as long and for those on the spectrum that have to go spinning things not fully assembled they also drain off faster.

On most engines this is not to bad since you can use a distributor shaft to prime or a pressurized jug hooked directly to an oil galley to prime before start up.

A lot of motor cyle engines with split cranks use roller bearings so just squirting some oil on cams and through spark plug hole is usually enough. Just keep it clean so bag it up!