How often to run the engine in a Centurion?

[Malcolm Towrie]

What did you do to mothball the engine, Perry?

We have some Meteor engines here in various states of disrepair. I don't know where we got them from. One had the heads removed so I pulled the cylinder block on each bank to see what condition the pistons and rings were in, as at that time we were considering rebuilding an engine. It took a lot of effort to get the blocks, or skirts as they are called in the manual, off. This was b cause, on each block, the rings on one piston had seized in the bore with corrosion. Also, the rings on almost every piston were rusted and stuck solid in the ring grooves. The tops of some of the pistons were pitted with corrosion. Obviously, water had got into the cylinders at some time. Despite that, there was no corrosion damage to any of the sleeve bores and just some very light scoring. I thought they must be hard chrome plated, but apparently they're not. Some exotic Rolls Royce material, I guess. The condition of this engine indicates smaller amounts of moisture will rust the rings into the grooves, and larger amounts will also seize the rings to the bore. Maybe the ring material RR used to match the very hard sleeve bores was prone to corrosion?

Anyway, I think we won't run the engine routinely during the winter, maybe just put some oil in the cylinders and crank the engine over occasionally.

I'll also search some vintage aircraft forums to see if the need to run the engine regularly is legitimate.


Malcolm