After some repair and upgrades, the car will be stored in a residential unheated garage. I'm thinking:

Fresh oil/mtf
antifreeze flush
wash/wax
store on stands (?)
cover

what about...

trickle charge?
suspension support (stands under the control and trailing arms also)?
periodical engine starts? frequency?

Since I have never stored a car over the winter months, I have no idea what is suggested or required. TIA

Greg ~ who thinks this racing year FLEW by...

 

- Club on your steering wheel (which you remove from the car and place in a safe in your basement)
- Remove the battery
- Board up the windows with steal plates
- Remove the wheels/tires and put it down on the brakes (to give the illusion it has already been ripped off)
- Remove the engine and then weld the hood shut
- Weld the hatch and doors shut

That should keep it safe for the winter - Bookler is working off the same plan as well.

 

I just do a standard inspection of wear items (to make a list of **** to do over the winter), put on some old tires, and lock the doors. My car sits outside on the trailer all year.

 

Drew - I'm also installing a Low-Jack and getting a couple attack dogs...

Crack - I understand puting the old tires on, but is it ok to leave the car weighted on the springs all winter? (I guess it may not matter. Hell, my gun requires more storage-prep than my race car.)

Any other thoughts are appreciated

 

I never put much thought into it. It's not likely to effect the springs much. And the shocks will be sitting still, so no wear there either. I do all the maintenance stuff (fluids, etc) in the early spring - I don't see a point doing it now, since all the expensive RedLine is just gonna sit for 3-4 months.

 

If you were driving it every day, it would sit on the springs, right? Personally, I started mine up every couple of weeks last winter, drove it around the block, and parked it again.


Matt

 

What if you don't have old tires? It's either gotta sit on the tires, or on jackstands. I can't decide which is better.

 

I'm not really sure it matters a whole lot weather it sits on its wheels or not. I'd personally leave it on the ground and fire it up once every few weeks. If possible, drive it around the block once or twice.

 

make sure to remove the 'x' brace in your rear hatch area.

 

Here is a good info site on storing any car through the winter http://members.rogers.com/kevin.kwan/winter.html

HTH

<--Rado, who is about to get ready to store his car and get on the hupty 87 van that would carry his *** through the chilli months.

 

Pump up to 40, round enough for no flatspots. Hanging fully extended kills shocks. Remove battery to trickle booster or trickle once a week.

If you start it, it's got to run to hot OIL temp - not just water, which means at least 15-20 min. or 10 mi. or else all the moisture/acids/raw gas just goes back into the oil.

 

When I worked in a Marina through college, we would use the stabil in the gas and make sure the boat/car gets run enough to get this into the FI/Carb.

Then do an oil change and the fog the engine. Fogging is done either by pulling spark plugs and installing a couple tablespoons of oil into the cylinders and cranking a bit to lube the cyl walls or by using a fogging oil into the carb/FI when the engine is running until things smoke well and then shut the engine off until spring.

This is the process I use on my boat and racecar for the winter.

If you wash well before storage, make sure everything is fully dry before storing or things will rust together...

Good luck