I've had good luck using Exide/Shumacher battery maintainers,
along with battery-disconnect switchposts. Both are available at your
local parts house. I've never "pickled" the cylinders with trans oil,
and seem to have suffered no consequences. Some cars have sat for
3 or 4 years and they start and run clean. There's always the problem with
rust on brake drums. My advice is to not set the parking brake.
I've thought about wrapping the brakes/spindles in plastic with small
dessicant bags inside. If you're going to the trouble of removing wheels,
I'd make sure to keep the tires in a heated location, so the rubber doesn't
harden so much. I do need to be more disciplined about keeping fresh
anti-freeze in the engine. I may have cracked a block once, thinking
that the protection was there, when in reality it wasn't (I'm hoping it's
just freeze plugs). Last year I used one of those electical adapters that
you can plug inline with, say, a small heater (turned on low), that
makes contact only when ambient temp drops to near freezing or below
and opens up again when temp rises. I think it helped, but I'm always
leery of unattended heaters and fire hazard. This year, I found a couple
old drive-in heaters that worked on 220v. I put new plugs on the cords so
they run on 110 and now they put out only a couple hundred watts (if that).
Lastly, I've used those dessicant bags that are advertised in Hemmings,
et.al. I think they've helped out. I put one on the engine, one in the trunk,
and one inside the pas compartment. Out here, mildew is a problem.
Oh, almost forgot, my best experience with car covers has been with
the tyvek ones. They do the best job of not letting dust, dirt, water or
snow through. The technalon ones are terrible, despite their ad claims.
And don't forget a drip pan for those leaky torque converters.
Dan Davids
Seattle
[Inadequate storage is the biggest downside to this hobby, imho.]
----------
| From: Todd St.Clair <tstclr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
| Subject: [FWDLK] Winter Storage
| Date: Tuesday, September 01, 1998 7:16 AM
|
| Well, I hate to admit it, but for us Northern folks, winter isn't too far
away.
| I will likely be putting my car in unheated storage in October. Last year I
did
| the "pour trans fluid down the carb until the engine stalled" trick. It
seemed
| to work although all the smoke when I started the car in the spring annoyed a
| few neighbors. I'd be interested in hearing from folks who have stored their
| cars in unheated garages for a number of winters who have had no problems in
| the spring. What works for you? I'll be pulling the battery, so the car will
| not be started at all. The wheels are coming off, so the car will be on
stands.
|
| Thanks
| Todd
|
|
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