Winterizing ?
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You may want to stabilize your fuel.
Mike
Mike
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If it's a carb engine I would pour some Mystery Oil in the carb while running. This oil will cause alot of smoke,it's the oil coating the system internals. Not sure how you would go about this on an efi engine. I perform this on my i/o boat yearly about 4 oz will do. Pour oil in slowly at first wait for the car to start to smoke keep the car at 1200 rpm so it doesn't stall. Then after you see some of the smoke dump the rest and very soon after shut her down for the winter. I would also cover the exhaust opening with some screaning to stop mice from makeing a condo over the winter.
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Just start it every week. Let if warm up to operating temperature, move it back acouple of inches then do it again the next week but move it forward acouple of inch.
This will keep the moisture from building up, tires from getting a flat spot and charge your battery all at the same time.
Oh,last but not least you still get to hear the sweet sound of the Cobra during the winter.
[ November 10, 2002, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Rich A ]
This will keep the moisture from building up, tires from getting a flat spot and charge your battery all at the same time.
Oh,last but not least you still get to hear the sweet sound of the Cobra during the winter.
[ November 10, 2002, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Rich A ]
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Winter, what's that? Not real cold here in Palm Desert 
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There are lots of opinions on this subject. I have stored summer cars for 15 years now and have changed the process as I have found different opinions.
Modern tires do not flat spot, so don’t worry about that. It is supposedly bad to support a car at other than the designed suspension mount points. So for me storing on jack stands is out.
Starting the stored car is only viable if you can run it long enough to get the exhaust hot enough to evaporate all the water produced while running, that is something like 30-40 minutes with no load on the engine.
I have not done anything with fuel and it has not been a problem (EFI cars). They run rough in the spring until the old gas is run out. I have been storing with about 1/3 to 1/2 tank and fill up first thing in the spring.
Changing the oil is a good idea. Combustion by products that blow by the rings build up acids in the oil. These acids can damage internal engine parts if left in for long periods.
The single thing that I am concerned about beyond the oil is the battery. A discharged battery will eat itself in short order. I was getting 2.5-3 years of battery life until I started 16 hour slow charging every two weeks. For my car in deep storage, an ‘86 GLHS (the FFR gets moved around as I do winter projects on it so it is not really stored) I put a slow charger with a timer on it so it runs for 30 minutes every night. The current battery in the GLHS is 5 years old and still fine.
Modern tires do not flat spot, so don’t worry about that. It is supposedly bad to support a car at other than the designed suspension mount points. So for me storing on jack stands is out.
Starting the stored car is only viable if you can run it long enough to get the exhaust hot enough to evaporate all the water produced while running, that is something like 30-40 minutes with no load on the engine.
I have not done anything with fuel and it has not been a problem (EFI cars). They run rough in the spring until the old gas is run out. I have been storing with about 1/3 to 1/2 tank and fill up first thing in the spring.
Changing the oil is a good idea. Combustion by products that blow by the rings build up acids in the oil. These acids can damage internal engine parts if left in for long periods.
The single thing that I am concerned about beyond the oil is the battery. A discharged battery will eat itself in short order. I was getting 2.5-3 years of battery life until I started 16 hour slow charging every two weeks. For my car in deep storage, an ‘86 GLHS (the FFR gets moved around as I do winter projects on it so it is not really stored) I put a slow charger with a timer on it so it runs for 30 minutes every night. The current battery in the GLHS is 5 years old and still fine.
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Robert, It's not good to keep the tires in one spot for long periods.
I had my car stored for eight months while I served in Desert Shield/Storm.
When I got back to the states. I was driving about 65mph and I had a blow out. It pulled my car hard to the right(because of the rapid air pressure drop), I turn the wheel hard left to keep for going off an embankment. I slid sideways for while, while looking at a driver in the next lane though his passenger side window!!!!! You should have seen his face When I final came to a stop I looked at the tire, there was a half dollar size hole in the sidewall of my BFG's.
This is what can happen when you let the car sit too long in one spot and all the weight weaking the sidewalls.
After that incident I replaced the rest of the tires the nextday.
I recommend moving the car around if possible or buy some cheap rims to use.
[ November 10, 2002, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: Rich A ]
I had my car stored for eight months while I served in Desert Shield/Storm.
When I got back to the states. I was driving about 65mph and I had a blow out. It pulled my car hard to the right(because of the rapid air pressure drop), I turn the wheel hard left to keep for going off an embankment. I slid sideways for while, while looking at a driver in the next lane though his passenger side window!!!!! You should have seen his face
When I final came to a stop I looked at the tire, there was a half dollar size hole in the sidewall of my BFG's.This is what can happen when you let the car sit too long in one spot and all the weight weaking the sidewalls.
After that incident I replaced the rest of the tires the nextday.
I recommend moving the car around if possible or buy some cheap rims to use.
[ November 10, 2002, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: Rich A ]
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