packing your car away for winter--what do you do

I store my car in a heated garage, on jack stands. I do leave a little gas in there and leave all the other fluids in there. I generally start it once or twice a month, and let it warm up.

Then flush and change out all the fluids when spring gets here.

Just wondering how you pack your car away for the off season, and what you do to take it out of mothballs.

I am just courious on how babied the cars are in the off season, or if they are filled with anti-freeze and left to sit on a trailer with 5" of snow on top of them till next year.

They are filled (sometimes) with anti-freeze and left to sit on a trailer (or in a snowbank when the snowstorm hits and we need the trailer to tow a ummm stuck car) with 5" of snow on top of them till next year.


Last year I did some Ice Racing with my car to keep life in it through the winter...

Raymond " Studded Ice Racing Tires (thank you Steve and Pam) do wonders at resembling a cold wet track at Lime Rock :rolleyes: " Blethen

My car will spend its winter in my garage at home on the completely wasted victoracers not even worth sitting on over the winter. And probably part of its winter on jack stands if I find and replace the R&P on the car.

My garage isnt heated unless im using it abut its insulated and usually sticks around 45 degrees through most of the winter.

Me too. It sits in the garage year round.

I store the tires in poly bags in the basement.

My garage is heated, but I only turn it on when working in the garage so it is often below freezing.

I use an anti-freeze mix year round.

Winters are usually reserved for bodywork and paint although this year we can do door bars and door gutting. Cool!

I do not worry about starting the motor. I have at least three spare motors on jackstands and have left some there for years. Occassionally I will give the cranks a turn with a torque wrench to satisfy my curiosity that they haven't seized internally. They are sealed in big poly bags, but without fog oil or cosmoline.

The worst long-storage problem I ever had was with my GP car. It spent seven years or so in a damp, cold semi-roofless inner city industrial warehouse (which was subsequently condemmed). When brought out and being readied for its track debut, the engine started but the oil filter refused to come off for a changing.

It took about 6 hours of fiddling and chiseling to replace it.

Regards.

I forgot to add that I use VP C-12 in the car. The fuel has an almost infinite shelf life, so no need to drain or stabilize. There is about a half tank in there now.

I drive mine to work if the sun is out and it's dry!
(some of us actually do have tags and insurance still on their cars)
:023:

In the garage (unheated), fluids in, on jackstands, wheels off, parts scattered everywhere while I work on repairing a year of racing and many other race car improvement projects.
:)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Racerlinn@Nov 2 2005, 10:09 PM
I drive mine to work if the sun is out and it's dry!
(some of us actually do have tags and insurance still on their cars)
:023:

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I still have my MR2 with tags lic. and ins. on it. I do not like to drive it on the street though. The idea of having my head that close to the cage.

I throw a car cover over mine so that the Southern California sun doesn't fade the upholstry :P

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

winter?

My last event is December 10/11, and my first event is Jan 15th...


Marcus

After the last event (Summit Point in a few weeks) I'll put the damn thing in the unheated garage and not want to look at it ever again. Jackstands? Hah! Fluids? Whatever is in there can stay in there. I might remember to put some gas and fuel stabilizer in it. Because I'm a cheap bastard at heart, the tires get bagged and stored in the basement of the house. It's got plates and god-awful expensive NJ insurance on it, but it was a North Carolina car originally and still hasn't seen snow or salt. I hate rust, so it won't get driven, and unless I'm in the shop to get tools or a snow shovel, it will stay out of my way for a while.

Then I'll go to the EMRA dinner dance / awards ceremony, and listen to everybody else tell lies about how hard they've been working their cars for the upcoming season. I'll know they're lying, but I'll go out and start working on the fool thing again. FedEx and Mazdaspeed (and ISAAC) will go on red alert, and the whole silly process will start again.

I wish that packing my car for winter included loading it onto a trailer and driving somehwere nice like SoCal...

But since I still have to work so that I can race in the summer, myself and the car stay in the frigid north. The car stays inside my insulated garage, heated if I'm working on the car. Currently sitting on the old trailer tires, but will eventually be on jack stands so I can check the car out and make sure everything is as I think it should be.

Weekend after the last track day:
1- Gave the car a full cleaning. vacumed the inside, washed and waxed the exterior, washed the engine bay, underbody, wheels, behind the ears...
2- Warmed the motor up, replaced the engine oil/filter (cheap stuff that will be replaced before 1st event next year, just want to get all the old oil out - no need to let any 'dirty' oil sit in there and possibly build up sludge), replaced the diff oil (will be good to go for next year), added anti-freeze, removed gas tank (ok, extreme - but it's being replaced by a fuel cell for next year), flushed the brakes and clutch.
3 - bagged and took the good rubber to the basement
4 - gave the old gas to the lawn mower (it really likes 93...)
5 - Patted by good little girl on the bonnet and told her to sleep tight and how many days left until we could go have some fun again.
6 - Had a beer.
7 - Wished I was driving south...


Cheers
Ben

I leave the top down but frequently need to turn on the heater. We are talking street cars, right?

Gregg "making lots of friends now" Baker
Orlando "high of 80" Florida

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Originally posted by Marcus Miller@Nov 3 2005, 05:13 AM
winter?

My last event is December 10/11, and my first event is Jan 15th...
Marcus

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You lucky &^%* :D I hope you know how lucky you are.

January will have another ice storm for us and power outages for a week.

My old gas goes into the generator.

Alright, for the last two years all I've done is put the car up on stands and left the tires on it. It rests in an insulated garage with no heat. So the tires are off the ground, but they are still getting plenty cold. Is this really that bad for the tires or are Toyo's simply freakin' awesome?

And here I thought the blowed up car was supposed to sit on the lift all winter with oil hanging out the holes....

(hopefully the IT car will come home from Atlanta in better condition; it will probably live in the trailer).