• gunn
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Topic: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

Normally, we only race in Lemons once a year but I'm planning to take another year off so I have a while before I need to use my tbird again. I MIGHT use it in 6 months for a track day but there's no guarantee there. Therefore, I'd like to solicit advice on how you guys store your cars for the long term.

Physical:
- My car is on my one car garage in SF and I have no reason to move it until I'm ready to race again. I know some of you store your cars outside so being able to move it is a plus. SF doesn't get really hot or cold either. If necessary, I have a winch setup in the basement so I can always roll the car back and winch it in place if need be. Also, if we want fritos, we'll just buy them at the store (like eveyrone else) instead of relying on the tbird to make them.
- Battery itself is on a tender. It might die in the next year or so and I can always switch it out under auto shop warranty (will probably only feel a little guilty about this).
- Tires: I don't necessarily care about the tires. They are super worn out (Nitto NT05s) so I'm not sure I'll get much selling them. I won't buy a new set until 2020 when we race again. I COULD keep my car on jacks but since i live in SF, I probably don't want to worry about them falling off in the event of an earthquake.

Gasoline
- My last driver ran it practically empty (to nearly fuel cut). I went ahead and dumped a bottle of HEET into the tank (good for 1 yr) just to be safe. Q: Should I fill the tank full (knowing I won't use it for 2 years and the gas treatment is "guaranteed" for 1yr), worry about rust on the fuel pump since it'll be "dry", or drain it even further by popping the fuel line off and letting the pump pump itself dry.

Water & Oil
- I'm going to have to drain the water & oil to fix some hydraulic lifters anyway.
Q: Do I leave the engine dry or replace the oil?
Q: Do I leave the cooling system dry or replace it with antifreeze?
-  I will be sure to put notes on the starter button and the oil/water to remind me to not start the car without oil/water.
- I do have a sacrificial anode in the radiator but considering there are like 3-4 metals (iron, bronze, aluminum), i'm sure there's going to be some electrolysis in the system that wouldn't happen. Then again, would the various gaskets deteriorate without any fluid? I dunno.

Q: Is there anything else I missed here?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
-g

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  • Registered: 2011-10-14
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

You need neither oil or antifreeze for safe short (in my opinion) term storage like this.  That said, I would want to test the replaced engine parts as soon as reasonable and at that time I would use cheap bargain oil and used anitfreeze bought at the PnP in gallon milk jugs...you are just going to change one before the race and drain the other.

Fuel I would use Marine Stabil or similar mixed a bit rich into on gallon of gas or pump the tank dry.  Different instructions if it were a fuel cell.

  • Registered: 2010-03-08
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

Stabil or Startron.  HEET is (or at least used to be) just isopropyl alcohol to go with the 10% ethanol you've already got.  I'm a store-with-the-tank full guy just to minimize the area of steel exposed to air and water vapor.

That said, I leave some of my street cars sitting for years without doing anything to prep them for storage.  Possibly because I am not actually planning to store them, but probably because I am a lazy bum.

I would be inclined to fill the cooling system with water.  No need for antifreeze indoors in SF.  Or outdoors in SF.

I might be inclined to refill the oil too, just because it is one fewer thing to do later and would let you make sure the motor was stored in running condition, but I freely admit that racing on year-old oil is probably not the most conservative move.

  • gunn
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

hoverducky wrote:

Stabil or Startron.  HEET is (or at least used to be) just isopropyl alcohol to go with the 10% ethanol you've already got.  I'm a store-with-the-tank full guy just to minimize the area of steel exposed to air and water vapor.

That said, I leave some of my street cars sitting for years without doing anything to prep them for storage.  Possibly because I am not actually planning to store them, but probably because I am a lazy bum.

I would be inclined to fill the cooling system with water.  No need for antifreeze indoors in SF.  Or outdoors in SF.

I might be inclined to refill the oil too, just because it is one fewer thing to do later and would let you make sure the motor was stored in running condition, but I freely admit that racing on year-old oil is probably not the most conservative move.

I checked and what I dumped in the tank was Stabil.
FWIW, the OEM Tank is plastic. The only thing that could "rust" without being in gasoline for a long time would be the fuel pump.

-g

Myopic Motorsport's #888 Ceci n'est pas une Citron Thunderbird ("This is not a lemon" but a 1995 tbird w/ 93 V8 swap + shopping cart rear wing + engine mounted frito maker)
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  • From: WPB Fl.
  • Registered: 2010-10-27
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

Cooling system would be best protected by filling with some fresh regular green antifreeze, not because of temps but to keep corrosion from happening, water will rust everything, no need for a anode, street cars live their entire life this way.

Heet, no, stabil yes, full or emptyish, is debatable, either way, run the engine to get the stabil into all parts of the system

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  • From: Phoenix az
  • Registered: 2017-12-29
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

+1 for using some sort of antifreeze. old water pump seals tend to fail if left dry too long and water will just rust

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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

+1 more for antifreeze. I left just water in my first Lemons car for 2 years of storage.
After changing out the water for a race,  the water pump started leaking after 15 min. of runtime.

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  • From: Life's great in 21158
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

Another vote for a proper 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water.  For the rusts.

As for the oil- and this goes for all the oils, gearbox, differential, etc.- fill them with cheap stuff for the storage (again, as a rust preventative) and then drain and refill before driving again.  We've noticed a tendency for water to accumulate in sumps after storage, and water doesn't mix with oil. 

Also, make sure to change your brake fluid before driving again.  It will absorb water, and lead to lowering of the boiling point of the fluid (not to mention corrosion).

StaBil in the fuel- good to go. 

Battery on tender, check.

Even though you don't care too much about the tires, maybe store the car on blocks so the full weight of the car isn't on the tires, to prevent flat spotting.

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9 Reply by Sir Thomas Crapper (edited by Sir Thomas Crapper 2018-05-08 10:24 AM)

  • From: Gilbertsville, PA
  • Registered: 2009-12-22
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

You need Anti freeze for seals in the water pump and to help slow the galvanic(?) corrosion. 

They have the new sta bil 360, which coats metal that's not submerged.  90's T birds have a plastic tank?

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10 Reply by gunn (edited by gunn 2018-05-08 10:32 AM)

  • gunn
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

Sir Thomas Crapper wrote:

You need Anti freeze for seals in the water pump and to help slow the galvanic(?) corrosion. 

They have the new sta bil 360, which coats metal that's not submerged.  90's T birds have a plastic tank?

1) Yup, plastic gas tank. Only thing to worry about I guess is the in-tank stock fuel pump
Right now its mostly empty except for a good amount of stabil I dumped in) and will probably stay empty until/if I do I track day this OCT.

2) I have all sorts of metals in my cooling system (aluminum rad, iron block+heads, iron pipe/brass bit to replace the heater crossover pipe) but I also have a sacrificial anode as a drain plug. I'll fill it with antifreeze as suggested.

Myopic Motorsport's #888 Ceci n'est pas une Citron Thunderbird ("This is not a lemon" but a 1995 tbird w/ 93 V8 swap + shopping cart rear wing + engine mounted frito maker)
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  • chaase
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Re: Q: Looking for advice on longer term Lemons car storage

Team Infinniti wrote:

Cooling system would be best protected by filling with some fresh regular green antifreeze, not because of temps but to keep corrosion from happening, water will rust everything, no need for a anode, street cars live their entire life this way.

Heet, no, stabil yes, full or emptyish, is debatable, either way, run the engine to get the stabil into all parts of the system

/agree

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