storage

Very unfortunately winter is cutting my new found love affair with my 90 xjs v12 short. After the best 3 months I've ever had in a car, I need to store her while the road crews spread salt(i live in ohio). What I need to know is how to store her properly, I dont have a garage but I am buying a car cover, any suggestions? I will have her at the house so I will start her at least once every 2 weeks, let her get up to operating temp, and even drive her when the salty slush is missing(to be washed off immediately on return home). So It's not a complete storage but the car will be sitting for up to 2 months without being driven though it will be started and run. so what should I do before putting her in semi stasis mode?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/savewave.gif Jarrod! Very unfortunately you got a problem. My only
advice to you is do not run it in the wet when salt mush is on the road. Further trying to wash it off in freezing temperatures can just result in ice formation under the car.---Fwiw---Keoke

in your situation I would get a Car Bag, not a cover. You lay the bag open on the ground, drive over it, then zip it closed. Let The Byrds and The Snow and The Salt do their thing, when Primavera comes around your car will be untouched. The trick when storing a car is to keep it dry. Low ambient temperature is not a problem, but humidity is, also put plastic sheathing under the car to collect oil leaks, (Lowe's). also get a BatteryMinder so the battery won't slowly discharge and get sulphated, it's cheaper than a new battery three months down the road. Jaguars demand a lot from batteries. Car Collector Magazine's Editor Extraordinaire Don Petersen Sr. recommends changing the oil and filter before storing the car. Storage is: the perennial problem for car collectors. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nopity.gif

Exotexs, I like the car bag I idea...but I've never heard of it before...Where can I get one?? And how is it as far as trapping moisture?

Zack

thanks exotexs I'll look into the car bag.

Car Bag: start here: https://www.hvaa.com/carbag_concept.htm

once you are ready to buy, shop around, do a search in google.com for "car bag" and you can check all the million sites that have them and all the prices!!

it's the next best thing to an enclosed garage for those of us who don't have one.

Trapping moisture: they come with Dessicant (dryer bags), the kind of stuff that comes inside stereo and electronic component packaging in little baggies, but the Car Bag comes with big bags of the stuff, or you can order extra.

Also, I think I saw a "new-improved" version that you attach a vacuum cleaner to it and suck all the air and humidity out, the same concept as those under-the-bed storage bags being marketed on tv, but I think that's overkill, so I didn't read about it. A little humidity is good for the leather anyway, otherwise it dries and cracks. And you can always open the bag and let it air out, then zip it again. I had my girlfriend close the bag while I was inside and it is very cozy in there. I wanted to stay in. If you start to asfixiate, just tear the bag using the car jack to break through it! (just kiddin', but make sure you have the keys to the trunk with you when someone closes the bag with you inside, as in SAFETY FIRST. also keep pets and children away).

Thanks I'll look into it....this just might solve a big problem for me....imagine what a driveway full of car bags would look like?

Thanks
Zack

"The Carbag is for Indoor Use Only" Well that don't help if your out of garage space....Do other companies make them for outdoors?

Zack

yes, that would not be a pretty sight in front of the house! heck I've been using mine outdoors and didn't know it was for indoor use only, but then I got mine used from a neighbor who was moving, no instructions came with it, and he was using it outdoors. I have not seen any problem with water or humidity or vapors, it is always dry in there. For what I paid for it, it doesn't matter if it self-destructs by Spring.

What is it made of?? Is it like a plastic tarp material or different?

R6MGS: (I'm having trouble posting this reply). yes, very similar to the silver-grey tarp material, but more "space-age" if you will. not as hard as the tarps you get at Lowe's or HomeDepot. re: your cardomain signature photo, is that a woman standing there by the white MG-A?

[ QUOTE ]
R6MGS: . re: your cardomain signature photo, is that a woman standing there by the white MG-A?

[/ QUOTE ]
One of us is has a little eyesight problem, or screen resolution problem. Sure looks like a shrub to me.
D

there is a black MG, a white MG-A convertible with red interior, and a Jaguar XK-8 parked in line; to the right of the White MG-A there is a green shrub, and next to that a wall section of vertical square stones, and to the right of that there is what appears to be a blond woman standing with a dark brown blouse and a long tan skirt. Right behind "her" there is what appears to be a window and a roof. Could be an optical illusion, and for sure, my eyesight. at my age one sees things that are not there. no big deal.

At first I didn't see it but assumed it was my wife...until you said brown blouse and tan skirt(Definatly not my wife)...it's actually a big tree that has light shining on only a small part of the truck...that tree always shows up wierd in pics...I have one of the red MGA where it looks like someone is sitting in it, but it's really just the tree...maybe the tree has good taste in cars!.....

BTW please let me know how the car bag works out for you in the spring...I am seriously considering it...All the cars I care about are indoors except for the black MGB...which is outside on blocks,covered in wax, a cheap outdoor cover(very light and airy), an expensive outdoor cover, and has a plastic trap underneath it.....I've stored like this every winter since I've had it(3 years) with no damage or related problems(other than ALOT of work preparing it) I think my next step is to get one of those temporary plastic garages, but since it's in my parents driveway I am not sure they'd be to happy with a tent in their driveway so a car bag would be a great alternative if it's successful outdoors.

Sorry for the long post.

Zack

A driveway full of those would look like you killed a bunch of buffalo and put them in body bags 8)

hi Zack; now seriously, I knew I wasn't seeing things. It does look like the spirit of a woman, she's looking away from the cars, towards the window, so what I see is the back of her head, spirits show up in photos...might be trying to tell you something, that's what they do. and that's why I asked, because it doesn't look "real" and then it does.

What do you mean by Spring? I am using it right now, the car is at my sister's, on the lawn, behind a utility fence,
(due to subdivision restrictions) for the rest of the winter, which has showed up with a vengeance. it's inside the bag, (hahaa! a car inside a bag!), protected from rain, wind, snow, mud, and rot. very cozy in there. But I do agree, it looks like one giant silver marshmallow. Not much different than a car cover, the difference is that the underside of the car is also covered.

By spring I ment whenever you take the car out of storage....
If I was a spirit I'd be looking at the cars...

Zack

I see the woman youre talking about Exotexs The dark green vine looking thing then the wall and in front of the window there are two thin tapered shrubs. The right hand one is your woman right?

Jarrod: that is correct, and now that you say "two thin tapered shrubs" it dawned on me, it's one of the thin-tapered-shrubs! haaa! The right shrub looks like a woman walking towards the window. ok, optical illusion cleared.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

It does indeed, glad to clear up the mystery.