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Tips

Winter Storage

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Stewart

Stewart

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It's close to that time of year when work is going to have to stop and the 73b put away for the duration. Any tips on winterizing a B for sever winter storage IE -30 to -50 degrees. It will be inside a dry but uninsulated building.
 
I always put a piece of Visqueen plastic under the car to attempt to keep some of the condensation down to a minimum.

Other than that...the standard fluid changes and mothballs/dryer sheets/D-Con for rodents, disconnect battery, etc...and a car cover.

joh Twist has a nice two page summary for winter storage that may be on his website.
 
It gets that cold in southern cal? You must storing it somewhere ele right?
 
Ah - that's the "Grand Forks ND" part I'll bet /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

hmmm... my 2*3rd 2*2nd 2*1st post... cool /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Don't forget to put steel wool in the exhaust tip or a piece of screen ( to keep critters out ), have restarted some cars in spring and watched mice and dog food come out the pipe or pipes. Also, put the DeCon outside and away from the car, as you do not want the critters dying in the car. Go to a boat dealer and get a small tub of dehumidifier and put on a pie pan in car, forget the mothballs, they stink up the interior and upholstery, maybe scatter on plastic under car! Use stabilizer in fuel, make sure it is run through the carbs, so fuel will not set up in carbs. Wash and wax and cover, not with plastic.
 
Stu - you've probably got the beginnings of a good checklist "How to Put an MGB to Sleep"!!
 
...and th' reaason we left da 'burgh nigh-on thirty yearn ago.
 
Although we don't see the temperature extremes here in Michigan as Stewart does in BF North Dakota, it still gets well below zero in the winter. None of my cars sees heated storage, and all I ever do is (maybe) change the oil, make sure the antifreeze concentration is sufficient, check the tire pressures, fill the gas tank, using stabilizer, give them a good run to charge the battery, and park 'em. They all start and run fine in the spring.
It's not like four or five months is the end of the world. Some people winterize their cars like they're expecting them to start when the archaeologists dig them up 2000 years from now. Massive overkill for the short term involved.
Jeff
 
Yep, when in MI myself use to drive it in after work and get out. Get in months later and go. That was a Bugeye.
 
This past winter I did nothing to the GT. Hopefully if'n my knee cooperates, I'll be driving the '74 this winter.
 
If she cooperates I'm driving my BGT this winter, just starting & running the Midget about once a week.
When it turns colder I'll put additive in the gas tank & run it, but that's pretty much it for the Midget until spring.
I've already replaced it's antifreeze with fresh stuff.
 
All I do is, put Stay-Bill in the tank, change the oil, pull the battery, air up the tires and stuff a small stainless pot scrubbing pad in the exhaust pipe. I don't put my cars on jacks! Two reasons. I can move the car a little once in a while to prevent flat spots on the tires, and can readily move it out of the building in an emergency. Naturally the car is covered with a soft breathable cover.
 
LarryK said:
have restarted some cars in spring and watched mice and dog food come out the pipe or pipes
Click to expand...
I saw a mouse fly out of a truck tail pipe once along with a bunch of what looked like confetti...
It was only parked for a couple of weeks.
I watched him stagger around like Foster Brooks and then wander off.

Bugeye58 said:
Like they're expecting them to start when the archaeologists dig them up 2000 years from now.
Click to expand...
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif
 
PAUL161Naturally the car is covered with a soft breathable cover. [/quote said:
Good point - which I would like to underscore. Too often, people use close knit (many, many threads/inch) nylon covers and find later that their cover didn't breathe. And covers that don't breathe quite often draw moisture - which has nowhere to go - just sits there causing rust!

Also, I just hooked up a battery cutoff switch last night. This really simplifies disconnecting the battery for long periods. Not very expensive, either (under $10).
Click to expand...
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:] Also, I just hooked up a battery cutoff switch last night. This really simplifies disconnecting the battery for long periods. Not very expensive, either (under $10). [/QUOTE]

Tom, the only reason I pull the batteries out is, I keep them on a low shelf along with my RV batteries with a battery maintainer running 24 hrs a day. The maintainer only cost penny's a month to run and it seems to make the batteries last longer.
 
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