Before they slumber

It has been a week or so since the last post. The weather has not been very helpful in attending shows or events as of late. The rain was even so bad here in the south they called a recent road race for rain, who ever stops a road race? I have no new car show news and it is getting to be time to think about putting the toys away for the winter, it is time to post the list of how to properly store your car/truck for the next few months. 1. Fuel. Modern oxygenated gasolines don't last more than a few months before they start to go bad. The old non-oxygenated gas lasted much longer. Stabil helps a gasoline last longer, but a non-Ox fuel will still last longer with Stabil than an Ox fuel will with Stabil. Stabil doesn't make all fuels the "most" stable, it just makes them all incrementally better than they would have been. Oxygenated fuels are terrible. Stabil just makes them incrementally better than terrible.The best thing you can do about gas is to shop around for a gas station that sells non-Ox fuels. They usually cater to the street rod and specialty car owners and there's a small label on the front of the pump that states it is for use in show cars and specialty cars only. Ask the local street rod club if they keep a list. Gas stations aren't supposed to sell non-Ox gas for general consumption, but no pump-jockey monitors who buys what. You want a clean fuel system next Spring? Then the key is to get rid of the oxygenated fuel. Fill the tank with non-Ox. Then adding Stabil is a worthwhile bonus... do it. Either syphon the remaining oxygenated fuel from the tank or drive until the tank is nearly empty. Then fill up with a mix of non-Ox and Stabil. It's best to pre-mix the Stabil in a can of gas that you can shake to ensure good mixing. Pour that into the tank and then fill it the rest of the way from the pump. Drive the car long enough to be confident the mix works it's way through the entire fuel system. Putting Stabil in a static tank in your garage isn't good enough if the fuel pump, rail and injectors are all full of oxygentated gas without Stabil. A tank of good gas won't help next Spring if the injectors are plugged with bad gas. "FILL" the tanks with Stabil/ non-Ox. Empty tanks breath with changes in barometric pressure. Relatively humid daytime air is inhaled as the temp drops at night, cools in the tank, and exhales during the daytime warm. During the cooling phase, the airbourne humidity condenses and moisture collects in the tanks. It would amaze you how much water can collect in empty tanks over a Winter. In steel tanks, that leads to rusted tanks, potential leaks and rust-plugged fuel systems. The more full the tanks are, the less volume there is to breathe, and the drier the tanks remain. Empty tanks collect a lot of water. If your car has plastic or aluminum tanks, you can relax a bit. But if your car has steel fuel tanks, store them full to the brim. Yes, that's more fuel to potentially go bad during storage. But you can address that will Stabil and non-Ox fuel, while there's not much you can do about rusted tanks except replace them. Your choice. Similarly, the engine/ sump breathe too, and moisture collects in there. Have you ever noticed brown mayonaisse developing around the dip stick and oil filler cap during the winter. Many folk see that and panic with fear that the head gasket has blown. Nope, that's condensation mixing with the oil. Put the car in to general service and drive it hard, and the brown goop will go away. 2. Higher tire pressures will minimize the flat spot. However, flat spotting issues aren't the problem with modern tires that it used to be with older tires. I don't think there's a big advantage to pumping up the tires other than getting ahead of the seasonal contraction that causes the pressure to drop as the climate gets colder. 45 Psi shouldn't be a problem for the tires. Just remember to monitor the pressures next Spring when ambient temps begin to rise again, and don't let the pressures creep much higher. DOT road race tires are not made of "normal" street-tire rubber. The race rubber will freeze, and then crack if the tire is rolled under load. The Elise and Exige are blessed with a sticky rubber, but I'm not certain if the A048's use soft "normal" rubber, or the stuff of which DOT road race tires are made. If it's the latter, or if you run DOT road race rubber on any Lotus, then once they freeze do not let them flex. That means, don't roll the car, don't get into the car, don't let the air pressure change. Take that with the following grain of salt... I'm writing with a Minnesota perspective of Winter cold. But still, frozen is frozen and anything colder is just a matter of degrees. The best way to store DOT road race rubber is off the car, dusted with talcum powder, in a sealed black plastic bag, in a cool dark place. The basement is good. But, unless you have a spare set of rims, that can conflict with the following... Putting the car up on stands to preserve the tires just puts a twist into the rubber suspension bushings that can kill them. Rubber bushings don't "rotate" about a pivot point. Instead, they move by distorting/ stretching the layer of rubber between to metal sleeves. In the normal ride height position, there's no distortion and the rubber can take that for a long time. However, at full suspension droop, the rubber is severely distorted and keeping it that way for a prolonged time can kill the bushing. Given the cost of a set of bushings, the degree of difficulty in replacing them (cost of shop labor if you farm the job out) and the subtle impact the bushings have on handling, I prefer to favor the bushings over the tires. Either let the car rest normally on it's tires, buy a set of junkyard skinny rims and tires for storage use only, or remove the tires and place chunks of timber under the hub flange (railroad tie chunks are good). Just don't jack the car up and leave it with the suspension at full droop. Exception: Urethane suspension bushings. While rubber bushings work by distorting the rubber, urethane bushings work by pivoting about a steel sleeve, so there is no distortion of the urethane. With full urethane bushed suspension, it's okay to jack the car up and let the suspension hang. Exception to the Exception: Suspension systems with a rigid trailing arm, like the rear suspension in the Europa and Esprit (Porsche 911, Corvair, BMW/ Mercedes with semi-trailing arm rear suspension, etc). At normal ride height, the pivot bolts all align with the pivot axis of the mating lateral arm and bushing, and all is well. However, at full bump and full droop, the hub carrier swings through an arc with the trailing arm, assumes a different angle, and forces the pivot bolt to assume that angle as well. But the lateral arm & bushing's pivot axis remains the same as it would be at normal ride height and a significant bind results. That trailing arm suspension design "depends" upon bushing compliance in order to work, and that's why converting them to hard urethane or Delrin bushings is a No-No. Whether the car's rear bushings are rubber or urethane, they are significantly distorted at full suspension travel. Leaving them that way for an extended period will ruin them. Short term distortions like hitting bumps or putting the car on stands while you work on it is no problem. But storing the car for prolonged periods with the suspension at full droop dramatically shortens the bushings' life. Both rubber and urethane. In our Lotus world, Europa and Esprit owners need to be aware of that. 3. The battery maintainer is a very good thing. A lead-acid battery should never be allowed to loose it's charge... go dead. In a discharged condition it will begin to sulfate and die a pre-mature death. That applies year around. Then in freezing temps there's an additional risk of a discharged battery freezing. The electolyte in a charged battery is mostly acid and has a low enough freeze point to survive a normal winter. The electrolyte in a discharged battery is mostly water and will freeze solid in modest cold. Freezing pretty much destroys the battery internally. In extreme cases, the ice expansion can split the battery case and result in electrolyte leakage when it thaws. I've had that happen twice in daily drivers. Most of the electrlyte ran out the bottom of the car, but you know some acid wicked into body/chassis seams along the way. Not good Covering the car is good for protecting the finish from dust, but use a very breatheable cover for indoor storage. Concrete gives off moisture that will rise and collect under a non-breatheable car cover... it's a perfect bubble. That will promote corrosion not only on the chassis and general metal bits, but in the electrical system as well. That's one reason (out of several) why so many cars suffer electrical problems after prolonged storage. Don't heat the storage garage. Really. Electrolytic action (corrosion) really slows down in sub-freezing temperatures, and the cold doesn't hurt the car. Heated garages are for people comfort, not car care. What's your priority? The daily driver will drag snow and road slush into the garage, complete with salt. In a frigid garage, it all freezes, you can chip out the chunks, and the general humidity level stays low. In a modestly heated garage, the slop melts, spreads across the floor, evaporates... the humidity level spikes and the garage becomes a salt vapor bath. You can almost hear the cars' metal bits rusting. If your toy car shares a modestly heated garage with the daily driver, it gets the "benefit" of all that crap as well. Don't heat the garage. Install an engine block heater in the daily driver if you feel it needs the help (modern cars don't). Opt for heated seats if your backside needs pampering. But let the toy car's Winter storage space freeze and stay frozen. If you insist upon heating the garage, then don't just heat it a little. A garage that sees floating temps from night time lows to daytime highs will have humidity and freeze-thaw problems. Condensation will collect in cars stored in them, and corrosion will be a problem. Just warm enough to melt the slush, but not warm enough to keep the garage dry is a problem. Just enough heat to take the edge off but not enough to maintain a constant temperature is a problem. If you're going to heat a garage, then HEAT it. Keep it warm enough that it never freezes, keep it warm enough to stay dry (religiously squeegee out the slush), keep the temperature steady, and keep the humidity low. If you're not up for all that, then let it freeze solid. 4. The best way to store the engine is to pickle it and then leave it alone for the duration. Don't start it. Every time you start the engine, moisture from the combustion process collects in the sump and internal passages, as well as in the exhaust system. Even if you let the engine idle long enough to bring the engine up to full temp, it's not generating enough heat to completely drive out the moisture. It needs a good drive to do that, and that's not consistent with the point of Winter storage. All that moisture build up leads to corrosion. And it's compounded inside the engine when the moisture combines with blow-by combustion gasses to form acids that sit there working on the bearings and journals. So don't start it Make sure the cooling system has adequate freeze protection. Drain-flush-fill as required. Take the car for a brisk drive to get all systems up to temp long enough to drive out all collected moisture. Immediately change the oil and filter while still hot and stirred up. Start the car and run it long enough to make sure the new oil has flushed all the left over old oil out of the bearings and oil passageways, then shut it down for the season. Let the engine cool a little. Then pull the plugs and spray fogging oil on the cylinder walls and spin the engine over a few times to thoroughly distribute it on the cylinder walls. Replace the plugs. Now don't turn the engine over or start it again until you intend to put it back into general service. (See #1 above about gas.) Disconnect the battery. That's a Minnesota perspective, but how cold does Winter get in Indy, Birmingham, Dallas and how long does it last? Maybe starting the car once or twice on warm days wouldn't be so bad during a "short" Winter. But I wouldn't. Cold starts are harder on the engine than just sitting.