Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Chaos68 on November 29, 2005, 11:21:31 AM
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I have a 1968 Ford Falcon Futura. Ive own the car for 6 years now. This winter is going to be the first time i'm going to have to store her outside.
My question is what do I need to do to get the car winter ready?
Should i change the anti-freeze from 50/50 to thicker?
Any help will be great!
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Outside of the mechanical tips (I'm sure someone else here can give you a better answer for winterization than I who have been basking in southern california 'winters' for so long and must now re-learn everything that I am back in Oregon), what shape is the exterior? I ask because the winters where you are are can be pretty harsh, by my recollection, and ice buildup can be hard on paint.
If this is a non-junker car or something that looks really nice, it might not be a bad idea to consider a cover.
Just a thought...
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My 70 Duster has spent the last 5 winters or so outside.
Here is what i do.
Tarp it first with one of those actual car covers (dont forget to remove the antenna first, i forgot once) then put a another plastic typr tarp on top. Make sure they are extremely tight. If the wind blows the tarp around it will damage the paint.
Test your anti-freeze. 50/50 SHOULD be okay, 70/30 is the absolute max you want to go to, and you are running the risk of gelling.
Check your frost plugs. If the motor was rebuilt and restored, they may have painted the plugs in. If they are, you might want to pry them out and replace a few anyway. Then slap the person who painted them in.
As far as the fuel tank goes...this is a toss-up.. Drain the tank and you run the risk of the inside of the tank corroding. You could fill the tank all the way and add fuel stabilizer. However even fuel stabilizer isnt a perfect fix and the first tank in the spring is gonna be skunky. Both options kinda suck.
Put moth balls or those dryer sheets in your vents, under the seats ..frikken everywhere. Mice will love the chance to get into your car to make a winter home. I remember after bringing my car out one spring without doing this, i looked down and there was a mouse peeking out at me from the pass. side vent. Freaked me out.
If you can, put it on jack stands. Tires dont like sitting in the same place for months on end. Chances are you will lose air pressure too because of the drop in temperature and if it is buried in a snowbank..well you cant really tell until it is too late. (this happened to me too)
Take the battery out. This should be common sense. Charge it up and store it, but NOT on a concrete floor.
All i can think of right now. Hope some of this helps.
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I plan on getting a cover for the car. Should i put a tarp over the cover and tie it down with sandbags? The pant is not perfect.. untouched since 1968,Its dull.
The mix i believe is 50/50.. so i'll leave it alone. The gas tank is full. It also is a lead gas car. should i do anything different with lead gas fuel?
I'm going to put the car on the side of the house in the grass. Should i put plywood down so the jacks wont sink in the spring?.
Check your frost plugs. If the motor was rebuilt and restored, they may have painted the plugs in. If they are, you might want to pry them out and replace a few anyway. Then slap the person who painted them in.
wtf are frost plugs? ive never heard of them? My falcon has a stright 6 motor.. do all cars have these plugs?
Im not...as you can tell a build it myself car guy. I can do minor fixes but nothing major.
thanks for the info ... keep it comming i dont want my baby to die this winter!
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Actually, they are called "freeze" plugs.
I assume that is a 200CI six. Look on the side of the engine block, under the exhaust manifold (been a while, but I think they are located there, if not then look on the opposite side of the block). You will see 3 (maybe 4,...doing this from memory so I could be errant) 1 1/2" to 2" (or so) diameter circles in the block, evenly spaced. They are plugged with round metal discs.
If you look around, you will find a couple more smaller ones in the head of the engine as well.
Freeze plugs are designed to pop out of the block in case of expansion from freezing coolant and keep the block from cracking.
Check the state of the plugs. If they are rusted, get them replaced. They are made of a pretty soft metal so they can pop when they need to, but they will rust through.
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Try to put it on blocks, the extended sitting will give you a flat spot on the tires. Home depot sells a canister to suck up moisture, I would suggest putting one of these in the interior also, they are about 4-5 bucks.
Other than that, anti-freeze and good freeze plugs are the best advice said sofar. OH, and remember to take the fuzzy dice off the mirror.
NUTTZ
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freeze plugs/ frost plugs...sure same difference :)
Something i thought of later on today you can do if you want.
Pull the plugs and put a half once or so of thick oil in each cylinder. What i find works really well for this is that "80 or 100K plus" engine treatment. Wynn's used to make a product like this. Dont even know if that company is still around. Re-install the plugs as per usual.
Do one cylinder at a time so you dont screw up the plug wires and thus the firing order.
After this, remove the coil wire from the distributor (so the engine wont actually fire) and crank the engine over three or four revolutions.
This will keep the cylinders lubed and keep them from corroding over the winter.
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fresh antifreeze... 50 50 is a must , for fuel i ussually put it away on a 1/4er tank with a bottle of isopropal alc added ... then add 5 gals fresh fuel to it in the spring ...
top the brake fluid off so mosture doesnt collect ..
if your gonna store a long time, marvel mystery oil is your best friend .. fill the carb and squirt some down the cyls .. cover the carb in a plastic bag .
and thats about it .
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Fuel stabilazer, car cover, anti freeze, plan to change the oil in the spring, proper tire pressure, clean it well, inside and out, cover the exhaust pipe so things don't make a winter home in there.
The car cover and antifreeze are the most important though.
My next door neighbor keeps his car outside in the back yard all the time.
Oh btw come spring plan on doing a tune up ( plugs, cap, rotor)
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Put some silicone or some other rubber care product to all rubber seals on doors etc, this is important. Also if you have leather upholstery you might want to apply some leather care product. Clean the car thoroughly and wax it. Putting some oil in the cylinders is a good thing too, but don't put too much! I've used SAE 20 grade oil in a spray bottle for this purpose.
50/50 is a good mix for coolant. Actually the allowed mix ranges from 40/60 to 60/40. If you go under 40/60 you will risk corrosion. if you go over 60/40 the freezing point goes down again, and the heat trasfering properties of the coolant go down aswell. 50/50 will never freeze so badly that it would cause damage.
The engine oil should be always changed BEFORE storage, otherwise you are risking corrosion from sulphuric acid etc. nasty stuff. Use some cheap oil and change them again in the spring.
The fuel tank should be filled to the top to avoid corrosion.
I don't usually store my beaters like this, but since it's classic you might want to take these measures.
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Actually, they are called "core" plugs. they are used in the casting of the block to support the inner molds(cores) of the block when it is cast.
they are only pressed into the block and will be pushed out if the coolant freezes, thats where the the name "freeze plug" comes from.
the anti-freeze is made to be mixed with water, use whatever mix the mfg recomends, 100% anti-freeze will freez at a higher temp than the proper mix.
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Won't 100% antifreeze rust out the radiator too?
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Sure, but at least it won't be frozen rust.
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Found a place inside to store her. The wifes grandparents leave to go out West from Jan-Apr. They said I can store my car in the garage at their place.
Thanks for the help guys.... I learned alot from just this post!
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here is my baby
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/chaos68/falcon2.jpg)
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/chaos68/Falcon1.jpg)
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wow that car is beautiful! I wish I cauld find an old car in that good of a shape, all I have is a old Ford excort, that falls apart when ever it wants to.
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No Winter freezes around these parts. But I have develpoed a knack for making sure my Olds 98 is in the shop during hurricanes. No garage to keep it in, and that is something that nags, having a tree fall on it.
Les
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The way I winterize cars is to make sure they have antifreeze in em and change the wipers....
If I need to do more than that then I need to move to a better place.
lazs
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I have brother that has a business of restoring old cars...just saw him thanksgiving & went to his shop. Mostly older muscle cars. Amazing some of the prices he sells for ones that are rare & fully restored. He just got some old shelby, one of a small handful of ones that are missing from some registry...had been sitting in some barn being stored in Idaho for past 22 yrs....every thing conditioned to original probably be around $200k