How do you prep your twin cam for winter storage?
Thanks
I drive the car into the garage and turn on the heating. Then periodically, when the weather permits, go for a drive. Then repeat.
Leslie
Not a bad idea to leave a tray of mouse bait in the passenger footwell.
I guess it depends what lengths you want to go to. I had a boat and winterising the engine was a major performance. Change the oil, stabiliser in the fuel, fogging oil in the inlets and a squirt of oil down each bore.
Boats are damp, and I guess much of this was to counter a humid environment. In a dry garage, this is probably overkill. I have never bothered to do anything specific to my cars.
Apart from the mouse bait.
If you search on here there is a copy of my winter preparation checklist. Refined over the past 40 years (and 12 days) of ownership such that the car gets laid up before the salt goes on the road, and then is ready for immediate use come spring, hopefully with a full season without repairs being necessary.
I’ll see if I can track it down (I’m not currently at home so I haven’t got access to the original)
Originally posted by me here in February 2003, but this isn’t my current version
Mid October take car for MOT
Go for one last drive on a dry day to empty fuel tank as much as
possible
Last week in October cash in 12 months road tax (cheaper to get 12
months rather than 6)
Pressure wash underneath.
Wax body and chrome
Vacuum inside
Remove any rubbish from boot
Jack up put on axle stands
Change brake fluid
Contemplate changing clutch fluid and put it off yet again
Rag soaked in WD40 wiped over all metal parts.
Squirt all rubber bits (door seals, boot seals, bushes,
rotoflexes,lotocones, rack gaiters) with silicone spray.
Wheels off.
Brake pistons retracted
WD40 wiped on discs.
Trunnions oiled
Tyres checked for stones, nails etc
Wheels cleaned and waxed
Tyres pumped up to 40psi.
Wheels back on
Run until engine hot
Kill fuel supply with cutoff valve until engine dies
Oil change
Filter change
Crank to get oil pressure
Oil down bores, turn over by hand a few times
Outboard motor vaporising oil aerosol down the dipstick hole, through
the oil filler cap and down the carb throats
Exhaust blocked with oily rag
Air filter blocked with oily rag
Fan belt slackened
Wipers held off screen with small wooden blocks
Gearbox in gear
Clutch jammed down with mark 1 clutch depression device (bit of wood)
Battery maintainer connected
Car back on floor
Make absolutely sure handbrake is off
Leave bonnet popped
Close garage door
Leave for 5-6 months to mature:
Each month.
Ensure car is rolled back and forth a few feet
Rotate water pump and engine by hand
Steering on lock and back
Operate all electrics especially windows
Operate heater and bonnet release cables
Operate headlamp vacuum valve
Don’t start engine
In spring:
Retension fan belt
5 gallons of new fuel in tank
Rags removed from air filter and exhaust
Fit new air filter
Clutch depressor removed
Check clutch releases properly
Remove plugs, turn over on starter to build up oil pressure
Plugs in
Fuel tap on
Connect jumpstart battery
Start
Drive up and down drive
Check for unusual noises and leaks
Tyres back to normal pressures
Slap on new road tax disc.
Drive for 6 months then repeat from beginning.
Set the mouse traps.
Fill with fuel.
Change wheels to an old “not for the road” set.
Run car up and down drive every month to keep brakes and clutch free.
Don’t bother,
drive it all year that’s what they’re for.
In the dry of course.
I know someone with a XK140 and an E Type both “Trailer Queens”.
Alan
In the dry of course? What? There’s nowt to rust on it!
Well, not after zinc primer plus 2 coats of tough paint.
Not for a while anyway!
I’d clear out the front turrets and oil the trunnions.
I prefer to put the mouse traps outside of the elan. If it’s in the elan they’ll find a way in. Usually by chewing…
Mouse-proofing a garage is hard work, mouse traps are single use things which need checking daily so now I’ve got a couple of bait stations by the doors. Fill once, check every couple of weeks.
I thought these were working well, no sign of mice droppings on the cars until one year when I pulled the Elan out and tipped the drivers seat forward to vac the carpets. Sitting there was a pile of blue mouse bait, I’d guess it was most of what had been in one of the bait stations.
Obviously a mouse had decided to make his/her own little store for winter but on the plus side there were no dead bodies or damage to the carpet/seats/etc.
Brian
The main point is keeping the mice out, so here is my take on it, never underestimate your little four legged enemy, they are very resourceful, I mean whoelse would chew rubber, cable insulation, carpet etc.
- Use a strong powerful light
- Place light in footwell after removing carpets or prop against bulkheads, or get a friend to assist
- Turn off garage lights and close door
- Slide under the car and look for any signs of the light, it may be very weak if it is trying to penetrate those other
carpeted areas, so check carefully - Repeat for all footwells and boot areas, top of turrets etc
- Place lamp around the bulkhead from up behind the dash and from the engine bay side of the bulkhead,
especially where cables pass through and around the steering column, don’t forget the wheelarches - Where the light can be seen is likely one of the places mice can get through, they can climb the tyres to get
within reaching distance of some holes/gaps and are pretty acrobatic - Use a silicone sealer to fill the smaller holes. For the larger holes use expanded foam which can be trimmed
for neatness once hardened and then painted over if necessary - Repeat light search all over again to check you have got all holes/gaps covered.
I had a mouse problem at one house we had and called in the pest guys to sort it. What surprised me was when one of them pulled out a pencil and said mice can constrict their bodies down to this level which is how they get into places we think impossible, a lesson learned !
Tony
Yep, they are annoyingly inventive at getting into places you’d never dream of. We’re rural so they comes with the territory and we’ve tried all sorts, the bait stations being the best to date.
When we had a campervan it would stand for long periods, especially over winter and checking it one day I found a hole in the gear lever gaiter. The van was based on a Fiat Ducato so the shift lever is at dash height but it seems that mice had clambered up the cables from the gearbox and chewed through the vinyl.
I ended up pulling out the dash as well because they’d got behind & chewed the wiring insulation, bits of coloured plastic lying in the footwell.
I used to think they were cute cuddly things… not any more !
I use mouse traps all through the year, they just cannot resist peanut butter.
They get the cheap super market stuff though!
Try driving your Elan in the Snow great fun.
Always remember driving from London to Waterlooville down the A3 as far as “the Devil’s Punch Bowl” where A3 blocked by deep Snow. Then i took country Lanes down through Villages.
Good job i had a full Tank of Petrol 2nd and 3rd gear to keep revs up with the Generator.
Otherwise with all the Electrics flat Battery.
1970 +2 S good balance and delicate drive singing to myself. Drive took around 4 hours.
Alan
Ha ha, that takes me back to when my first car was my Sprint, and daily driver. So if it snowed, off I would go, to work, very carefully. Those conditions taught you how to handle the car properly. Great fun.
Leslie
I have always put some oil in the spark plug holes. It’s interesting that a majority of the replies do not. Recently I have been wondering if enough oil slides down the valve stems to negate the need to add more.
The fuel tank is full of ethanol free premium with fuel stabilizer added. The battery is in my basement and will be charged monthly. My handbrake has never worked, so it is off, same as always.
The car is in semi heated storage. It won’t see less than 8-10C.
I am not too far off the mark. Thanks
See my comments above about fogging oil.
I always have fogging oil on hand for my outboard motors and I have used it in my TwinCam forever.
But is it necessary, given that oil runs down the valve stems?
Two stroke outboards of course have no valves and the cylinders are horizontal. Different situation. Other car engines would have better sealing of oil leaking past the valves.
There will not be much if any oil leaking past the valve stems into the cylinders while the engine is not running.
i.e.
- Most of the valves will be shut so the oil sits in the ports if it did leak down the stems.
- The inlet side is well drained and the oil retained in the head in a stationary engine is below the valve guide top
- The exhaust side is also well drained especially in the later engines with the cross drill from the exhaust to inlet side atthe rear. In the early engines without the cross drilling the exhaust guide for no3 and 4 cylinders can be below the retained oil level especially if the nose of the car is uphill. But even then oil will only drain into the cylinders if the exhaust valve is open
If worried about corrosion during storage use fogging oil or even just WD40 sprayed into the cylinders
cheers
Rohan
Down here in the warm sunny southeastern USA winter is just a little chilly, nothing serious so I keep on driving. Summer is when my car sits, as it’s too hot and humid to be anything but miserable in a car without aircon. But as it doesn’t sit for more than three months maximum I find nothing special needs doing other than keeping the battery charged. Rodents don’t get into my garage any time of year but I find that spiders will make themselves at home so a de-webbing now and then is helpful.