ok winter is approaching and i will be storing the evox in the garage.. what are some things i need to do?? should i change the oil so fresh oil is in the engine while it sits.. or does it matter?? should it have a full tank of gas or jus alil? does it matter?? anything else i'm missing or need to know?? thank you!

 

new oil so it can sit at the bottom of the oil pan? its a car. not a boat. no need to winterize.. start it every so often

 

i would level it as is but disconnect the battery and have as little gas in the tank as possible cuz gas goes bad over time and if ur really **** u can put it on kickstands so ur tires don't get disformed from sitting for long period of time

 

put stabil in your gas tank to keep the fuel from going bad...put it up on jackstands so your tires don't square off, put your battery on a trickle charger, and personally i'd change the oil before and then after storage.

 

Definately fill up the tank as much as possible and put stabil in as mentioned, so the tank doesn't get any water condensation in it. I had my car sitting for a year in a parking lot, and all I did was:

Full tank of gas with stabil
Up on jackstands
Covered the exhaust and intake outlets with duck tape and paper towels
Unplugged battery
Moth ***** in the car to keep critters out
New oil
And of course a car cover

I think for jut a couple months your oil should be fine. Change it when you pull it out of storage though.

 

Definitely put it up on jack stands. Stored mine on year and didn't, ended up with flat spots on tires.

 

I store my Evo every winter to keep it away from the salt. It's a norm for enthusiasts in this part of the country to have winter vehicles as the only way to keep a car that matters salt-free. I simply fill the Evo with fuel, start it every couple of weeks, and drive it around the block on the occasional nice day. I leave the windows cracked just a touch to vent the interior and put a bag of moth ***** under the car. Sure, one can take all this a lot further. Personally, I haven't found the need.

 

Ditto.

 

I think a friend of mine put defogger in his cylinders or something like that in his s2k. Basically I was just gonna let the car sit, maybe start it every other week or so but he said not to cuz starting the car is the hardest thing to do on the engine?

What brand stabilizer are you guys gonna use

 

Why is starting the engine the hardest thing? Thats not true you start ur dd car at least 3-4 times a day and on top of that u drive it...Its not hard at all to store ur car, all you have to do is started once a week, ( i usually do it every sun) and let it run for like 25-30 min...none of that stabilizer crap, just leave a quarter tank of gas (just enough to be able to start ur car for that period of time that is gona be sitting)....no jacks, no stabilizer, no moth *****, BUT i would get a trickle charger so you battery acid does not drain, as for the oil change its really your choice, I am picky on the whole fluid change so i usually change all the fluids, (engine, trans, tc, and rear end), before storeing it so the car is ready for next spring. Anyways my experience is from storing it in the garage so i am not sure where you are storing yours, BUT i have been doing it this way for at least 10 yrs since i have owned race/sports cars and never had any problems, so dont think too much into it and just let your car rest for next year :-)

 

make sure you're antifreeze is up to par, you can get a tester for just a few bucks

 

Starting the engine is infact the hardest thing on the internals. During initial startup, there is no lubrication (oil hasn't had the time to be pumped throughout the engine) and this is what causes a large part of engine wear...Especially when the car has been sitting for a week or two and the engine is completely dry. So if you start it every 1-2 weeks, you're basically wearing the internals for no reason.

The best thing to do when storing a car is the following:

1. Full tank of gas with fuel stabalizer (Full tank minimizes evapouration and consensation within the fuel lines)

2. Make 100% sure you're running coolant and not water if you're storing your car in a non-heated place. As ikt said, it's also good to test the freezing point of your coolant

3. New oil (You don't have to do this but I like to so that the car runs nice when I take it back out in the spring)

4. Let the car sit there all winter.

5. Leave the battery on a trickle charger

Then when you take it out it should start no problem and run fine. We're only storing our cars for ~6 months anyways so it's not neccesary to do much more then this.

Patrick
TWM Performance

 

I store my 1989 Starion in a heated garage. I keep the battery in the car, hooked-up to trickle charger. Gas tank is filled to half. I do NOT believe in taking the wheels off! My garage is connected to the house. What happens if there is a house fire and my car is on jacks? Just say goodbye! I put 4 spare tires/donuts on my car for storage. You can buy the OEM's (as I have) on ebay kind of cheap.

Also, if your car is on jacks, what happens if you want to back it up and start the car up once a week as I do. Never leave a stored car helpless in case of any kind of emergency! You want to be able to get it the hell out of there in a hurry!

 

What kind of stabilizer do you use? And where can you get a trickle charger? =] thanks

 

Last year I picked up some NOS feul stabilizer...I was in a hurry and it's all they had at the gas station To be honest, I don't think there is that much of a difference from one brand of stabilizer to the other.

As for a trickle charger I bought a Motomaster trickle charger from Canadian Tire, but if you're in the US, you don't have Canadian Tire's but it's along the same lines of PepBoys, AutoZone, Napa.... I'm sure any one of those place would have some for sale