Puttin' the car away....

[TC Chris]

Normally this topic is for November or even October. The Chevy went into storage at Thanksgiving weekend, the very day I found its original window sticker.

But it's 145 miles away. The Mustang is right here, and at my new office there is a shop 2 doors away with the Jeepster and '65 Mustang and Isetta all in the parking lot at the same time. So they diagnosed my steering rack issue and found the water pump seeping and agreed to work on the front brake issue (another shop couldn't bleed the fronts). The new steering rack arrived just when the snow did but they said "No problem; bring it in when the roads are dry or wait til next spring." Then we had a big melt-down and the roads dried so I drove it in. Today they were done and the roads were dry so after work left the bicycle at the office and drove the Mustang home. That meant leaving the bike at work, but it was about 27 degrees out, and to be truthful, I kinda liked skipping the workout for a day. Yesterday I cranked home in headwinds that were around 30 mph and that was enough heroism for one week.

My practice is always to get the vehicle fully warmed up before storage, and if possible, at every drive. The real enemy is condensation in the crankcase and in the exhaust system. So on the way home I took a long detour on the highway north about 10 miles, then turned around and drove home. The only stop was at the station selling "rec gas," the no-ethanol stuff, to fill up the tank for the winter. In the garage it went and there it's likely to stay unless we have more dry spells and I can get the front-end alignment done after the steering work.

All this probably sounds pretty mysterious to y'all who live in perpetual sunshine, but up here in the northern reaches, cold and salt are matters to be feared when it comes to cars.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I have run Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer in my old Buick for a couple years now. It keeps the gas from going bad in storage. I'm thinking about getting the Buick out of storage and driving it to Christmas dinner, just to do something different. I don't miss the fall rituals necessary to prepare a car for winter.

[TC Chris]

I learned to use Sta-Bil in the Mustang when using ethanol-laced fuel. Once they started putting that crap in the gas, I'd get moisture in the bottom pf the tank and at about 30 miles down the road in the spring, I'd get some short de-power moments. They always made my heart skip a beat or two.

This year I bought Biobor-EB for the Chevy. Practical Sailor magazine, a Consumers reports-type marine publication, tested it out as best. Their tests typically use some dissimilar metals to check for corrosion, a problem in carbureted engines. Marine engines,or at least sailboat engines, tend to sit a lot so the fuel can get old. I also stuffed as much rec gas into the car as I could in the last month of driving.

Chris Campbell

[hermitcrab]

I throw Sta-bil in the tank of mine when it gets parked in Nov. never seems to be a problem come Mar. but then again my car is not 60 + years old either ...I sold the 72 roadrunner years ago..my modern challenger is only 10 years old and only the V6... it makes 300+ hp , don't need any more that that

[Firedome]

I also like to get the cars ('07 Mustang convert and '69 Cutlass) hot each time and always use No-Ethanol Premium in both. Since availability of "good" no-alky gas the last 3-4 years no longer use Sta-bil and have no problems with the cars being in storage only 4-5 months. (Same with the pontoon boat, no-alky gas and don't run it dry or add anything else to the usual OMC/BRP Carbon-Guard anti-ring sticking stuff for 2 strokes, and it [2001 Johnson 50hp] always starts right up and runs fine come Spring). The alcohol gas goes bad much more quickly. I do always fill all the tanks full-up on the last drive to avoid tank condensation, and do an oil change close to storage time at the end of season. Neither car is ever driven in either salt OR rain... they're rust-free and want to keep them that way.

[electra225]

We can't buy no-alky gas out here. I haven't had a lot of trouble (knock, knock), but I try to be vigilant and careful. The Buick gets along just fine on regular pump gas. I put in premium if I'm going a distance at higher speeds. I can't hear it pinging if it does, so premium is a hedge against that. I put Sta-bil in every tank so I don't forget to do it. The last carburetor repair shop in Phoenix closed last summer. Lots of the old car guys are going to LS6 engines with factory injection or they are putting fuel injection kits on old cars. I'd like to stick with the AFB as long as I can.

[Firedome]

Greg try near boat ramps or lakes (Powell?) most sell no-alky as boats need it.
Or try this, it looks like there's at least some available out there.
Must be limited (and expensive) there because of smog rules maybe?
It's very available at normal premium gas prices here, about $4/gallon only 1 mile away from me.
Even if pricey worth it for the limited miles we put on our old cars and the lack of effect on rubber, gaskets,carbs, etc.

https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=AZ

[TC Chris]

I discovered ethanol-free gas at the marina a number of years ago and started buying it for my lawn mowers and small outboards. Both were much happier. Now it has become available at more and more gas stations as "rec gas" for people's toys. The list keeps growing. Last year the list showed no stations near where the Chevy lives but now there are two reasonably close. When I filled up the Mustang last night it was $4.36/gallon. Ouch, but during the summer when the car does a lot of highway travel, it lives on regular from the pump. When fall comes around I'll pop for the expensive stuff.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I'm not sure about the marinas out here. That's a good idea. Smog regs gom up everything out here. We have fume-collection equipment on the gas nozzle that won't fit into the well where the gas filler is on the Buick. We can sit in traffic jams while they work on the roads with a thousand engines idling, (not the Teslas!) but we have to have fume collection garbage on the gas nozzle so we can't fill the tank. It won't be long until we'll have to convert our old cars to electric, anyway. What size motor will it take to power a '63 Buick Electra? Will it work with Dynaflow ?......

[walyfd]

So warm in NEPA that I actually had half an hour to go out to the '62 and adjust the pedal rod. Once I installed cruise and adjusted the carb, the linkages were all out of whack.

This weather is nutz... I can remember blizzards at Thanksgiving. All we've had is about 2" of snow so far.

I was doing my grandmother's Christmas cookies today, too. It's lard dough so I was always able to put the marble board on the porch to keep it cold. Today, I had the kitchen window open because I was roasting...