Cat napping through winter

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
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So winter here in Chicago is no place for a cat. They use salt like there’s no tomorrow, so I’m expecting several months (probably 4 or 5) where my Cougar never leaves the garage.

So! That being said. I know there are maintenance issues related to this. Fuel sitting in the tank in sub-zero temps day after day, tires sitting on the same spot week after week…

I know the rule of thumb, from living in Chicago forever, that you just keep your gas tank above half full and it doesn’t freeze. But that’s for cars that get driven through winter, I have never owned a car that just sits.

I’m planning on replacing the fuel tank and fuel lines as soon as I can. So does it make sense to drain the tank and pull the tank and lines before winter, so she sits gas-empty? Any problems associated with that? Do I need to cap the fuel feed into the carb or anything?

I plan on doing a major overhaul of the PS system, so might want to just get all the fluid-using components pulled before winter and I can address them at home in my apartment.

Well if I’m pulling the fuel and PS systems, maybe I just wanna get a second pair of jack stands and leave her up on stands all winter. Anything wrong with that? If that’s cool, what are the ideal locations? Front and rear frame rails? Whereabouts?

And there’s still the issue of the cover, I wanna buy a cover, like, yesterday. I’m leaning toward the NOAH cover from California Car Covers. Thoughts? The garage she’ll be sleeping in is gonna be sub-zero for extended periods of time, and I won’t be surprised if some snow sneaks in through open spots at the tops and bottoms of the walls (big enough to let a little daylight through). I wanna patch that stuff up, but if I don’t, I wanna make sure the car’s taken care of as good as possible. Is the NOAH cover a good route?

What else? Do I need to do anything special to prepare her for a long winter nap that I didn’t already mention? Any suggestions, experience, anything to keep her in top shape through the winter and ready to go come springtime, please share.

My plan is to garage her from the first snowstorm (for which they will definitely drop a ton of salt everywhere) until whatever point we’ve had a period with at least one if not two good rainstorms to wash all that crap off the roads. After lots and lots of winters driving black cars, I know that just because it hasn’t snowed in a while doesn’t mean there isn’t a nice powdery coating of salt on every square inch of road out there.

And before you suggest moving somewhere with a less obnoxious winter… Already seriously considering it, just won’t be able to for another year or so.

Thanks a lot guys.

Scott

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I left mine up in the air for at least that long, at the front frame rails, and rear axle housing.

I don’t see why you couldn’t drain the tank, and pull the lines now…

No idea on PS stuff.

Radiator, you probably want to keep it full of anti-freeze, but you knew that already!

Cover…I’d say, if you like that NOAH one(you seem to, it’s the only one I’ve seen you reference), then GFI!!!

(little sidebar here, online reviews are GREAT, but, I found the hard way, check with the BBB in whatever location the vendor is you are going to purchase the cover from…and Dept of Commerce for the same location, as well. Bought wheels based only on “online reviews”…ended up kicking myself when I checked the other two sources, after the fact…DOH!!!)

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I’m totally open to any cover suggestions, and have no connection to the NOAH cover other than a friend recommended CalCarCovers and the description of the NOAH cover sounded good to me. I’d love any kinda input, positive or negative, about that cover or any other. The key is I want something indoor/outdoor so it’ll keep the dust away and everything but could also handle outdoor-type conditions.

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Here’s a decent sounding plan, written by Canadians even. The fact that they refer to winter as 5 to 6 months makes me think they know what’s what. Lol. Thoughts?

http://www.techguys.ca/howto/winter.html

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Cleveland, Ohio and Chicago are like twins separated at birth.

I store three cars every winter. I’m not saying this is what you have to follow. It’s just what works for me. My shop/garage is only heated and insulated in the work area. The “parking area” gets just as cold as the outside, minus the windchills. But I don’t have any gaps to let anything come in either.

Whatever gas is in them when I park them is what’s in them. I don’t jack them up or put them on stands either. They don’t sit still long enough for me to worry about it.

I do place several “Bounce” dryer sheets under the hood, in the interior, and in the trunk of each car. These help keep any mice away that might be looking for a warmer winter home. Plus, it makes the car smell good when you bring it out in the Spring. LOL! (So far, I’ve only seen one mouse in the 5 years I’ve had the place. And I took care of him QUICKLIKE.) Based on the description of your place, you might consider this step.

I used to disconnect the batteries on each too. But as of last winter, I picked up a 4-bank battery tender off Amazon that feeds an I-V to each so I don’t even do that anymore. It makes it less of a pain trying to remember how to reset all the stereo presets on three different stereo systems come Springtime. :y:

Some guys swear you need to start them up once a week during the winter. I used to do it once a month. Now I’m lucky if I do it once during the whole winter. Injecting extra moisture into the exhaust system that way is a good way to rust the system from the inside out prematurely. If I do start them up, I make sure they run long enough to get up to full operating temperature.

And yes, each one is covered. You certainly can’t go wrong with a California Car Cover. Two of mine have them and I’m going to be getting the third in the near future. My T-Bird has their standard canvas one that I got back in the early 90s and The Hero has the “Dustop” I got in 2003. I really like the Dustop and will be getting that one for the Olds Vert. These covers are perfect for cars that stay inside. That Noah cover you’re considering is really an outdoor cover and even with the gaps in your garage, is still likely overkill for what you need. But if you ever think you’ll need it for outdoors for an extended period of time, best to step up now and only have to buy once.

Good Luck!

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Thanks very much Mark, I really appreciate your insight. I went ahead and bought the NOAH cover, overkill being better than underkill and the 25 year old Garfield bedsheets I’m using as a cover right now are really not cutting it. While I was ordering from CalCarCovers I went ahead and got their 2lb bag of dessicant too, to keep the interior from getting too moist during the winter.

Walked over to the garage today, 40 degrees and pretty heavy rain and 25mph winds, and there was about as much water leaking in as I’d expect. Meaning, not zero, meaning too much. Once that roof gets covered with a foot of snow and it starts melting… Don’t even wanna think about it. Maybe I can talk the landlord into tarring that area up before then or something.

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Mark, I never heard of the dryer sheet idea before. I bet mice don’t like dryer sheets because they are filthy little creatures! :laughing: It gets cold here in South Carolina but I still get to take my Cougar out for winter rides. Snow happens maybe once a year so salt is not a problem here.

TMH go with the NOAH cover, it will probably give you peace of mind. My Cover is a light weight because I don’t have to deal with bad elements like you folks up north.

Steven

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I read somewhere that the fragrance smell makes the mice think there are people nearby and scurry the other direction. I don’t know, sounded good to me… and seems to work. :smiley:

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If your not going to jack it up, I suggest getting some inslulateing foam ( the pink or blue foam boards) and putting them under your tires. This will help them keep their form and stop them from balding where they make contact with the ground. I do this every year, I cut them down to manageable squares for each tire 24x 18in, jack it up and set em down.
My brother just kept em as is and drives up on his, hes had to replace them every other year. Not to mention that he has to remove them everytime he wants to work under the car.

I second the dryer sheets, havent had an issue yet, but then again I have an attached garage with 2 cats in the house.

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So Diane’s been jacked up and covered, full tank of gas with Stabil in it, with the battery sitting on a tender, for a little while now. I forget exactly how long but I wanna say about a month and a half, maybe more like 2 months.

10 day forecast calls for nothing really. Sun and some clouds here and there. So I wanna wake her up and get outta that craphole garage and into the new home.

Obviously I take the car off the jack stands- nothing special to do there, right? Put the battery back in and hook it up, cleaning the terminals beforehand. Do I need to add water there? How would I be able to tell?

Check for fluid leaks, check for proper coolant level (JUST flushed and filled before putting her to bed), oil level, brake fluid level…

And then what? Pump the gas twice and turn the key? I’ve read a ton of websites that talk about removing all the spark plugs and shooting some oil in there, cranking the car with the plugs out to distribute oil and not mess up piston rings… Is that all necessary? It’s been 2 months tops. Can I just turn the dang key, let her idle a nice long time to warm up, then take a spin around the block and make sure all is well?

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No special instructions after only 2 months. Everything should still be lubricated well enough.

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I’ve only done the 'remove the spark plugs and shoot oil inthe cylinders" trick on cars that have sat for YEARS upon YEARS.

Connect your battery and fire it off. Enjoy the mid winter little cruise. Up north they don’t come around too often.

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Freakin awesome. That’s great to hear, thanks guys. So looking forward to this.