storage advise please

A

andymartin

Well-known user
Nov 23, 2011
661
32
Fife
some of you may or may not know but i have hit a bit of tight spot at the moment, as a result having to cut back on daily spending. The biggest being my cat i love her to bits but when i have managed to find a car 60mpg and 30quid a year for road tax i am bringing down my day to day running costs suverley.
I thought about selling her but i know i will not get any ware near what i have spent on her thats just unrealistic and i have sold so many cars before and regreted it, expecialy when i seen how some one else treats them. She is such a clean car and very low millage at 77k would be realy anoyed if she deteriorated
This hole im in will not last for ever and i do have a garage so thinking about storage
i would be planning to strip of all the linings in the wheel arches clean it all underseal it again to ensure to hidden grit or dirt to start causing any rust and then i belive i should put her up on axle stands
what else should i do?
would she be ok to store for a year to a year half?
im not sure about putting the whole car up on axle stands either not something i have done before i will need to get another two stands from halfords but im sure some one on here can give me the best advise
 
I also have a big sister cat to my Cougar (Jaguar XKR 4.2 S/C) which i lay up all over the winter months each year. The garage floor she sits on is carpeted, no axle stands, fresh clean oil & filter before bed time, all the seats are creamed with leather feed & then bagged up, windshield wipers partially lifted off the screen (they go flat otherwise), battery connected to CTEK trickle charger, double lock the car (all the computers in the car go into sleep mode), very little fuel in the tank (corrosion inside the tank otherwise) & plastic sheet over the whole car, tailor made car cover over that & 2 X old smelly quilt covers over the top of all of it....
6 to 7 months later.... 6 months tax (ouch), push her out onto the drive and fire up, 2 mins no touch then drive.....never missed a beat !!
Hope this helps.:D
 
Oh. Axle stands or not, leaving the handbrake on may be a bad idea. I've also seen suggestions of stuffing a bung in the tail-pipe & air intake to stop little furry chaps sneaking in, folowed by the mention of leaving yourself a not on the seat as a reminder...
 
were is the best place for axle stands when you have the body kit fitted.? already having to get a new trolly jack as my 3tone one will not go under have to use a chepo and the raise it slightley and the put my big jack underneath
 
Andy, the owner's handbook shows one other suitable place for jacking or axle stands but only at the front of the car. In-board of the front sill jacking point there is a curved box section part of the chassis which they recommend.
Have you thought about getting a couple of caravan levelling ramps to help you raise your car enough to get the jack under? I know Alan (Pid) uses them.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAMMA-LE...ervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item1e7a877f06
 
thanks bud just need to find a point on the back some how not so worried about the trolly jack as i can work round that but once i get it off the wheels then the fun begins getting her gleeming all over ready for next year
 
I store my Mustang GT during the winter months and just park it on some carpet tiles (two deep) to prevent tyre flat-spots, fill the fuel-tank to the brim to prevent condensation forming in the tank and connect a battery trickle-charger to prevent the battery dying.
Cover it with sheets and check it once a month to make sure it's not been stolen.
If the garage is dry there won't be any rust if you put it away dry in the first place.

Regardless of how much we love our Cougars, they're just a 13-year old sub-£1,000 car to everyone else, so it's best not to get too precious about it.
 
To be honest with you, I only use my Coug a few times a year and spends the rest of her time under her "Stormforce" cover sat on my driveway (until I clear all the crud out of my garage). I do take her out for the odd blast every now and again, but only if it's dry. She's just passed her MOT with flying colours - no advisories. So, I think if your going to sit yours under a cover for a long period, I don't think it would hurt. My coug only did 1400 miles in from the last MOT to this one, this month. I don't sit it on axle stands and don't use a trickle charger either (although I do start her every couple of weeks or so, to keep her charged) and honestly, she's absolutely fine.
 
she aint on axle stands yet just been keeping her turned over yes my fuel costs have more than halfed but if i had the choice i would be running around in my cat at the moment rather than a hair dryer
i miss that roar the sooner she is back on the road better
every one has something in there life they have as a hobby mine being my cat dont drink, dont smoke and it gets me out the house with my sons being able to spend some father son time so yes the cat is very important to me, my kids love the car to my eldest son keeps bragging about it at school i remember one parents night the teacher asking me what the cat was
 
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