My 911 is going to sit for a year. A question.

Hello all, Happy New Year! Hi Sherwood!

Because I will need all of my spare time working on my new/old house for about a year my 911 is going to sit in my heated garage. The reason I say sit is because I have to replace the front pan. It is rusted out and the car cannot be driven. So the 911 goes on the back burner. I plan to replace the pan myself when I finish the house. I'm experienced in this type of work.

Anyhew, my main concern is the engine. Do I start it and run it once a week or just leave it alone?

Thanks and Best Regards..............Edmond......

Yeah, HNY to you too.

Of the two choices, I'd suggest running the engine every once in awhile. But you should get the temperature up to normal op. range before shutting down. I'd also add some gas stabilizer to keep the old fuel from evolving into something else in the tank. If you have carbs, it also might be a good idea to switch off the fuel pump and run the engine until the carbs are dry so the fuel doesn't gum up the passages (not sure about damage to a MFI pump that runs w/o fuel). Draining fuel is probably less important if you're running it periodically, but suggested if it's going to sit.

If you're storing it, I would drain the fuel from the fuel system, maybe run some Marvel Mystery oil into the last of the fuel supply before shut down. Also squirt some oil into each cylinder and make sure the spark plug threads are coated (lightly) with anti-seize (aluminum + steel = electrolysis). Remove the battery and/or connect a low current charger/maintainer on it. Crank the engine every so often. Keep the mice out if you can.

Raise the tires off the ground so they don't flat spot. Wax the Fuchs so they don't tarnish. I've found that motorcycle chain lube in a spray can works well to preserve bare metal - sorta like cosmoline. The solvent carrier evaporates and leaves behind a semi-hard coating of lubricant. Wheel covers might keep feline urine off too - they should bottle it as an anodize remover.

Awhile back, I met this guy who said he sprays chlordane in his garage to eliminate spiders and webs. Duh, no surprise it works. Once used to kill termites, it's been banned as it's a cancer-causing material (be aware of web-free garages). As you can tell, I'm digging deep for preservation techniques.

I'm sure others might have some more thoughts on this.

Sherwood

Thank you for the good advice Sherwood!


I will fire it up once a week, back it out of the garage, and bring the engine up to operating temperature.


Best Regards, Edmond

I agree it's best to run up to temp periodically. Even better to drive around a bit (as long as there's no salt around). Maybe once a month?

My car is in heated storage now, I hooked up a battery tender. Great product! Automatically monitors battery charge level and slowly charges only when needed.

batterytender.com