VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Protecting Your Investment

I am working on a 1930 four door, and I have a question on the best method of maintaining you vehicle while in storage and under reconstruction. :confused: Is there any rule of thumb on keeping your car mechanically sound during this time.
I start my car every few weeks, but don't drive it because it is on wheel dollies for manageability within the garage. It has not been on a road trip in over a year. Anyone have recommendations on fuel stabilization, cranking and idle running precautions? Should I just take it out and drive it around the block monthly? What do the experts out there think?

I am no expert but I start our 1919, 1923 and the 1930 sedan about every other month. the way I do it is start one of them and let the car get warm bring it down to idle speed and shut it off in about 30 minutes. I do drive the 490 every couple of months but the other two have not been out in quite a while, infact the 1923 I ran it out of gas the last time that I ran it. the other thing I do is put the trickel charger on the battery about a day before I start the car and in that way I do not run the battery down. In the case of the 1930 I unscrew the vacuum line out of the manifold ahd pore some gas down it to help it start, but the other two are gravity feed so I just turn on the gas line shut off and I have gas at the carb.

What about your gas tank do you keep them completely filled to prevent moisture? (Your 1923 being the exception!!!) I live in L.A. (Lower Alabama) and moisture is a problem. Are you worried about the mechanicals: ie, the wheel spindles, rear end, transmission etc. when they have not has there good old juices stirred up?

I would keep the gas tank full.

Grinch, I have been told to put the cars in gear and move them a little bit back and forth when I warm them up every now & then, this is to keep everything lubed and to keep rust off of moving parts, etc and to have the tires sitting on a different spot when finished.

Don't know if this is necessary; what do you guys think?

PS, also told to disconnect the battery in-between the start-ups...

Gator, I never heard about moving the car back and forth it does not sound like a bad idea if you have the room. And about the gas tank being full I have heard about that, and that is what I did with all three of the cars but I have run them all out of gas at one time or another sinse I do not have the time to drive them as I would like to. In fact I have more hours on the new engine and transmission in the 1923 than I have miles and that is not good at all, About disconnecting the battery I do not do that because it is a hassel in the 490 and the 1923 they do not have an inspection plate above the battery like the 1930, I have disconnected the battery cable on the 1930 at times but I still have put it on the trickle chargera day before starting. Our lives are so busy these days that when there is an extra minute to take one of the cars out something always gets in the way.

I hear you about being busy...I am going to try and not be so busy in the future so I can enjoy the cars...gotta get to be my turn sometime...priorities change...

You guys just reminded me that I promised myself months ago that I'd get to the garage and clean off all those spider webs!!! My 32 looks like it's tied down to the garage floor!

Priorities do change when you still have to work and raise a family.

As for those battery problems, I'm looking for a good vender that will ship me a 6v battery without havimg to pay more for s/h than the battery is worth!

Also, do you guys think that a higher dose of anti-freeze is better if the car sits for long periods of time? I usually do not mix it with water.

:( Unfortunately I would think that a lot of cars are in need of a good de-webbing and dusting. :( That was the case when I purchased my car from an estate. It had a new paint job (under a deep layer of dust) with new tires, fifteen years before I bought it. When I got it running and drove it I could feel the flat spots on the tires. Yes, I do think it is a good thing to roll the tires to a new position. I don't know if the flat spots will round out. :cool2:

There are some experts on anti-freeze on Chatter that know a lot about the topic, hope they see your question, RGwiz.

I have had flat spots round out, but 15 years is a long time...

Better leave my spider webs alone, maybe they will help hold everything down until hurricane season is over...

Thanks for the info.
Gator, I think those webs are stonger than official tie downs! Thank God, you Floridians may just get a little breeze this time.
I did get to the garage yesterday and pushed the 32 out into the sunshine after I dusted her off. I always make sure to push it back in a different spot so I don't flat spot the tires.
I also made sure to put my new used rumble lid right in front of my toolbox, so I'm forced to work on it.

Hope to be working on my '32 soon too...God willin' and the creek don't rise...

About parking our cars, Well our 1923 was parked in 1932 in a shed in southern california and who ever did it they put a lot of thought into it, they drained the radiator, engine, transmission, rearend and the gas tank why they did this is unclear to me the odometer has 66000 on it and from all indications that is the orgional miles the car had 1932 California plates on it when we bought it. The one thing that was the most interesting about her was it had what I call depression recaps it had larger tires with the beed cut off slipped over the bald 30x3 1/2 tired. I have driven her on two all California tours and is a fun car to drive as is, and I have no intentions on doing a restoration on her. I did drop a rod on the second all California meet about a half of a mile from the lunch stop at Kings canyon the elevation there is about 67oo feet so now she has a rebuilt engine, cone clutch, transmission and a new radiator along with rebuilding the starter, generator water pump rebushed the clutch and brake petal shaft just like new along with polishing the underside of the hood, fire wall and detailing the copper gas and oil lines. One last thing that I did do was add a Boyce steering colum temperature gage to keep track of the tempiture and no holes were drilled for instalation. I know that this is not what we are discussing but I thought that I would share our little story we bought her in fall of 1983.

Well I hope I have done enough to protect my investment. It appears that IVAN is taking aim at mine. Had to board up the storage shed that contains my 1930. It is going to be nerve racking watching this storm. The building is supposed to withstand a wind load in excess of 130 mph winds. I hope and pray everyone along the gulf coast are taking precautions. Keep us all in your prayers.

Do not use 100% antifreeze. The max should be about 70% but that is for Alaska, International Falls Minn., ND, Cut Bank Montana etc. For the rest of us 33-50% is the best concentration. I could write pages on why but will spare y'all the dissertation.

chip,

you've written some very good, informative posts on coolant...since 30usa1 might be busy with the storm, I dug one up and linked it here:

coolant


epi

Thanks Chip!
No less than 30% and not more than 50% antifreeze. If I read those old posts of your's correctly, it's because in older engines machining and age mean that some parts just don't fit together like today's engines. Because of this seepage can enter the crankcase anywere and cause the oil to loose viscosity. I keep a keen eye out for that tan creme foam in the oil.
3USA1, Good luck with Ivan! We here up north will keep you folks in our prayers.

My wish would be for Ivan to just die in the gulf; no one deserves to be hit by him...

OR

Get a couple of Chevy powered boats (502's) out there and haul Ivan's butt back to where he came from...


The '32 stored in '32 sounds like someone lost their job or worse during the great depression...if the car could talk sounds like it would have a sad story to tell, IMHO.
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What is the best trickle charger to use? I don't want to overcharge and I don't want a dead battery either.

Gee......that's better then what I was think'in.....a pea shooter.....(with no no pea of course, LOL)

or under the house (or in the tub) with several 12 packs?

I will get back with you on the brand of Chargers that I have. Good luck with waiting out the storm, Take care

Missed us here but I feel for the folks on the northern coast of the gulf...60 dead before hitting the U.S., 2 dead here even before landfall...this is gonna be real, real bad...

The news is not good from Mobile. Let's all hope that 30USA1 is OK.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help out.

Ditto...

IVAN has passed. All is well here in Mobile, Al.
No damage to house or storage building for the car. We have a lot of trees down and debris, but overall we faired well. Pensacola and points inland north did not fair as well. This will be a storm to remember. Will not stay for the next one. Thanks for all your support. Will try to get on later. Need to unplug computer and get the electric fry pan plugged in.

Thanks