Re: [DML] Storage (plus fuel accumulator question)

[Mike Substelny <msubstel@xxxx>]

David Swingle wrote:

> Raising the car on jackstands:
> PRO - better for the tires, and possibly the shocks (less pressure being
> held, these are gas shocks) but see comment on shock bushings.
> CON - You have the suspension bushings in a "twist" mode for a long time. If
> the suspension was assembled properly, the bushings are set for "no twist"
> with the car on the ground. Also take a look at the upper bushing on the
> shock absorbers with car jacked up sometime.

Flat spots on good, expensive tires are a worry. For those with the luxury of
two sets of rims, the best plan might be to store their DeLorean on an old set
of tires, and put the good ones back on in the spring.

Personally, I do not mind leaving the car's weight on the shock absorbers and
springs, since millions of cars that are not put away for the winter seem to
fare just fine. Besides, the weight of an empty DeLorean is a much lighter load
than a DeLorean with two passengers hitting a bump in the road.


> PERIODIC STARTING:
> PRO - Gets the fluids circulated
> CON - Never runs the engine under load, parts such as the transmission will
> never reach operating temp without driving the car. Running it in place at
> idle 10 minutes once a month is probably worse than not running it at all.
> You'll end up with a muffler full of water, among other things.

I have heard that periodic starting is a good idea, made even better if you
crank the engine for a few minutes before starting. The theory is that the low
RPM cranking prior to starting circulates some oil onto otherwise dry engine
parts without the furious load of a running engine. In stock DeLoreans this is
easy to do, thanks to the inertia switch.

QUESTION FOR EXPERTS:
If this is true, it seems I would prefer to store my DeLorean with the fuel
accumulator depressurized. The simple solution is to shut the car off using the
inertia switch instead of the key. In theory that would leave the spring in the
accumulator uncompressed all winter, and the fuel system depressurized.

Is this a good idea?

Would this extend the life of the accumulator as well as make it easier to
circulate oil in a dry engine, or might it be harmful to the accumulator,
engine, or both?


> DOORS:
> Hers's one no one says much about. The absolute best thing to do with the
> DeLorean in this area would be to store the car with the doors OPEN. This
> releases most of the tension from the torsion bar, releases the tension from
> the door struts, and releases the tension from the door seals. Of course NO
> ONE does this,

Actually, I did do it last winter. Starting with roughly equal doors, I left my
driver's door open and my passenger door closed all winter. By spring, my
passenger's door was a slightly but noticeably slower to open than my driver's
door.

However, my next door neighbor teased me so much about the risk of
squirrels/skunks/water buffalo spending their winter in my DeLorean that I
probably will not repeat the experiment.

- Mike Substelny
DeLorean garaged but not yet in storage, Sta-Bil purchased, but still hoping for
one more nice day on the North Coast.