The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Re: Preparing your truck for winter

It' been in the 40's the past few mornings, I'm loving it 😍

40’s in Georgia??? We’ve had a few nights like that in Illinois, but day time is mid to upper 60’s so I’m still sanding fenders and hoping to get them painted, maybe even the outside sides of the box so I can put fenders back on permanently.

Winter here is a GOD given gift of a glorious season, powdered sunshine, quiet nights, oh, and good exercise with a shovel.

Amen to that! It was also a good opportunity for us to get farm equipment maintenance done. In between "seasons" of harvesting and planting.

Time to bump up this thread since we put up a new News Corner promo.

So, who's got snow/super cold so far? We had a "light frost" warning Thursday night.

No preparation needed for any vehicles in Atlanta. It got down to 43 last night but it's back in the 60s now. It'll be in the 70s in a couple days.

Ran some errands in Ol' Roy this morning and closed the cowl vent and turned on the heater. That's about as far as winter prep goes.

We had our first snow a couple days ago, and low temps have been in the high 20's, but getting up above freezing during the day. My winter prep, like last winter was brushing the snow off the cover on the truck. No worries about antifreeze, etc., because the engine is still in the garage. I may wait till spring to install it.

Old Blue parked for the winter.
Had some snow that melted in a few hours here, snow in the hill above 3,000 ft. but warming up today

Blue Mts of N.E. Oregon

65 and sunny today in Provo. Took the flat bed trailer to the car wash and gave it a good cleaning. I'll treat the wood tomorrow and it'll be good for the winter. Sometimes I add a blue trap from Harbor Freight for extra protection from snow. Also lowered the mower down one click and ran it across the lawn for the last time this season - hopefully! Then broke out the snowblower just to make sure it runs - success! Got to take advantage of these mild days.

I have completed winter preparations for Sweet Pea, 1950 3100.
Filled the gas tank.
Checked the oil, coolant, and brake fluid levels.
Greased the chassis.
I am now ready to drive the snot out of it throughout the winter.

Snow? What snow? We’ve had 3 dry winters in a row here in Wisconsin. Rivers and small lakes are low, creeks a mere trickle , Lake Michigan water level dropping like someone pulled the plug.
We NEED a big snow winter , need it dearly.
The smart guys are leaning towards la ‘Nina , below normal temps w/ above normal precipitation - exact what we need. Let the snow accumulate all winter long then get a good spring thaw run-off to fill the rivers ; that is how you reverse the decline of Great Lakes water levels.

Oh yes … winterizing the Stovebolt? When the proper time comes I will make the fall pilgrimage to the nicely heated boat shed. The proper time is a day or 2 ahead of the salt/ brine trucks. The timing of that gets more difficult each year as our municipality gets more “eager” each year , hosing the streets with brine days ahead of a forecast of a slight chance of a stray flurry.

Don’t get me started…

Me too Carl. The only winter related issues that I refrain from driving in is the rain and since it doesn't rain all that much here, my truck is very happy to stay under the truck tent while the nasty wet weather goes thru.

I daily drive my 51 year round. Only leave it at home when it snows. 2wd LS swapped manual trans can get hairy on snowy roads!

I’ll bet it does get hairy.
I got caught out in the rain with my ‘51 3100 modified for the first time recently ;
the V8 automatic w/ positraction and wide rear tires made for very skittish turns.

But then , we seasoned veteran car guys all learned to drive manual transmission and rear wheel drive , making us much better drivers than today’s youth , plain and simple.

Due to an unfortunate turn of events , my ‘54 3100 (modified, 283) will not be spending the winter in the nice warm boat shed this year as it has since the build. No pictures of the truck surrounded by interesting boats, no smug comments from me about basking in the luxury of a building with floor heat, no happy leisurely winter projects. I am relegated to shoehorning the truck into my own garage alongside the family car.
I am concerned that the coming and going of the other vehicle, which will bring with it snow moisture and salt laden glop, will cause light surface rust on the undercarriage of my pampered ‘54; it is still really clean under there due to rain avoidance and heated indoor winter storage. Not much I can do about that I guess.
My question, now that I am finishing whining, is this: would it be beneficial to start the engine on the occasional nice winter day, pull the truck out of the garage and let it run till the engine is at operational temperature, warm it up and cook out any moisture periodically? Or am I better off parking it for the duration, covered in sheets, total hibernation?

Advice appreciated,
Charles

I'd park the new car in the driveway and park the truck dead center in the garage so you can work on it. Space heaters can warm up a garage pretty well.

I'd start the truck up weekly and let it run for 40-60 minutes. If there wasn't snow on the roads, I'd drive it somewhere.

When the truck was in the heated garage, did you go over there and start it up every week? Heated garage or freezing cold garage, the truck doesn't know the difference.

I’m no expert, but I think a battery maintainer, add some Stabil to the gas and total hibernation is what I’d do.

At least it’s inside out of the elements.

John

I keep Battery Tenders on every vehicle I own at all times. Batteries are always at full strength and last a lot longer. The Galaxie's Motorcraft battery lasted over 10 years.

Charles - If you do decide to put it in hibernation, be sure whatever you cover it with can "breath". Don't want to trap any moisture/condensation which will cause numerous problems. Also may want to consider some pest management devices. Mice can get in where you least expect them and they will want to build nests and eat lots of stuff you don't want them near.

You might consider doing a boat motor style winterization. Get it up to running temp, change the oil (the old stuff may be slightly acidic), fog all the cylinders with fogging oil, then plug the exhaust and intake. Also fill the gas tank to the very top and add some Stabil Storage treatment. Some moth balls are supposed to keep rodents away from (haven’t tried that myself).

I've used a Battery Tender in the past, but you need to be careful. I had a vented battery and when I tried to start it months later, the battery blew up - big hole in the side. I guess the acid slowly vented out and it was only about half full. When I tried to start it, I'm guessing the air gas ignited.

make sure battery is charged. Sta-bil. Drive it when you can and the roads are dry. You only live once.
If you use a battery charger, disconnect the battery leads. If you have a HEI some ignition modules
won`t block the charge and fry the module. A good quality IM one wont but I don`t take chances.

Checking the water level in all the cells should be regular battery maintenance whether a battery maintainer is used or not.

Check antifreeze make sure not going to freeze.

If you are not going to be able to take the truck out on the road and make the engine do some serious work, I wouldn't start the engine at all. Doing so will only introduce unburned fuel into the crankcase which will dilute the oil every time you start it. Driving the truck on the road vigorously will prevent this from happening.

I take my old cars to gas station and fillip with non ethanol gas put in the building disconnect the battery and cover up.my 72 Monte Carlo has been restored since 1995 and never had any problems. Only reason to start any of the old ones is if I have any thing that needs attention before spring.

I agree with some of the other comments, don't start it unless you can drive it. Use Sta-Bil or similar in the gas on the last drive to ensure that the treated gas is in the complete fuel system.

My routine is to add Stabile to the tank and fill it prior to parking for the winter. I should pull the fuel pump fuse (I do not have a mechanical pump) and run the engine to empty out the carburetor but I haven't done that yet (my bad).

My truck shares space with my daily driver and a tractor/snow blower which bring in a lot of moisture but I keep the garage heated to 50 degrees for everything to thaw/melt and a reasonable temperature to work if needed.

Over the 4 years of my build project the truck has been in a lot of different stages of rust protection and I have not noted any surface rust development.

Since last year, all of the gas sold here has ethanol in it. (yes, even premium) So, I put gas treatment in at every fill up; no need to do anything special for Winter.

The truck hasn't been driven for a couple of weeks now and probably won't be driven until February. I will charge the battery at least once a month. It's in a dry, but unheated garage.

Last February, when I started it up, it ran a bit rough for a minute or so but it quickly settled down.

There it is. Thank you Gord!!!!!!!! With that post thats all that needs to be said.

Otto -
Leaving the wife car outside all winter is not an option. I’m 74 & retired, she’s 63 & still working. My wife is patient and tolerant about the hot rod, gun stuff , surfing , golf … pretty darned good to me in all ways. Fair is fair ; there are limits.

Elsewhere , I’ll consider a battery tender. Either that or periodic charge. I usually disconnect the negative clamp ; I should probably drop both. I’ll cover with cotton sheets, not plastic or tarps. Thanks for the reminder about critter prevention , I once had mice move into my Dodge surf van in the winter resulting in wiring nightmares. Sta-bil has been added. My engine doesn’t know that ethanol exists. (I’ll leave it go at that …) I don’t have an electric fuel pump ; in Sta-bil we’ll trust. I did an oil & filter change a month ago so I’m good in that department. I know how to pickle a marine engine. Fogging isn’t a bad idea , but it’s too late for me as I wedged the truck stern first into its winter space yesterday and I don’t want to gas out the compartment. The general consensus suggests that there’s nothing to gain from occasional running of the 283 so I’ll let it sleep. I’m not keen on winter driving due to lots of salt and brine. I will double check antifreeze integrity ; I think it was good at the oil change.

That pretty well covers it I guess. I do appreciate all the feedback. It’s been a long time since I stored a boat or my hot rod anywhere other than a heated building; it’s a reality check I didn’t need at this point in my life. Snowing all day & into the night…

Harrumph!
‘Ski

Good call on the sheets or if you can find a cheep car cover .The tarps will blow in the wind and scratch the paint . It would be nice to have a cover over the sheets to keep it dry .I purchased a car shelter years ago to put my truck in .It worked okay but you have to keep the snow off the roof as it will collapse from the weight .luckily my truck was not damaged.

I once kept a bone stock '52 3100 outside for 18 years and never touched it.
I found this here site and decided that it was time to touch it.
I put 5 gallons of gas in it, put a new 6 volt battery in it and tried to start it but it would not fire.
I burnished the points and tried it again and it fired up as soon as the fuel pump got gas to the carburetor and purred like a kitten just like it did 18 years prior.
That's 18 winters of zero "winter preparation". Do I recommend that? No. Just suggesting that it isn't the end of the world if you don't.

Kevin- fortunately I’m able to stuff the truck into my garage along with the wife car after much rearranging and consolidating. Up till this year I’ve been in a heated boat shed where I could hang out and work on the ‘54 in a leisurely fashion. The sheets are only dust covers.

We saved our really warn out comforters for John's use (sometimes for working under the truck). I picked up a few table covers from Walmart as they are only $1.00 each.

Do you have a Freecycle near you? We have gotten and given tons of stuff through this group.

Premium fuel often has a higher ethanol content than regular 87 because ethanol is used as an octane booster by the refineries.

If the pump is placarded “CONTAINS NO ETHANOL” ; can I take that to mean what it says ? I would think so.
The price is significantly higher than the other blends containing corn water , so I assume I’m paying extra for the non-subsidized privilege of avoiding the corn.

Around here we have "Rec" or recreation gas, no alcohol. I don't use it for any of my toys, jet skis, boat, yard equipment, Harley, Vette, '57 truck all run on 87 10% ethanol. I ain't paying $1.00 more per gallon when I haven't had trouble with regular gas. I do use Sta-Bil when storing something.

I’d guess the Rec gas is higher priced because it is not “watered” down 10%. More bang for you buck so to speak!
I’m with 78buckshot, burn 87 and use Sta-bil quite often in my ‘57 with rebuilt 350, and all mowers, snowblowers, power washers.

Ol' Roy runs exclusively on 87 E-10 since the get go with no problems Rebuilt carb with standard black accelerator pump works fine, too.

All outdoor equipment around here uses the same thing, also without adverse effects.

Ethanol was mandated in Atlanta in 2007 and aside from the original fuel pump in The Bismarck, nothing else has been damaged by it since.