On Wednesday, October 12, 2005, at 05:52 PM, Justin Linares wrote:
> As I am new at this and since the short season is now over, I would be
> curious to hear what some of you do to winterize your cars. Since I
> purchased more fuel than I used as I hoped for more chances to race,
> is the fuel still going to be useable next August. Thanks for any
> advise you can give a newbie. I wish I was out learning on the white
> dyno, instead of putting my car up on blocks.
> Thanks-
> Justin Linares
> 3200 A/GCC
I keep our race bikes indoors during the off-season. The temperature
goes as low as low 30s, but not so low that I need to worry about
"antifreeze" for them. I change oil at the end of the season so
whatever gunk/products of combustion/products of wear-and-tear won't
have all winter long to attack the innards.
As for gas/fuel -- unh, I think you'd be wise to drain the race fuel
and run it through the lawnmower/snowthrower rather than think about
keeping it for next season. Lots of the volatiles will evaporate and
make it not-so-good for racing, and some race fuels are pretty
aggressive towards rubber and other things in your fuel system, so
leaving the fancy fuel in there will give the stuff a chance to attack
and dissolve. I don't even keep old gasoline in anything that long --
without at least a good dose of Sta-Bil, and then I run the
Sta-Bil-ised gas out before I do any serious work with the motor (i.e.
riding the Gold Wing, plowing lots of snow with the plow truck at home.
My old Oshkosh seems to thrive on 65-70 octane gas, so I don't worry
so much about that motor. . .). A bonus to using the fuel in yard
equipment: You get that dandy aroma of A8C or Nutec Special 4 while
you're working, and that brings back all those fun memories.
Jon Wennerberg
Seldom Seen Slim Land Speed Racing
Marquette, Michigan
(that's 'way up north)
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