I was wondering what is the method that you guys like, and if you chosse jack stands where do you place them? thanks alot its for the Z28 in my sig.

 

I would put jack stands under the rear axle tubes next to lower control arms and two at the bottom of the frame in the front.how long are you storing it?

 

Not sure I dont have time to use it often so its in the garage most of the time. Its up for sale now but it may sit for years. I am not sure if I want the suspension to hang or not.

 

Might also want to support the front K-member if you notice the front dipping down after it contacts the jack stands.

 

My car sits on 4 jackstands in the off season. If it sits for longer than 2 weeks during the summer, the diff is on jackstands just to keep the slicks off the pavement. Just make sure to check the tire pressures before you take it off the jackstands.

 

DO NOT STORE THE CAR ON JACK STANDS!!! the car was designed to sit on the wheels, thats it, lifting it up at other points is fine for short periods of time, but thats it, for anything more than a couple of days leave it on the wheels, they wont dry rot or get flat spots for 6 months to a year, just do everything else needed to store the car but leave it on the tires

 

???

How do you figure that? What does sitting on tires or sitting on jackstands have to do with how the car is designed? My rear jackstands are under the axle so the suspension is still under compression. The front jackstands are under the control arms so the springs are still under compression.

For long term storage, you're even better off suspending the suspension so that there's no weight on the springs. Compressed springs over time will lose their tension. For long term storage, you should even back off all the rockers so all the valve springs are uncompressed. Over the winter, I still fire my engine up occasionally to work the valve springs and they don't stay in a single position all winter.

 

when they designed the springs they didnt say "these springs will work good, oh, but you have to let the wheels hang for a couple of months every now and they so they dont stay compressed"

for what youre doing, its fine, but you shouldnt place jack stands under the subframe for storage... i do agree with starting the engine every month or so to let the engine warm up

 

Doesn't matter where you put the jackstands, it's getting the tires off the ground that counts.

Starting it up every month is much worse than not starting it through the time of storage.

 

so it's a bad idea to start it during storage?

 

It's a bad idea to start it occasionally during storage.

 

Only if it's for a brief period of time. I wait for good weather so I can open the garage doors. When I fire my engine up during the winter, I run it long enough to get the engine/oil hot before shutting it down. That helps burn off the condensation in the crankcase. I also have an electric vaccum pump to remove even more condensation from the crankcase after the engine has been shut off and is cooling back down.

If starting it up regularly isn't possible or practical, you're better off just backing off all the rockers to take the pressure off the valve springs. Some situations may be more difficult to remove the rocker covers than simply firing the engine up. For the typical stock type valve springs, it's not a huge issue. When you have aftermarket valve springs with high spring pressures, it is more recommended to save the spring pressure life. My valve springs have over 200# on the seat. Many OEM SBC springs barely have that much pressure when they're open.

 

I would not store it on jackstands. Axle tubes were not designed to have their weight on them for long periods nor is the sheetmetal unibody going to hold up. The only worry is flat spotting the tires. But f the tires are getting close to the 4 year old mark, then they need to replaced soon anyway.

When you start the car, be sure itcomes up to operating temp for at least 15 minutes to burn off the moisture in the fluids and in the exhaust. Change the oil to synthetic. Convential oil can slowly leech the copper out of the engine bearings turning them black.

 

Actually axle tubes are designed to hold the weight of the car. Where do you think the spring mounts are welded?

 

My car was stored most of the time (3 years) off jack stands (about 2 months on), my suspension is still in awesome condition (New when stored). My brother stored his camaro for 2 years on jack stands, his suspension is now shot, bounces everywhere compared to mine (Springs and shocks are bad). So I have come to the conclusion that its best to keep the car on its suspension, since it "blows" quicker having it suspended, or at least that's what I found out comparing mine and my brothers storage ways.

As far as I can see though, there really is no bad way of storing a car, up in the air or not, but make sure you put some Stabil in that gas tank and make sure the tank is full or you can easily get water in the tank when the car is sitting for some time. My brother has a leak in his gas tank and stored it over winter with maybe 5 gallons in it (most that was allowed before the tank started leaking due to the hole), and I bet there was some water in his tank upon starting it up this Spring. But its running and driving so...

P.S. My brothers suspension has worked back into being semi good (if i push the car down in the front or back the car only rocks up then settles back to its default state, to me that means suspension is good if it doesn't bounce back down), but not as good as mine in the way I stored my car.

-Take care, happy storing, glad to finally get mine out of storage.

 

Anyother views?

 

Its not bad for the motor as long as it gets to operating temp and stays there for a little while. If you dont let it get to operating temp the engine will build up condensation inside the motor on the cylinder walls and in the intake causing parts to rust and water in oil.

Once your hard parts are up to temp then the condensation will evaporate in the warm engine when it is shut off and not cause water problems.

I would not have a problem putting the diff on jack stands I would be more concerned of leaving them on the frame. Mostly because these cars are ~20 years old and metal becomes fatigue after flexing causing it to become weaker, not to the point where the car will fall apart but enough so that the unibody will start to distort if not stored right.

If your concerned with flat spots the best thing you can do is pump the tire up to its max inflation and maintain it thru the storage time. On slicks that is a completely different story but street tires they will be fine.

 

I stored mine on jackstands and loaded the suspension. Worked great and no problems. A really good idea is to get some rubber caps for your jack stands when they will touch your car. Small vibrations in the Earth actually will tear up the metal little by little. You may not notice it now but it will wear off paint and eventually start messing up the metal.

Also, I stored my Camaro on the ground for almost two months at 34 psi in the tires and now I have some flat spots. I didnt think the tires were that old but they work fine and have lots of tread left. Maybe I should air them up to almost 40 and drive them on the highway. That might straighten them out?

 

gotta ask, is it better for coolant or water to be in the radiator when a car is in storage for several years? i was told by my neighbor (drag racer/mechanic) that its best while sitting for a car to have water in the rad other then coolant because the coolant would rust the insides of the rar. i dont understand though as i would think coolant would protect the insides from rusting better. thoughts?

 

if you have straight water in the cooling system, it will freeze in the winter.

probably better to have nothing in the system then just water

as for the car on jackstands. if the rear is on jack stands, with the stands under the control arm mounts that would be fine. just dont support the car by the center of the diff for that long span of time.

for the front, i would just put the jack under the outerside(wheel side) of the spring bucket on the a-arms. the springs are still loaded, but its better than letting them relax and pull on the strut for the time its stored

 

Lotta misinformation here. Storing the car on jackstands via the rear axle and control arms is no different on your suspension/frame/sheetmetal/etc than sitting on the tires. Your rubber is the only thing that'll know the difference. Storing it on other components (ie frame rails) so the suspension is unloaded is bad for your shocks but good for your springs. Do the folks here saying springs last longer in a loaded state realize what state they are sitting on the shelf in the store? An unloaded spring will last much longer because there's no stress on it. Shocks, on the other hand, will last longest in storage when they are kept compressed around the "stock" ride height in the case of OEM shocks, or whatever height they were designed for with aftermarket stuff.

 

spend $50 at the junk yard for 4 tires n rims that will fit and store it on them, the only problem with storing a car sitting on all 4 is it often flat spots the tires and they go bad.

If you used tires ya don't give a crap about it can sit there long as you like.


I would not start it, unless it can run for alteast 20 mins or longer.

ID also hose down things like brake lines n fuel lines under it with WD-40 when ya visit.

Have had more of them go bad from a car sitting just a few months then constant driving. Dunno why, they seem to rust quicker when sitting.

Though just my 2cents

 

If things underneath seem to rust quicker in storage it could be because you are storing in an unheated area over concrete. Temp changes can cause the concrete to "sweat". This causes high humidity under the car and condensation to form on undercarrage parts. a simple fix is to put a layer of heavy plastic film over the concrete and then a layer of at least 1/2" plywood under the entire car. Four sheets works well. Works well for me.

 

I have no such luck, all my storage and wrenching is done outside under the stars.........

 

I store in a garage/barn. Here is my process.

Step 1) Lay poly out on garage floor

Step 2) Lay down some plywood on the plastic

Step 3) Swap out Good wheels for junk yard ones

Step 4) Store good wheels where they are not in contact with concrete

Step 5) Battery on tender

Step 6) Rodent traps. trapSSSSSSSSSS.....

Step 7) Wait for the good weather to return!

I put the battery on a tender and rodent traps in the garage.

Then I begin longing for good T-Top weather...

 

Mechanical things like to be used. The less they're used the less well they work. $.02 of my 20 years AF maintenance experience. Applies really well to Aircraft we call hangar queens. They polish them all up for shows and DV visits and whatnot, but when you take them out to fly them they break and break hard.