It's going to be darn near 40 degrees this weekend for the first time in months so its time to get my car going again. Last September I put in around 5-10 gallons of 93 and never added a fuel stabilizer. The car has been sitting outside covered and I removed the carb and plugged the line if that matters. Would it be turned to "water" by now? Should I even risk it and just siphon the tank? Any input is appreciated

 

6 months with 93, I wouldn't be scared to run it. the problem is the ethanol. It is bad for everything. I would add a can of B-12 (For the moisture) to the tank and fill it up. You should be fine.

 

How long? I'm about to find out. My '86 hasn't been on the road since a few miles of run in the parade on July 4, 2008. It's been sitting in the heated garage under cover since then. On occasion I have started it and allowed it ti reach operating temperature, and even driven it around the garage a bit. It still has 3/4 tank of fuel, with Sta-Bil. It now has active antique vehicle plates, insurance, and is waiting for the first good rains to wash Illinois' State Mineral off the roadways before it goes out. The first thing I will do is top it off with the lowest octane fuel I can find to help re-suspend all the junk in the tank (Yes, I have a supply of new filters).

I'll report the results, but every time I start and run it to temperature it does just fine, so I suspect the return line fuel flow is helping keep it mixed and the Sta-Bil is doing its job. Maybe I can get the odometer to crack 50K this year.

BTW - It has had E-10 since Day One, and I'm not the least bit concerned. It absorbs moisture, and if the tank and fuel system are sealed as they should be, I wouldn't anticipate problems.

 

6 months is nothing.
I inherited an old junk 1974 Corvette several years ago that had sat outside for 4 years without being started. The engine was known to be on its last leg, oil burner, so I wasn't concerned about doing any damage. I added 5 gal of fresh 87 octane E10 to the ~1/4 tank of 4-yr old stuff. I dumped a thimble of fuel into the primary barrels and it started after 10 sec of cranking and pumping the accelerator. I drove it all that winter as a beater, never wound up touching the engine or carb before I sold it!

 

Agreed; should last a few years.

You shouldn't have to do anything special at all about it. The main thing would be, make sure the engine starts up quick when you're ready for it to; whirl it over a coupla revs to get oil into it, maybe 10-15 seconds with a good hot battery; then dump an ounce or 2 of fuel down into the intake and hit the key. The car will forget that it hasn't run for awhile, within just a few seconds. Their memory of things like that is REAL short.

 

THIS is best way to store a car long term, the heated garage prevents condensation.

 

Well I got it running today. I dumped a can of B-12 into the tank and 2 gallons of fresh 93, poured a little down the primaries and it fired right up. Didn't drive it because of a new problem... there was what looked like transmission fluid pouring out from where the driveshaft goes in as you can kind of see in the video. When I reached down later and got some on my fingers it seemed like oil and sure enough i'm about half way down on the dipstick. This is a fresh engine installed last fall with about 125 miles on it by the way. Also have an exhaust leak between the header and y pipe but i'm not very worried about that right now

 

Having at least a driveshaft yoke installed is necessary to keep the oil in, but I'm sure you remembered that as soon as the puddle appeared.

 

Sorry I should have said that differently, the driveshaft is in and connected. It's almost as if the yoke seal is bad.