Hey
looking at shedding our beetle for at least a few years maby longer depending on cash.
What should i be doing and not doing for storage?

Motor is not running and will be coming out in the long term.
cheers
Deon

i will look after it for you you like baja's right ?

Haha yeah! I think i will be right!

Plus there is never room in your shed

Engine storage needs to be done right.

What i find, is when good motors are stored a long time, valves can be held partially open, allowing humidity, condensation, bugs and all sorts of foreign matter in, and it can bugger it bigtime (having to pull down the heads/bores/pistons. When moisture gets in, the white chalky mess from the aluminium corrosion is horrible, such that when you turn the motor later down the track, it just scores and scratches the bores EEK! Springs can also loose tension when held in compression for long durations of time.

Ideal thing is to pop off both tappet covers and adjust the valves such that every valve is closed so its sealed shut. In addition, i have heard that pouring oil to completely fill the engine case will prevent engine internals being exposed to air, moisture, condensation etc. This won't work for a normal vw engine as with the oil sling at the front it'll pour out at that height unless you have a sand seal.

Removing the engine out of storage is another thing. The bores will be fairly dry assuming a long storage period. I'd suggest pouring a bit of oil through each spark plug hole to lube the bores to prevent scoring, prior to turning over by hand. This will also assist in building up initial compression for starting again too.

^motor is stuffed and is the reason for taking off the road i was meaning for the car physically..

Sorry should have been more clearer...

clean dry place, put those blue rat baits around as they are the only ones that they actually like to eat. Just a cloth sheet over the top to allow breathing, like a bed sheet or 2.

chuck heaps of desiccant in the cabin and change them as required.


Ideally if you can build a true air tight tent for it, put a dehumidifier in there and fill the thing with argon it will never rust. even Nitrogen will do.

And he thought cash was tight before the argon filled capsule.
Grays auctions have the army selloff at the moment. See if there are any blimps and put it in there.

Seriously though - how about a really good fish oil or penetrol flood in the cavities before it goes in.
And any way possible of keeping dust off it and rats out of it.

Thanks fellas!
I'm near Tamworth nsw so no salt spray/humidity here...but fish oil wouldn't hurt.
wax blocks are what those rats love and they are blue.

Pure cotton sheets are the go..100% cotton wont scratch.My wifes' beetles rear brake lines deteriorated after 7 years in storage ..the inside of the line broke down blocking the lines..this may be an issue depending on how long you rest it up for.Obviously remove tyres and rims and keep in cool dark storage as the rubber can crack,dry out and degrade...some Pirellis are really bad for cracking.

You could put it on blocks to save the tyres.
If blocked of the jacking points then the shocks would be gratefull for it too after a few years would they not?

Container! we sell an airtight 20ft for $1800+ or 40ft for $2800+

Don't forget to drain the fuel or add a preservative as fuel goes off over time

Great advice! had not thought about the fuel..

Was thinking about putting on some old tyres so i can roll it in and out if needed.

esevwbits thanks but it will be in a shed/mancave!

Something like this would be nice for moving it around the shed

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jAB6tEsYpl0/TTTfrZzX2sI/AAAAAAAAAE0/znws_PEW9uE/s16...

Put the "damp rid" containers in the car.........I do that for my cars and you will be surprised how much moisture/water they collect

Its also worth spraying 'armourall' on all the rubbers and letting it soak in.

Off topic a bit but we dont get a lot of domestic type mice and rats but we get these type, they walk past bread to get to fruit... and can jump..

http://www.oceanwideimages.com/images/10509/large/spinifex-hopping-mouse-24T5...

back all the brakes off, dont put hand brake on. leave it on axle stands. make a schedule to clean, run remember you own it ;-)

get a cat, and dont feed him too well.

Just for those reading, I stored my cars for a year whilst I was away in Ireland. Got some fogging oil, the stuff they use on jet-ski's to preserve the engines whilst in storage. You start the engine, spray the fogging oil in the carb until the engine cuts out. It coats all the internals with an oily film to stop corrosion. Just change your oil before you restart the engine and your done.

Cheers

Steve