Outside Winter Storage..?

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Toxic'Cuda

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Hello all...

My '68 Cuda is currently inside my garage where it has been, shall we say,.. stuck in limbo when it comes to its restoration. Yes, I know, its sad... but life these days as we all know is quite a B'yatch. I had my garage added to my house a couple of years ago but haven't had any time to electrify it, and finish off the drywall etc... I was contemplating putting my 'Cuda outside as such...

First ~ placing jackstands where their going to need to be for direct placement...
Second ~ placing small 6"x 6" thick carpet taped to the heads of the jackstands...
Third ~ draping a, so-called, Extreme Duty tarp over said carpeted jackstands...
Forth ~ again, placing 6"x 6" carpet above tarp & 'cuda laid to rest on jackstands...
Fifth ~ tarp drawn up the sides of the 'Cuda and grommets stringed together...
Sixth ~ same style Extreme Duty tarp drapped over the 'Cuda, overlapping the lower tarp...
Seventh ~ and again, stringing, or perhaps clip'on bungies going underneath...

My goal is to allow for some air distribution over the winter in hopes of preventing excess condensation building up on my "Primered" "Cuda. And protecting it during the coming winter. Here in New Hampshire its not uncommon to get a foot, and on upwards of 2+ feet from a single storm.

My goal here with this Posting is for thoughts and suggestions? Its mostlikely going to be out there from the end of October to perhaps late February of March... I know I could get the garage finished off a lot earlier if I wanted to, but I don't want to rush, I want to think it out as I'm going along and implementing any ideas along the way. One of which is having a direct Breaker Box 220 circuit to run my Mig Welder, as an example...

Any and All thoughts, Truly Appreciated...

Jim...
 
Tarps and covers can prevent direct rain / snow from hitting it, but they can also hold humidity and condensation in.

You would likely be better off picking one task at a time for the garage and rolling the car out and back in as needed.
 
Did you price a rental unit. My buddy put his Duster in one for storage and had a little room left for some other items. The price around here in Pa isn’t to crazy for one. It might be worth a few phone calls.
 
MICE! will **** your world up! Mouse traps inside and outside.w peanut butter check them every couple of days.
 
Might as well leave the tarps off - when the temperature varies, that's when the condensation will happen and without airflow that moisture has nowhere to evaporate to. Carpet is like a sponge - I wouldn't put it anywhere near metal. Use rubber blocks, or cut some pads of horse stall mats instead.

You could shrink wrap the whole thing after placing a bunch of desiccant inside and it would probably be OK under a tarp. Even then, it'll have to be done while the dew point is relatively low compared to your lowest winter temps and the desiccant will have to be pretty fresh in order to do much good - and the wrapping accomplished soon after the desiccant is opened up inside the car. This still won't do much good for the engine compartment area though!

If you have an area where temps don't vary much (out of the sun, to prevent warm air sucking up moisture that will get wrung out later) and use a double walled 'carport' style fabric shed, it could be OK as well. If you've got a really good spot where temps remain relatively constant, a single wall might be OK. You'll still want to be able to run a fan in there though to exchange air in the event of moisture build-up. Get one which is U-shaped so that any potential condensation can run down the sides of the cover rather than drip on your car. There's several out there which can withstand a couple feet of snow. If in doubt, reinforce it some.

If tarps are the only thing in the budget, I'd keep the car in the garage and tarp it while you do your projects around the car.
 
You can buy a relitively cheap portable carport thing from harbor freight. With that much snow you would need to reinforce it, but IMHO that would be better than tarps.
 
Hello All & Thanks...

I really do appreciate all the suggestions. My issue with leaving it in the garage as I attempt to finish the garage is that the garage isn't all that huge, and working around everything, especially with the 'Cuda, is rather a challenging situation to say the least... I did have a car port on the side of my garage that I set up in preparation for the 'Cuda last winter, but we had a freak snowstorm in October and it actually caved in on itself! Which in hindsight was a blessing, because the 'Cuda was still in my garage. :lol:
 
66jim said:
MICE! will **** your world up! Mouse traps inside and outside.w peanut butter check them every couple of days.
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If you close up the car with moth cakes or moth balls inside and underneath, and some in the engine compartment it keeps them little fuckers away. They detest the camphor smell.
 
Cheap used race car trailers. I bought one for $500 with a old sprint car in it. When ever you see one sitting stop and ask. There are 5 here now and you can keep several things plus a car in them.

Old box trucks. Buy them cheap take the box off and scrap the truck for your money back.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Cheap used race car trailers. I bought one for $500 with a old sprint car in it. When ever you see one sitting stop and ask. There are 5 here now and you can keep several things plus a car in them.

Old box trucks. Buy them cheap take the box off and scrap the truck for your money back.
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Good idea. The local school district (where I drive a bus) sells buses for $400 or so when they're done with them. It'd be a bit of work, but you could do what you have to to get it in there. Sell the bus for scrap when you're done.

Whatever you do, don't put your car outside! My car has been in my garage for 12 years. It wasn't a beauty, but it hasn't gotten any worse! It's been through phases. No money, so I stripped the undercoating. Slow stream of money, I did what I could to keep it progressing. Last 3 or so years, I've had enough cash to buy more substantial stuff, and now it's not too far from drivable.
My point being, if it were outside, I'da got too depressed to work on it as it rotted away.
 
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