Winter storage and high lift cams
12-03-2011, 08:03 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
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Winter storage and high lift cams
There have been a few posts on CF about putting your car up for winter and not driving for a couple of months. My question: If you have a super high lift cam shouldn't you turn the car over every couple of weeks for equal distribution of spring pressures? I was thinking of Taking it even farther and looseing all of them. Any do this?one ever
12-05-2011, 02:22 PM
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St. Jude Donor '13
The Spring Scientists tell us that storing a spring in the compressed position will not cause problems, if the spring was properly designed and manufactured.
This comes up often for pistol shooters, who wonder about storing pistol mags fully loaded. The general response is to not worry about it. When I was a cop, I had 3 "duty" mags for my pistol that were always kept fully loaded except when fired for qualification 3-4 times per year. And I had 5 identical "practice" mags that got loaded and unloaded (by shooting) a couple of times per week. The duty mags never failed, but the practice mag springs had to be replaced every couple of years.
I would worry more about the oil draining down off the moving parts, galling or scoring upon startup. Maybe start it every week or two during the winter? Just speculating...
This comes up often for pistol shooters, who wonder about storing pistol mags fully loaded. The general response is to not worry about it. When I was a cop, I had 3 "duty" mags for my pistol that were always kept fully loaded except when fired for qualification 3-4 times per year. And I had 5 identical "practice" mags that got loaded and unloaded (by shooting) a couple of times per week. The duty mags never failed, but the practice mag springs had to be replaced every couple of years.
I would worry more about the oil draining down off the moving parts, galling or scoring upon startup. Maybe start it every week or two during the winter? Just speculating...
12-05-2011, 02:34 PM
#3
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The Spring Scientists tell us that storing a spring in the compressed position will not cause problems, if the spring was properly designed and manufactured.
This comes up often for pistol shooters, who wonder about storing pistol mags fully loaded. The general response is to not worry about it. When I was a cop, I had 3 "duty" mags for my pistol that were always kept fully loaded except when fired for qualification 3-4 times per year. And I had 5 identical "practice" mags that got loaded and unloaded (by shooting) a couple of times per week. The duty mags never failed, but the practice mag springs had to be replaced every couple of years.
I would worry more about the oil draining down off the moving parts, galling or scoring upon startup. Maybe start it every week or two during the winter? Just speculating...
This comes up often for pistol shooters, who wonder about storing pistol mags fully loaded. The general response is to not worry about it. When I was a cop, I had 3 "duty" mags for my pistol that were always kept fully loaded except when fired for qualification 3-4 times per year. And I had 5 identical "practice" mags that got loaded and unloaded (by shooting) a couple of times per week. The duty mags never failed, but the practice mag springs had to be replaced every couple of years.
I would worry more about the oil draining down off the moving parts, galling or scoring upon startup. Maybe start it every week or two during the winter? Just speculating...
I would not/do not start up the car every now and then. If I was worried about start up in the spring I would push the gas pedal to the floor to build up OP while pushing the start button (car will not start that way). Then release pedal and let the car start, you will be fine.
PS Jim I have fired loaded .45 mags from WW1- WW2 and the springs were fine.(so was the ammo, but corrosive so a good cleaning was mandatory).
12-05-2011, 02:50 PM
#4
the old hot rod trick when storing with a high lift cam was to back the rockers off
if your matched (cam/springs) i don't believe its as much of an issue as it was... lets say ages ago for us ole timers
it would probably help extend the life of your springs if they get backed off
back in the day this was mainly needed for the high lift solids
guess you can say it was more precautionary
if your matched (cam/springs) i don't believe its as much of an issue as it was... lets say ages ago for us ole timers
it would probably help extend the life of your springs if they get backed off
back in the day this was mainly needed for the high lift solids
guess you can say it was more precautionary
12-05-2011, 03:20 PM
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I have a camaro that runs 9.0's at 150. At the end of each season I back off the rockers. This forces me to lash the valves and inspect everything before the new season starts. Does it really help the valve springs? I guess it does not hurt.
