Put away for the summer or my "Anti-winter hibernation" syndrome??

[chrisbruck]

Anyone else like me find themselves putting away their air-cooled beast in the hot, sticky summer months in the south? With my stock A/C (meaning crappy / non-existent), I think of my northern bretheren who stash their cars away in the winter months to avoid salt and long warmup temps for the oil. I find myself stashing mine away from June - August till the humidity goes away. I know I could dump a lot of $$$'s and get a good working A/C system like others have done. I prefer to spend the money on gas (and oil) and tires though.

Maybe I'll pull the motor out during it's summer sleep just to feel good about it.

[redstrosekNic]

I don't drive the Pcars too much during June because of the cotton-wood fuzzies. It is like a snow storm sometimes. They cannot be good for the cooling fins and intake. They clog filters up quite quickly as well.

[Elombard]

I am with you - I do drive it to work once or twice a week but its less than 10 minutes and the morning is fine.... the afternoon is rough. I dont know how they guys in south Florida even use there cars 9 months a year.

Cars and Coffee is good too as long as you have her home and put up by 10:30 or so :-)

[awhnry]

Mine is sitting in the garage today for the same reason: hi temp for East Tenn is to be 88 degrees. I drove it to work all last week in recognition that it is all coming to the summer hiatus. Drive it only in early mornings or after dark during the humidity of the Smoky Mountains.

[chrisbruck]

The mornings are still ok but going out at lunch or anywhere after work other than the gym is, well, moist... to say the least.

and going faster with the windows down doesn't seem to help!
(although it is fun)

[JmuRiz]

I do know that the last couple years I didn't drive mine much in the summer...all those 90-100 days aren't much fun with no A/C.

Fingers crossed we finally have a mild summer.

[tirwin]

Chris,

This will be my 3rd summer in Atlanta with my triple black SC that has no working A/C. I feel your pain! There are times when it is just outright unbearable. July and August are miserable for even working in the garage, let alone driving, with stupid high humidity. God help you if you get stuck in Atlanta traffic.

I am debating the A/C job right now. Seems to me there is not a lot of grey area here. It is either take it out and be done with it or do it and do it right. And doing it right is $2-3k no matter how you cut it. Seems like that is what most of us struggle with -- the cost vs reward.

I also want to backdate to SSIs and change the exhaust. Griffith's (optionally) uses a 3rd condenser in the rear driver-side wheel well. I'm thinking about doing the SSI work first because that will eliminate the cat near that condenser.

Any of you Atlanta guys going to C&O this weekend?

[chrisbruck]

That's my current project dilemma too... my A/C does actually work for now. Just mediocrely. The front condenser fan is siezed though. I'm not going to dump the money for a few months of coolness when I have a perfectly nice Land Cruiser to cool me off.

So does that mean I should just yank it all out and save the weight??? Or just leave it for "originalilty"??

[Reiver]

What did mankind do prior to AC I wonder....
Chris, yank it....that weight is exactly where it shouldn't be....high up and at the ass end.

[Josh D]

I say bite the bullit, spend $2K on proper A/C, and enjoy your 911 year round.

My car was down for a couple months while I repaired the tranny. I couldn't stand it! I don't know how some can put their 911's away for seasons at a time. I couldn't do it.

[shadowjack1]

I have a great A/C system. Works fine. But the summer mts. are very hard to take. I tend to drive it less in the summer. Come Novmber, its time to take it out.

[Ronnie's.930]

Originally Posted by Reiver

What did mankind do prior to AC I wonder....
Chris, yank it....that weight is exactly where it shouldn't be....high up and at the ass end.

What did mankind do prior to cars, good medication, oil discovery, running water, electricity, etc?

[tirwin]

I've read about some UV tint that can be put on the windows that doesn't change the window color much. I'd be interested in that as long as a) it doesn't make the car look like dark ghetto tint or b) it can be applied well (where "well" means "not ghetto"). I think there are more cars in the universe with bad tint jobs than good ones.

Anyone have any experience with this or know what the stuff is called? I think it has a green or blueish hue.

[chrisbruck]

I guess I got the "ghetto" tint...

[tirwin]

Bubbles in the film or all black? We have pretty restrictive tint laws in GA now. When I say ghetto black I mean totally blacked out. I don't think you can have that here anymore.

[GothingNC]

I am in the same boat.

Drive season for me is Sept to June now; I used to take the Targa to the office in the summer but my new office does not have covered parking and I do not like to let the paint bake in the sun

I noticed even on 60 degree days in the sun, the black interior really heats up if I forget to use the windshield shade.

[Ronnie's.930]

Originally Posted by chrisbruck

I guess I got the "ghetto" tint...

As do I. Interesting reference though (that I've never heard before regarding window tint), since ghettos don't have many cars in them to begin with (mostly foot traffic) . . .

[chrisbruck]

My tint I'm sure was high end uptown stuff in the 80's.... now it's a faded weird bluish purple color with some minor bubbling / peeling. Very "ghetto" now...

Removing it is another project on my list to tackle.

[A horse with no name]

Originally Posted by chrisbruck

Anyone else like me find themselves putting away their air-cooled beast in the hot, sticky summer months in the south? With my stock A/C (meaning crappy / non-existent), I think of my northern bretheren who stash their cars away in the winter months to avoid salt and long warmup temps for the oil. I find myself stashing mine away from June - August till the humidity goes away. I know I could dump a lot of $$$'s and get a good working A/C system like others have done. I prefer to spend the money on gas (and oil) and tires though.

Maybe I'll pull the motor out during it's summer sleep just to feel good about it.

Hi...'Dis' quite a dilemma for us all ay... Here in the Pacific N/West -Vancouver- we would gladly trade you some of your 'warm rays' for our 'cool' H2o. We use WD40 instead of suntan lotion to keep from rusting...

Maybe you S/West come Southern guys could keep a small cooler in your car with a couple of those plastic bags with the gel in them - The ones you throw in your freezer - then like maybe just slip one or more under your hat similar to that of 'tirwins'.

I mean... There is those heating pads available for our gloves or boots that we can use if tooo cold when skiing (snow)- 'or' - if you happen to be driving an old V-Dub such as in a Mid West winter

[tirwin]

Michael,

I've spent a fair amount of time in the Seattle area not too far from beautiful Vancouver. My friends up there call it "June-uary" and joke about moss growing on anything that doesn't move. But it is beautiful during the summer -- too bad it is so short.

I like the gel idea. You can make your own gel pack using a little H20 and vodka (Homemade Freezer Gel Packs | eHow). And the best part is you can drink it after you get where you're going! Maybe add a little olive juice and bingo -- instant martini!