Storing the beast for winter

So next week it looks like I'll be packing the wagon away for 4-5 months. Does anybody have any special rituals regarding this or is trickle charging the battery the only thing to be concerned about?
The only good thing about putting the safari away is the 67 Chrysler town and country becomes alot more active through the winter.
Mark

Well, firs of all thanks for breaking the silence .
Apart from the battery, i recommend checking the antifreeze - if any doubt change it.
Earlier i always put the car on jacks, to avoid the tires getting warped, but i have found that modern tires (i use Cooker) does not warp unless they are too old. I am currently storring my car at my new workshop, and the heting is set to 5 C. I rool the windows down an inch or so, to get some ventilation.

My insurance does not cover winter driving (nov 15 to apr 15), so the season is over from now .

I'm still driving my Old Friend until snow flies. The end is coming near. Then I'll pour some Sea Foam into the gas tank for the last run, throw dryer sheets around the interior, and maybe disconnect the battery. I don't put it on blocks. Jim

I wasnt sure about blocking the car-its only for 4 months, and the shop is heated. I'll probably end up firing it up monthly anyway just to maintain my testosterone levels. I like the dryer sheet idea as well.

Little projects on the car this winter include swapping out a noisy speedo cable and figuring out a puzzling dipstick problem. My understanding is that there are 2 dipstick tubes on the 389, an external and an internal one. I have a suspicion that the internal one was never put back after the rebuild as when I changed the oil with the correct amount, no oil registered on the dipstick, not even when a longer dipstick was tried. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this. My only info so far is from an Ames write up, but 4 months should be enough time to get to the bottom of it.

Does anybody else have there list of winter upgrades compiled yet?

Hmm. Just to warn you . I changed the speedo cable after it broke - shortly after getting the car - and hoped it would fix that annoying knocking sound that sometimes comes from the instrumentscluster (frequency of knock proportional to car speed), but unfortunatly it didn't.
Maybe you have the same problem, and it seems to be within the speedo itself.

Regading the dipstick - i was very carefull with this when rebuilding my engine, as a friend of mine experienced that the dipstick of his TA was too short. He replaced it, and the new one was eaten by the cranck - also apparently because of the internal guide tube being left out during a privious repair.

There is indeed an internal part of the dipstick tube, that guides the dipstick to the buttom of the oilpan. Unfortunatly i can't think of a way to check if it is in place, without taking the oilpan off, but i could measure my dipstick (sorry, no sexual reference intended ), so that you may verify the length.

The internal tube fits in a hole in the bottom of the block, and is bend about 45 degrees.

I think that the tube was held by only one screw, so it may be at the bottom of the oil pan.

-Christian

Thank you for the generous offer to measure your dipstick -I had other members give me the data last year which is how my suspicions began. I may see if Indianapontiacs could provide a whole used set for me (inner/outer plus dipstick).
Regarding the speedo, I think the last few months has rendered me the resident speedo expert. I've had to replace the speedo (found in a barn in Ontario) and the drive gear (Indiana) and it works fine now aside from the cable. No big deal now.
Its only been 2 weeks and its already unbearable walking by the car everyday without getting in and driving....