To lay up or not?
Discussion
Hello everyone. 
I'm a relative newcomer to S ownership - this will be my first winter with the TVR and I'm weighing up the pros and cons of laying the car up for a little while over winter. I've read the relevant part of The Bible and The Website and also done a bit of a search on this forum. However, I also have a couple of specific issues to contend with:
1. The car lives in a communal garage which I share with my three neighbours. I'm happy that it's dry, secure etc. but there is no power in the building at all (apart from automatic lighting). So maybe I should remove the battery and keep it on trickle in the house. I wonder if that is likely to cause problems with the immobiliser or anything else when I reconnect it. In Halfords today I saw a portable power supply for about £50. Perhaps I should get one of these anyway, because it's a real pain not having electricity sometimes...
2. I have to go down a steep ramp to get out of the garage and there's a big wall at the bottom! I might be just a smidge wary of driving down here after the car has been on axle stands for the winter...
Any thoughts or suggestions? The consensus from previous posts on here seems to be that the car is better off being used all year round anyway.
I'm a relative newcomer to S ownership - this will be my first winter with the TVR and I'm weighing up the pros and cons of laying the car up for a little while over winter. I've read the relevant part of The Bible and The Website and also done a bit of a search on this forum. However, I also have a couple of specific issues to contend with:
1. The car lives in a communal garage which I share with my three neighbours. I'm happy that it's dry, secure etc. but there is no power in the building at all (apart from automatic lighting). So maybe I should remove the battery and keep it on trickle in the house. I wonder if that is likely to cause problems with the immobiliser or anything else when I reconnect it. In Halfords today I saw a portable power supply for about £50. Perhaps I should get one of these anyway, because it's a real pain not having electricity sometimes...
2. I have to go down a steep ramp to get out of the garage and there's a big wall at the bottom! I might be just a smidge wary of driving down here after the car has been on axle stands for the winter...
Any thoughts or suggestions? The consensus from previous posts on here seems to be that the car is better off being used all year round anyway.
I dont really understand the point of laying a vehicle up, its not as though we get extreme winters compared wih some places,I would use it whenever possible and enjoy it,(and rinse the salt off before putting it away),it will keep the damp out and the mechanicals working.
Just a thought seeing as its your first winter with it,have you checked the anti-freeze????
If as you say you would be storing it in a communal garage, the other cars would be coming in wet all winter and drying off in the garage where yours is stood,They'll be hot after running yours will be cold.
Just a thought seeing as its your first winter with it,have you checked the anti-freeze????
If as you say you would be storing it in a communal garage, the other cars would be coming in wet all winter and drying off in the garage where yours is stood,They'll be hot after running yours will be cold.
My alarm has an internal battery that dies when the main battery is disconnected for too long (couple of days). It is then a s*d to properly re-set and takes ages to re-cycle.
I though about laying-up, as I am going to to 'do the chassis' this winter, but the thought of NOT 'starting up' (burble and grin) and running out on one of those dry,cold-sharp, sunny winter days would be too much to bear. We are lucky and can whisk into Wales for a day with few other cars on the road. Not worth the tax saving.
Keep her alive for the 'few days' at least, but check battery regularly.
I though about laying-up, as I am going to to 'do the chassis' this winter, but the thought of NOT 'starting up' (burble and grin) and running out on one of those dry,cold-sharp, sunny winter days would be too much to bear. We are lucky and can whisk into Wales for a day with few other cars on the road. Not worth the tax saving.
Keep her alive for the 'few days' at least, but check battery regularly.
clarenceboddiger said:
I dont really understand the point of laying a vehicle up, its not as though we get extreme winters compared wih some places,I would use it whenever possible and enjoy it,(and rinse the salt off before putting it away),it will keep the damp out and the mechanicals working.
Just a thought seeing as its your first winter with it,have you checked the anti-freeze????
If as you say you would be storing it in a communal garage, the other cars would be coming in wet all winter and drying off in the garage where yours is stood,They'll be hot after running yours will be cold.
Just a thought seeing as its your first winter with it,have you checked the anti-freeze????
If as you say you would be storing it in a communal garage, the other cars would be coming in wet all winter and drying off in the garage where yours is stood,They'll be hot after running yours will be cold.
Good points! As it happens, I've recently replaced one of the hoses so I had to change the coolant anyway. It's true that there are usually three other cars in the garage (which are used pretty much daily) but the place is fairly well ventilated. There's probably not much I can do about the garage situation, but at least it's undercover.
The main reason I was considering laying the car up was to give me chance to do a few routine maintenance jobs without having to squeeze them all in to a Sunday afternoon. Nothing major required, mainly just cosmetic bits and some Waxoyl on the chassis. Certainly nothing that the car needs to be layed up for, but if I wasn't going to use the car much it just seemed the logical way to go about it.
v8whiskey said:
My alarm has an internal battery that dies when the main battery is disconnected for too long
Hmm. This was one of my concerns.
v8whiskey said:
Not worth the tax saving.
Yes, I think you're right. I definitely wouldn't be taking the car off the road just for this.
Thanks for all the replies - it's good to hear everyone else's view.
Well played !
AND if you are like me and have loads of plans for maintenance and improvements that end up 'scuppered' by work (ugh) or other pressing items, you may end up not doing the jobs on the car AND miss out on some cracking 'hoon' days.
Good Luck with the chassis - top of my list of jobs, then springs, exhaust, wheels, interior veneers, carpet etc etc etc ................... where's that tax refund form !!!
G
AND if you are like me and have loads of plans for maintenance and improvements that end up 'scuppered' by work (ugh) or other pressing items, you may end up not doing the jobs on the car AND miss out on some cracking 'hoon' days.
Good Luck with the chassis - top of my list of jobs, then springs, exhaust, wheels, interior veneers, carpet etc etc etc ................... where's that tax refund form !!!
G
v8whiskey said:
Well played !
AND if you are like me and have loads of plans for maintenance and improvements that end up 'scuppered' by work (ugh) or other pressing items, you may end up not doing the jobs on the car AND miss out on some cracking 'hoon' days.
Good Luck with the chassis - top of my list of jobs, then springs, exhaust, wheels, interior veneers, carpet etc etc etc ................... where's that tax refund form !!!
G
AND if you are like me and have loads of plans for maintenance and improvements that end up 'scuppered' by work (ugh) or other pressing items, you may end up not doing the jobs on the car AND miss out on some cracking 'hoon' days.
Good Luck with the chassis - top of my list of jobs, then springs, exhaust, wheels, interior veneers, carpet etc etc etc ................... where's that tax refund form !!!
G
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