Ben Wojdyla of Popular Mechanics is back with another interesting episode of their Saturday Mechanic how-to videos where they talk about preparing a motorcycle for winter storage. A lot of the topics covered also apply to storing cars for a long period of time, especially ones with carburetors. Ben and his motorcycle mechanic Todd cover the entire preparation process while discussing why the steps are important.
Every car guy goes through this process. You decide that you want to work on your own car. Super. Next you buy or borrow some tools and the parts you need. Then you have to get under the car which involves laying down and shimmying on your concrete/asphalt/gravel/dirt driveway or work area. This is then immediately followed by a question that pops into your head: “I wonder how hard it would be to install a lift here?” Well wonder no more. Popular Mechanic’s Saturday Mechanic, Ben Wojdyla, walks us through the process as they install a new lift in the Popular Mechanic Garage. The series is broken down into 3 parts.
Part 1: How to choose the right lift for your requirements and area constraints like height and floor strength.
I picked up the RX-8 for the EV conversion (don’t worry, I’ll make a post about the car later) and I’m driving it a little to get a baseline feel for the car. One of the things that I discovered was that the space saver spare tire was not standard equipment and the car that I bought did not have one. Instead, there’s a little box in the trunk with fix-a-flat and an electric compressor. This would be a usable solution except for the car has tire pressure sensors in the tires. Filling them with fix-a-flat would destroy the sensors which are fairly expensive to replace. I happen to come across this video on plugging tires and it seems like something that can reasonably be accomplished on the road side. I think I’ll go find a kit to put in the trunk of the RX-8 just in case.