Five Jobs to do Over Winter

It’s cold outside, it seems to be dark for longer periods than it is light, and the warm feeling of the summer sun has all but faded. This of course means that for many of you, your beloved classic has been neatly tucked away until the copious amounts of salt have gone from the roads. But does that mean you should just throw a cover over it and forget about it until spring? Of course not. The winter months are a prime time to sort out all those little jobs you have been promising to do since April. There are no deadlines, no ‘show I need to be at this weekend’ pressures. Instead, you get to tinker along at whatever pace suits you, and that, dear reader, is the finest form of tinkering. Yeah, you’re going to need to fire up the heater half an hour before you head into the garage, but that’s about it. Unless you don’t have a garage, in which case we completely support your decision to stay inside during winter!

What jobs should you be ticking off, though? That’s the question. Every car is different, so you might have a list wildly different from this one. Treat this collection of jobs as a appetisers: something to get the tinkering juices flowing. These five jobs are applicable to pretty much every car, so no matter what you drive, there will be a reason below to justify busting the tools out. And when you do, you’ll be glad of it. Classic car ownership is all about the tinkering, about getting to know your machine in more detail, and of course, about fixing all those things that have been annoying you all summer!

1) Service it

Start off simple and give the old thing a service. There’s nothing too difficult here, and nothing that will need specialist tools. Change the oil, the oil filter, fuel filter, air filter (or oil in the oil bath filter, if you have that), break out the manual and feelers, check gaps, change plugs, you get the idea. It’s a nice, low impact high reward job that you can do at home. It’s also going to give you peace of mind, as you’ll know when it was done, and you’ll know it was done right. You can make sure you get the best parts, the best grade fluids so on and so forth. You could even do a major service on it; brake fluid, brake liners, transmission fluid, diff fluid. Again, all low impact, but all highly rewarding.

2) Detail it

You’ve had a busy summer of shows, or maybe you’ve been racking up the miles on tours or other vehicular adventures. Time now, then, to detail the car. Not just wash it, but detail it. Clay bar the paint, decontaminate it, get the machine polisher out, bring back some lustre to the finish. Get the Brasso out and sort the chrome. Take the seats out, rent an extractor and give the carpets a deep, thorough clean. Buff the wood veneer if you have it. It’s also a good time to get any little imperfections sorted, like broken or missing trim, or any scuffs and dings. Now is the time to get it ready for next summer. We’ve done an in-depth guide on this, so have a read and be the best detailer you can be!

3) Sort the wheels out

The problem with the summer is that you’re always driving your classic, so it’s hard to justify it being off the road. Winter, then, is the perfect time to pop it up on axle stands and whip the wheels off. Are they steel? Now would be a good time to rub them back, prime and paint them. Alloy? You could do the same with them, or you could use this time to send them off to be acid-dipped and powder coated. Wire? Time is what you need to properly clean and buff them, so have at it. And while the wheels are off, it’s a good time to clean out the arches, touch up any paint and throw on some stone chip or other protectant.

4) Electrics

There is no better time than winter to sort out the electrics. With no pressure to be anywhere, you can take a slow, methodical approach to a job that can often be intimidating. You might well have been putting it off all summer in fear of the car being left immobile. Well, now is your chance. You can remove trim and parts for access, label everything up, consult with fellow enthusiasts and make sure you do it all properly. And by doing it yourself, you can be sure it’s being done correctly and to a standard that keeps you feeling safe. Old car wiring can often be a classic’s downfall. Now is your chance to get in front of it.

5) Upgrade it

Finally, if you’re feeling bold, you could use winter as the perfect time to upgrade your car. We don’t mean full on Fast and Furious upgrades (though if that’s your bag, have at it). We just mean more involved upgrades that you might have been researching all summer. New suspension, upgraded suspension bushes, bigger brakes, new wheels, engine work like new carbs or a new cam or exhaust. If you’re anything like us, you will have spent the summer accruing all manner of parts for your classic because we all know car shows are full of that stuff. Now is the time to get it all fitted, and when the sun does come out again, it’ll be like having a new car. Brilliant!