Vehicles in storage units

I put my Factory Five Cobra in a 10X20 storage unit, planning to exchange with my wife's E30 depending on the season.  No climate control and no power.  Typical sheet metal construction.  I'm in NJ so temps will range from 10F to 100F over the year.  Any tips to employ in that environment?  I put a gigantic plastic sheet under the car that I happened to have lying around.  I have no idea if that will help anything.

I have plenty of extra room to store a motorcycle or five but I'm reluctant to put one in there and find machined aluminum looking like crap 6 months down the road.  My home garage isn't perfect but it's attached and insulated and I don't let the temperature go below 45 or so.  

The plastic sheet will help keep any potential leaks from staining the floor. Unplug the battery and store it with stabilized fuel, leave the handbrake off and use wheel chocks to secure it, that's about all you can do until you get deep into the diminishing returns with things like changing fluids before and after. Seasonal storage like that is no big deal, when you get into storage for multiple years that's when things get difficult...my Toyobaru spends the winters under a tarp with stabilized fuel, winter tires on (summer tires are bagged indoors), chocks holding it in place and the battery unplugged.

When you go to start it back up, give it some cranking with no fuel or spark (flood-clear mode is an easy option if you have it) to get some oil pressure back into the engine before you fire it up, all the oil would've drained back extensively.

I think it would be better to keep the fuel tank full. My logic is less air means less moisture to attack the tank.

In reply to MrJoshua :

That's right, a full tank of stabilized gas is best. It will not only keep air out but the fuel itself will outgas/degrade more slowly.

In reply to MrJoshua :

^ This ^  We fill the tanks on the boats with built in tanks in the fall and stabilize them before they go in the storage building for the winter.  It's supposed to minimize the area above the fuel for condensation.   

Hey, we have some talk about this over on the Classic Motorsports site:

Should you fill up your classic before parking for the winter?

Ideal fuels for wintertime storage

Fuels for storage: Good, better, best

Checklist: How to best remove a classic from winter storage

And some good info from Carl Heideman:

A Long Winter's Nap: Preparing Your Car for Hibernation

When I picked up the X3 in Seattle and had to store it for a month, I filled it with dryer sheets after seeing all the mouse traps outside. Not sure it works but no rats went near it ... it did smell like clean laundry for a month afterwards. 

Mice and cars are one of my biggest fears. 

If you're storing the car for more than a few months, use non-ethanol fuel. Phasic separation suuuuuucks. 

For my boat, I've taken to storing it near empty, but boats have open fuel systems, and cars usually don't.  I'm also located in a very humid area. I'll sacrifice a few gallons of fuel put into the tank and immediately drained back out to run through the lawnmower versus potentially ruining a lot more fuel. 

Have a rodent protection plan- lots of traps, possibly poison.

Determine if humidity is an issue with the unit. You may want to put a plastic sheet over the car too

I wouldn't put plastic over the car. It could trap moisture against the roof of the car, and further limit air circulation. 
 

I've stored cars in storage units without moisture problems, but I have had significant rust issues with machinery stored the same way. Cars have better finishes on them.

I had a set of tires develop major flat spots that required shaving the tires to correct...

if they're softish high performance tires you may want to put it in the air or get those half circle tire supports.

I will double up on no car cover unless you have major falling debris. I have watched far too many paint jobs ruined by covers in short time periods. I have customers with barns about 7 miles apart. One is next to the Delaware. One is on the ridge line due west in PA. Hill top can cover or leave them open with little issue. The man in the valley has had serious problems with the covers, to cure debris I put an easy-up over the one that needed the cover, inside the barn. Looks silly, helps with the roof leak though. Bigger issue is the river though. It never dries out, in the barn is moist 2 days after the rain stops and the humidity is as dry as NJ ever sees. Microblistering OE paint failure at 6 months. Worse on another car that was less perfect to begin.

Thanks for the thoughts all.  Sorry for the late follow-up.  A disconnected battery in that car will easily last 5 months so that's fine.  I think I'm most worried about moisture with the changes of temps, especially if I toss a motorcycle or three in there (put a deposit on a track-only Ducati 848 on Sunday so I'm up to 5). 

I put a very light dust cover on it that you can nearly see through, so that shouldn't trap moisture.

The Cobra (and my wife's E30) have sat for many, many months in my own garage w/o issue.  Even handling the plain 'ole 10% ethanol gas.  It's amazing, honestly.