It's cold here in Minnesota!

I pulled my Capri 5.0 into the garage in September for a winter nap and left the hood open so I could watch for any "critter" activity. I do like to start it up occasionally in the winter just to check if the battery is still OK and make sure no bird seed or other things fly out of the heater or defroster. After many days of below zero temps, it started fine today. When I pulled the car back into the garage, I noticed some cracked corn on the ground in back of the exhaust pipe. Upon further examination I discovered a mouse had chewed through a plastic bucket that I keep in the garage and had loaded the exhaust pipe with cracked corn.

Sometimes, when I hear of someone storing a car in a barn I wonder what they do to keep the mice from destroying the interior, wiring, etc.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I love Mickey, but not his friends. :-) Dick 84 Capri RS 5.0

Reply to
dickr2
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Here's o9ne idea:

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Reply to
Frank ess

A 5 Gallon pail, 2 sticks long enough to make ramps from floor to top edge of pail. One beverage can with a hole drilled in the center of each end. Using a coat hanger as a axle turn the can into a "roller" at the top of the pail. Coating the can with peanut butter and filling the bucket with a gallon of anti-freeze 50/50 mixed you now have an all season mouse trap. Anti freeze will not let the stink of dead carcasses into the air either. Freshen your peanut butter every few weeks is all you need to do until the carcasses mound up too high..... I got this from an old farmer, it works great.

Reply to
Repairman

Get a cat and your problems are solve. Plus free food.

Reply to
Jim C

Crushed mothballs. around the floor where the car sits. Inside, same thing. If you don't crush to severly thay vacuum out nicely. Otherwise, use mesh baggies hung from knobs, coat hangars, etc. A mouse can enter any place it can get it's head through. Block the exhaust. Foil works, as does steel wool. Mice do noty like the sharp edges and ends of steel wool. HOWEVER/WARNING... Steel wool MUST be removed if you are going to start it up. A spark can ignite steel wool (I use it for camping to quick start a fire.) If you wrap with foil, you can tell if mice have tried to bypass it just by looking. If you forget it and start the car, the foil usually blows off.

By the way... the moths really don't appreciate it.

Reply to
D E Willson

Hi, I don't have a major problem because I use mouse traps. However, I do have birdseed stored in plastic buckets in the garage. Not a problem if I keep the lids on tight. The episode of cracked corn in my exhaust pipe is somewhat of a mystery. I noticed the top of the corn bucket was askew and I discovered a dead mouse in there. They can get in, but when they fall into the bucket, they can't get out. So, how did the mouse get corn out of the bucket? The other part of my post pertains to people who store a vehicle in a barn or other facility where critter activity isn't checked on a frequent basis. We know a plumber who lives on a farm south of us and collects MoPar vehicles from the 60s and 70s. He stores a dozen or so MoPars in a barn on his farm, and "one of these days" he'll restore them. He might have a critter problem. I'll have to visit him and check out some of his old R/S 440 Hemi vehicles.

Otherwise, it's getting warmer - maybe 30°F later in the week.

Life is good, Dick in MN

Reply to
dickr2

Oops, that should be R/T 440 Hemi - I got confused there.

Reply to
dickr2

The largest Hemi from the factory was 426.

440s were wedge heads.

rd

Reply to
RD Jones

Hi RD, Thanks for the correction. I guess I'm more familiar with Ford and Chevrolet cars and engines, but I wouldn't mind driving a MoPar with a nasty big block.

Dick

Reply to
dickr2

I once owned a 70 Roadrunner with a 383 4 speed/Dana 60, while not the "nastiest" it WAS quite torque and had a nice roar with open headers.

Kind of a funny thing though, my little 281 (poked to a monstrous 283) is nastier, but the 70's muscle has that "look at what I have" thing. ;)

Reply to
GILL

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