[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by mfirth

Had a friend in the 60s with an A with a worn motor. Saw it sitting in a small parking lot late on a very cold night. Told my pals that Brent's A finally blew up. Wrong! Went buy the lot where the A was & there was a big burned looking spot on the ground & the car was gone. Too cold for the heavy oil Brent used, so....yup he built a fire under the oil pan to thin the oil some so she could roll over & start. What a hoot!!! mike

Heating engine oil.

I purchased an Airtractor 301 in 1982 powered by a Pratt and Whitney 1340 cubic inch radial. It would be parked at night in a drive through shed. Winter gets cold, cold for us that is and an extreme temp would be minus 4 and not frequently. I had a heater programmed to turn on the oil reservoir 2 hours before I was ready to crank. If I was working away from home I would not add oil until the morning. About 4 gallons. I would light a small fire and put a 4 gallon drum on the fire or embers. It did not take much heat to turn thick heavy oil to very runny oil. Thus easier to pour and the engine would heat much quicker. Plus the supercharger was lubricated much earlier It was surprising just how little heat it took to change the viscosity of that oil to a thin flowable product. .