Preheating of the engine

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Terry, NJ

I don't know about epileptic barbers, But I knew of a man who suffered from this horrible condition and ran a hot dog stand. Russ Ayres had a hot dog stand on rt 130, in Hamilton, NJ. Rather than give in to his condition, he began with a simple pushcart and later moved into a small building. I believe he suffered from Petit Mal epilepsy as he has a sign explaining his condition and symptoms to alert patrons of any possible incidents. Russ has since passed away, but his memories are kind of an inspiration to everyone who knew him.
Terry

Terry,
This is AMAZING, our Workmans' Comp Doctor had a Palsy that caused his hands to shake BADLY, he sewed up MANY cuts for me, he'd shake BEFORE & AFTER, but never DURING the stitching!
I admired that Man & will NEVER forget him! We were morning COFFEE Buddies, for years.
Bill W.

[Patrick L.]

Other than getting the engine to start faster/better, the idea of pre-heat is get the juices [oil] flowing quicker. Most wear occurs upon start-up.

Some engine heaters, if not installed correctly, turn the engine into nothing more than a still and can cause more damage than help.

On some larger air-cooled engines the feather pumps could be run to help pre-lube the engine. Plus, most if not all air-cooled stuff would frost over when cranked in cold weather and refuse to start unless pre-heated.

I'm one that keeps a blanket over the old diesel tractor with a trouble light tucked under it to keep things [ especially the fuel] a bit warm.

[Jerry in Shasta]

Keeping the battery warm, might help starting.
Just my W.A.G at the problem

[Tom Wesenberg]

I used to put a folded blanket on top of my diesel Rabbit engine during the winter months to help retain heat. It also cut down the noise a lot. If it needed preheat, then I plugged in the block heater.

When we lived by Joliet we had a small dirt floor one car garage, and I can remember my dad sliding a pan of burning charcoal under his 1950 Champion one cold day.

[Mikeinnj]

Kerosene lamps and charcoal fires placed under the old Model A's.
Ån electric trouble light under a blanket too.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster considering many A's drip gas and oil.

[Gary/IA]

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My dad would put a corn cob on the end of a #9 wire, soak it in kerosene, light it, and hold it under the pan to warm the oil. He would then let my 9 year old brother drive the A two miles to the country school.

The car never caught fire, but my brother did run into another car putting an end to his early driving career and costing my dad a $100 fine.

Practices frowned upon now were common place and not out of the ordinary back then.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Getting clearances right to prevent wear can be a big deal for racers. One of Grumpy Jenkins books on building racing engines mentions having the race engine equipped with dry-break disconnects so that the engine could be easily spliced into the cooling system of its tow truck. Before a run they just hooked it up and let the truck bring both engines up to running temperature. I believe they also used an electric heater for the oil pan, and had a way to heat the rear end to eliminate losses to cold gear oil!
Jenkins was a mad genius who would do anything that might produce another tenth of a horsepower or keep his engines at peak function for a few more runs.
I'd bet NASCAR teams have some interesting rituals along this line...main issue likely eliminating warmup wear to keep engine ring and valve sealing at peak for a few extra miles.
If I had about 50 servants, maybe I'd put one to work preheating my rides...

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

.............................
If I had about 50 servants, maybe I'd put one to work preheating my rides...

If I had 50 servants, I'd made sure they were cute, and they could preheat me.
No need to drive anywhere.

[DougVieyra]

Ahh, the dreams of youth . . . .

[mshmodela]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...-harms-engine/

Naturally, not applicable to a Model A.

[CarlG]

Overheard an interesting conversation at the Ford dealer service dept the other day. Guy with a new Lincoln hybred said that using an Autostart to warm up his vehicle was not effective since when there is no demand for power, the engine isn't running. One of the gals there said there was a way to force the engine to run, (and warm up) but he wasn't interested in listening. He would rather complain.

[1Tudoor]

I really love this forum , seriously !

So for we've learned ;
The true meaning of a "trouble light "
How to detect if your A or Maytag is dripping oil by waking the fire dept & not the Maytag repair man
Why so many corn cobs were stolen from out houses & blankets mysteriously disappeared in cold weather
Colorado's unique registration qualifications to become a barber

Keep em coming

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Once, Chief put a pan of coals under the pan & got it started, then it wouldn't MOVE. He had to pour BOILING water on the brake drums/tires, as they were FROZEN tight. LOVED them damn MUDDY ROADS.
Bill W.

[hale1776]

Like to welcome all the Siberian Russians to the forum. (drain everything preheat... I'm still laughing) I drive in winter, "A"s hate the cold and will run like crap for 5 minutes, after 5 minutes start driving, enjoy calculating the viscosity of 600 weight gear oil at minus 20 degrees. Expect tranny to start behaving like a transmission after 15 minutes. I will state that if you are ever in Antarctica in the winter with your Model A, draining the radiator and preheating oil would be necessary. After it warms it she will run fine any temperature.

[DougVieyra]

I do remember on a camping trip crossing the Arizona desert in December of 1963, every night I had to drain out the radiator's water, put it in water-tight bags and put the bags in the Army Down-filled sleeping bag with me! Every morning I poured the water back into to my '28 Phaeton's radiator. Damn cold nights ! In fact even the day time temperatures were so cold we drove with our sleeping bags wrapped around us.

Those were the early days, before I had gotten side-curtains. And in fact, were a major reason to drive me to get side-curtains !

Never went back to anyplace outside warm sunny California.

My Model A winter driving in California is much like Hale1776 mentions: runs like crap for the first five minutes, transmission shifts real smooth and quiet (I can shift without double-clutching) until the trans.lubricant warms up, then back to normal.

[Bruce of MN]

I remember that my Dad's '55 stick shift Pontiac had to be started with the clutch in when it was near zero and would die if you didn't ease the clutch out to carve a furrow through the gear oil.

[SeaSlugs]

Originally Posted by Bruce of MN

I remember that my Dad's '55 stick shift Pontiac had to be started with the clutch in when it was near zero and would die if you didn't ease the clutch out to carve a furrow through the gear oil.

my 1980 chevette does this if its below zero haha. One morning I started off down the road, got it out of 1st then couldn't get it back in any gear, had to coast and let it warm up more in neutral.

[LukeCutler]

When I was in high school in the late 1990's, my daily driver was my 1961 Chevy pickup. I had an engine heater that went in the heater hose, I know that is no good on an A, but on my truck I installed it the hose going to the heater core and if I left the lever on the dash opened to the defrost vents the heat would naturally rise from the heater core, through the vents, and kept the windshield clean for me all the time.

[ian Simpson]

Originally Posted by hale1776

Like to welcome all the Siberian Russians to the forum. (drain everything preheat... I'm still laughing) I drive in winter, "A"s hate the cold and will run like crap for 5 minutes, after 5 minutes start driving, enjoy calculating the viscosity of 600 weight gear oil at minus 20 degrees. Expect tranny to start behaving like a transmission after 15 minutes. I will state that if you are ever in Antarctica in the winter with your Model A, draining the radiator and preheating oil would be necessary. After it warms it she will run fine any temperature.

The transaxle of my Lotus used 90 W oil. On cold mornings the motor would stall if I took my foot off the clutch too soon even in neutral. Solved the problem by bolting a pan heater to the transmission.

[Benson]

The charcoal and kerosene fires under the oil pan are a hassle. Getting up early to start the fires and wait for the oil to warm is a pain.

In the mountains west of Denver 55 years ago I just placed an empty gallon anti freeze can with light bulb socket mounted inside under the oil pan. Set the can on top of a brick up tight against the oil pan.

Put an other under the tranny. Cut the can in a shape so that less of the heat could escape.

I used a 150 watt bulb unless it was really cold, then a 200 Watt bulb usually did the trick.

I know that does not work if there is no electricity! In that case I had a Primus gasoline one burner, back pack stove that I put inside the antifreeze can.

In Michigan we walked a mile to K thru 5th grade school and a mile back home ... it was really hard because it was uphill BOTH ways.