Preheating of the engine

[Art Bjornestad]

I had a 55 VW and sawed of most of the shift lever. Winter came and I had to leave the bug in low if I expected to go anywhere the next Wisconsin morning

[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

Originally Posted by Simonpie

Along those lines, if anyone in Colorado can confirm the existence of an epileptic barber giving straight razor shaves in the 1950's, I'd love to hear about it.

[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.

[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.

[40 Deluxe]

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A major source of engine wear during cold starts is unvaporized gasoline washing the oil film off the cylinder walls allowing metal-to-metal contact. Plus repeated cold starts without a thorough warm-up dilutes the oil. This problem is worse with ethanol gas because ethanol will vaporize when cold. One reason for only E85 (maximum of 85% ethanol) is because with 100% ethanol, your engine would never start in cold weather. The 15% minimum gas content is to allow cold starts, although a block heater may be needed. The first Flex-Fuel Ford Taurus' had block heaters and required synthetic oil which along with spark plugs had to be changed about twice as often. This may still be the case, not sure. Also, 15% minimum gasoline is required so if a fuel fire starts. you can see the flames (ethanol burns without visible flame).
In the carburetor days, especially with hand chokes or stuck automatic chokes, an engine usually had an .020" or so ridge at the top of the cylinders before 80-90,000 miles. Now you can pull the head off an engine with well over 100,000 miles and still see the factory cross-hatch pattern. Electronic fuel injection is superior to a carb!
So as the original poster speculated, pre-heating a cold engine has its advantages!

[blgitn]

I had a 27 RPU for ten years that lived outside in a carport. l used a coolant heater in the lower hose and a magnetic pan heater on the oil sump in the cold weather. Otherwise I couldn't pull it through and get it to catch on saturday morning to go to the dump.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here's a good preheater for the oil pan or battery.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222070456468...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Here's a good preheater for the oil pan or battery.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222070456468...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Quite an interesting plug arrangement on the 110 plug.

Also the dreaded "Does not ship to Alaska". Seems like someone selling a heater of this sort would be all to happy to sell it to someone in "The Frozen Wastelands of the North"