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Show ; Dinosaurland ) Outdoors ; By HarttWixom , v ' : - Vernal Express Outdoors Writer ! " . Cold weather auto helps Cold weather like that of the past two months has made, to a certain extent, j outdoorsmen of us all. There is the harried housewife out . trying to start a car with frozen battery, a senior citizen shoveling walks and driveways, children gathering or cut-5 cut-5 ting wood. I've seen colder temperatures than even this winter, ; J especially since spending much time , since early fall in western Wyoming, where it was minus 45 in early February, and 39 below just a few days 1 ago- It reminds me of time I've spent in ; the late season Book Cliffs, where wind chill factor could keep a deer hunter's four-wheel drive from starting even at midday, and any treadless tires stuck in the tiniest snowdrift. I never had . trouble cranking my old hunting truck, ? a rather reliable Chevy with 25,000 ! miles. I've learned this: if you have . reasonable expectations that your vehicle vehi-cle will reward you with that running motor, there are some things you'll : have to do. First is to get a tune-up. You : will need the proper gap in your spark ; plugs, if not new ones. Oil spills around the distributor wires can mean a loss of '- power. Your carburetor will need ad-: ad-: justing for cold weather. You just might ; have to sand or file battery connections, ; and if it is an old one (easy prey for : minus temperatures) you might need a ; new one. i: But, providing you have done all that, ; what next? I have started my vehicles ' ; in up to minus 39 temperatures by plac- ing three blankets under the hood. I make certain the battery and car-' car-' buretor are well covered. Then I place a large blanket over the entire works, tucking it in like a baby. Naturally, these will have to be the type you don't need for the bed. They can get greasy, and probably will. The old light bulb trick helps if the rest doesn't. Add a light bulb on an extension ex-tension cord beneath the main blanket, placing it so it does not touch blanket or any oily spot on the engine. I place the light upright on top of the engine. I can't string this the easy way under the hood because the latter wouldn't close. 1 have to do so from the ground up through. That's where a hook in the bulb holder comes in handy. They are sold in most hardware stores. Best also have a cover which allows the heat of the bulb out. but encases it so it won't touch or burn something nearby. Bulb-holders made of plastic, can't handle anything hotter than 75-100 watts. But a metal holder can handle the greater heat of say, 200 watts. On one particular cold day when nothing worked everything stops w hen exposed to minus 45 ( I do not have a carport garage, or engine warmer plug-in ) for very long I solved the problem pro-blem by removing the battery, wraping it in paper, carrying it into the house. I let it sit on the heating vent for half an hour. After fastening it back into place, I was rewarded with a rapid purr of the motor. Some people feel pouring gasoline directly into the carburetor is risky, since you need an ounce or two, and too much can trigger a fire. (However, most of us do this when running out of gas, and having to get things going again.) I remove the air filter, and add gas directly into carburetor on cold mornings. If I can lift the hood and let the sun warm it, fine. If not, I do it as explained, and have a cloth handy to smother any flame which might ever develop. You may want to consult your mechanic on that point. But for me, it works when I'm in a hurry. I also use the gas tank de-icer fluid, a dollar a can, and a can per tankful. It helps on those extremely cold mornings. Make sure, of course, that you remove all blankets before attempting to start the vehicle. When you remove the air filter, work the little choke in the carburetor to make certain it is not frozen shut. The above costs money: extension cord light bulb, blankets, a can of fuel, de-icer, all following the tune up. But if you seek ' desirable transportation, it can make the difference. Whereas this may not all be necessary, especially inside in-side a warm carport at night, there are also times you might be long periods at the ski resort, out hunting, ice fishing, traveling in cold weather. While four-wheel drive is more expensive, ex-pensive, it can mean security now and later out camping-fishing-hunting. If you don't have a 4x4, make sure you have good tread on those tires! Even a four wheel drive is not going to do much on sheer ice, without top tread. I also carry a shovel in the back of my truck just in case of drifting snow, or catching roadside snow. I also carry a bag of salt in the truck. There is nothing, not even a shovel, which can take the place of one handful of salt under the drive wheel (on my vehicle the right rear tire) on. ice and hard-packed snow. I has "pulled" me out of many a tight situation. Not long ago I managed to get a rancher from his meadow to his roadway by simply adding salt to the steeper hill sector even his tractor tires would not grip. Adding weight to the rear of the vehicle, vehi-cle, such as bags of sand, also helps. It will avoid fish-tailing the lighter back end. Most deer hunters take chains, at least two, i they are applied to front tires if in a 4x4, and all front-wheel drives.) but there is no reason not to keep them on hand during the winter months. However, chains are expensive, expen-sive, and useful only on actual ice-snow conditions. You should remove them when crossing stretches of pavement, or you'll wear them out in a hurry! Incidentally, after riding on snow-clogged snow-clogged roads this past several months in a neighbor's front -wheel drive, there is no doubt in my mind they are superior to our conventional vehicles. Too bad. Detroit. I think you goofed on this line-the traditional back wheel drive isn't as good north of the Mason-Uixon Mason-Uixon snow country line. Positraction'.' Any two-wheel drive is lctler than one. Not as good as a 4x4. but belter than one rear wheel. These tips, from my experiences, are meant to help the sportsman get around in cold weather. But if it helps the little old lady, or new driver get around this winter, so much the better. |