55 Fargo

Greg, what kind of vent, do you have some type of vent to alow moisture out of the garage in winter. I could use something like this, I have windows, should I leave 1 open a bit, fo venting mositure.My garage floors are presently dry, had it up to 60 in there yesterday, today it's 30 in there............

Bill , I think Greg is refering to the ability of heat transfer may be greater when using water as opposed to glycol antifreeze mixtures. I think what he was trying to demonstrate was this, his cooling system can dissipate engine heat more efficiently on hot summer days, when he has predominately water as a coolant. The premise is this, the higher the glycol to water ratio, the less heat dissipation from the rad, and cooling system. By running higher water ratios, your engine may run cooler on hot days than it would with a higher ratio of glycol. The 50/50 anti-freeze to water mix may not boil, but it may keep your cooling system running higher than a higher ratio of water or pure water. Some of the guys recommend we run our flatheads at 180 to 200, some guys feel we should run our engines at 165 to 175 range. I know an old timer here in my area who is panicky when his engine is running over 160 in summer. I think 160 is too low, I like the 170 to 180 range. Whats your take on this Bill...............Fred

Thanx for chiming in Bill, sometimes we Manitobans get all the brundt of the cold weather jokes. Was looking on webpage this morning and Edmonton is actually a colder city than Winnipeg, this is the result of a 30 year weather data study, Calgary is not far behind Winnipeg. USDA Plant hardiness zones Edmonton 3, Winnipeg 3B to 4, and Calgary 4.Winnipeg uses temp reading from the airport, which is located on the outskirts of the city on it's northwest side, it can be -32 at the airport, and -25 in town, not loooking so great but it makes a difference when you walking in it. Southern Manioba summers are great, where else in the world can you go, where the winter is socold, that the lakes freeze 3 ft of ice, then in summer these same lakes are beautiful water of 75 degrees, only in Manitoba, and Minnesota too...........fred

It's -25 f here right now, with a windchill of -40, it's supposed to be up to 35 on the weekend, sn't happen fast enough............Fred

Robert, BC on the coast, has only 1 season rain and more rain, the interior and the Okanogan Valley has beautiful summers though. Robert Winnipeg has summers much like Southern Ontario, mind you there shorter, but hot and humid, lots of standing water, why else would we have so many skeeters

James I know what you mean, started my engine the 1st few times on a 12 volt battery, when I bough the 6 volt it was noticeably slower

Jack, is there 2 wires at the gas tank sending unit, and 1 from this point as a ground wire. 1st things, make srue all of your connections and wires from fuel gauge to sending unit are in good clean condition. Has your gauge always read like this? How old is the sending unit, an old original, inside the sending unit there is a wire winding, if at the half way point the wires are frayed or broken, you can have inaccurate readings. A lot of times if the gauge and sender are in good working condition, the wires and/or connections are the culprit. You may have to pull the sender unit, and bench test it, or run some new wire from the gauge to the sender and see what happens. DO NOT HOOK UP OR DISCONNECT WIRES TO THE SENDER WITHOUT YOUR BATTERY DISCONNECTED, AS A SPARK COULD BLOW UP YOU AND YOUR TANK TO SMITHERINES. Norms Coupe knows how to bench test thses senders, hopefully he will chime in................Fred

Much hotter humid days and warmer nights than Alberta, unfortunately we need the central air here even at night. Summer nights are very warm in southern Manitoba, gardens grow very well here........................Fred ps so do the skeeters unfortunately and Winnipeg has never had snow in July or August either, I have personally never seen snow here in June Or Septemebr either

Robert, thats okay, we Manitobans are tough,Torontonians would perish here, Winnipeg is known as the coldest big city in the world. We suffer in winter, but a Manitoba summer is probably the best in the prairie region of Canada.

Greg, In the Winnipeg area, (200 miles north of Fargo ND, 450 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and 800 miles east of Calgary Alberta), it is right now-15 f. Tonight it will be down to -30 f, with a windchill by morning of -45 is possible. Right now it is 50 in the garage, with heaters on. Now doesn't 0 seem balmy compared to this...........Fred

Don, Christmas day 1961 I was big 34 days old, my Very First Christmas, but as hard as I try just can't remember that Christmas, musta been the strong formula I drank. You were doing well at 13 years of age, you bought your Pop an 8mm Movie Camera, you musta had a paper route , or pumping gas at a filling station. Nice pics, cool old car...........Fred

Ralph go to Princess Auto, there about $5.00 or so, should be stores in Calgary and Lethbridge..........Fred

Here are the pics of the old cables, one is all teped up, these are 1 gauge cables, the new ones of course are 2/0, there is a pic showing the size difference. In this case bigger is best.............

[Fred, I don't mind temps around zero if the wind isn't howling. Like you said zero isn't all that bad without the wind. That said. I'm still not going to go out and look at an old car at those temps. That can wait until it's at least around 15 or 20 degrees. This cold snap is supposed to end this weekend. Hi Norm, I was only joking;) , yes the cold sucks it's this cold. It's supposed to be warmer here by the weekend to, but highs of about 10 to 15. Today, My almost 3 yo Daughter and I went to town, to pick up bat cables, it was about -25 at the time, but no wind, my 2005 Caravan warms up good, my Little Girl was content, all bundled up watching Stuart Littlle on DVD in the van. But when it's this cold I am always a little nervous, cuz things mechanical like to fail at very sub-zero temps. Hope all goes well in this potential car purchase for you.

[ We're in the deep freeze right now with temps around zero and below and wind chills down in the minus 20's through the weekend. Norm in Manitoba Canada we go out to the lake, snowmobiling, take strolls outdoors, go sledding and skating at 0 farenheit:D . But the -20s windchill does not sound like fun, it hit -30:eek: here last night with no wind, now that was crisp as I walked my son to the school bus at the end of our driveway. Heck 2 years ago I pulled a distributor out of a parts car for Coatney at -15 f:rolleyes: , actually that wasn't much fun, but I know Don needed it

Hi all, I discovered my coil is leaking oil out of the plug in area for the high resistance wire. This was a new coil I got from work, it had sat on the parts shelf in the vehicle maintenance shop for about 20 + years or more, who knows , but a long time. What would cause this, will it fail soon?

Hi all, today, I went to a local Auto Electric shop, had 2/0 batttery cables made-up. This guy did a great job, using welding cable, copper eyelets, and lugs, total price including Canadas mega taxes $64.00 or $52.00 in US Funds. Installed them as soon as I got home, my garage temp was 26, outside it was -30 last night. Hit the starter button, it was cranking a lot faster than with the old cables which were 1 gauge , and the cables from solenoid to starter was in rough shape. The engine cold started way better than it ever did before. I also discovered oil leaking out of my coilwhere the coil wire pushes in, so will need a coil, this is not a good sign. Any idea why a new coil should leak oil, does it mean it is not producing enough voltage for spark too?...............Fred

Brother I have the utmost repect for you, working with Young offenders, troubled teens are unbelievably tough to work with. That is a very high stress burn-out career. I at one point worked in a secure custody group home center, I only stayed 1 year, then went back to Adult Corrections, working in a prison is sometimes a lot easier that working with juvies. I now work in a Minimum Security Prison Farm, it is a cake walk compared to kids or a Medium/Maximum security jail like the Main Prison next door to my workplace, I also worked medium and Maximum security during my career.............Fred

Federal Correctional Officer 15 years in service, 15 to go to retirement.

The starter was refurbished last spring, so maybe it still is a problem not sure, the solenoid swithc seems to work well, the cables are newer with the exception of the section from the soleniod to starter, that piece is 1/0, and is taped on one section of it, but the connnections are clean and tight. New coil 2 years ago, but it had sat in a shop for 20 years, new plugs 2500 mile s gao,new point cap, wires etc, points last gapped .020. I tried the gas down the carb, it was spilled out the bottom of carb body. Not sure what the problem is yet, but it has always been starting like this, at least for me, the choke is working well.......Fred

I have thought of the same thing, but was not sure I was on the right track. My engine has miles thats for sure. So cold starts my be affected in this way you have decribed, lets face it she always starts, some day she will get a fresh rebuilt engine, but for now I will driver her as is. How about hot starts after a run on a hot summers day, what may cause slow cranking and hard staring when the engine is running at the upper limit of engine temps 190 will say....Fred

Hi Jerry, tried this mroning, garage temp 34, poured a shot down carb, cranked engine, because the car has not been run for a few days it still took some cranking to get her started. I am convinced it's either ignition or electrical, but what may be the problem is still a mystery to me. Once this engine is started she is good for restarting for the balance of the day, except if it's a hot day and the underhood temp gets hot, she will sometimes crank slow then start, not sure if thats just the starter motor getting the effects of the engine block being hot, or if my coil gets weak, this never happens in cooler weather. I am hoping to solve this one by spring, I suppose I look at it as Don C has mentined, it if starts whats the problem. But lot of you guys don't have to crank your engines over and over to get it cold started, unless your carbs have run dry...................Fred

What about not attaching the carport to an existing structure, calling it a portable car port, I can't believe some city ordinace won't allow simple add-ons, or sheds with a wood floor, whats next piles and a grade beam for the dog house. How about a zoning variance, sure sounds like this municipal government is downright rigid and needs to be called on the carpet....Fred