[Alpines] OFF TOPIC SNOW.....

[Tony Somebody]

Jan- the secret is cardboard in front of the radiator. have a door or 3 sided
window in the middle- you can open if it gets to hot- dont want to blow a head
gasket. I just drove my Tiger back from WVa to southern IL. and I was
freezing- plenty of cold air leaks even with a hardtop. Of course many can be
fixed with some attention to existing seals. Im lucky my Tiger runs cool-
perhaps cooler than anyones Tiger in the summer. My friend insisted at SUNI
the gauge was broke or the sending unit bad. I told him to wait until we had
to stop and go for a peorid of time and he would see and feel the engine
getting hotter.
Over T'giving it was running 170- not hot enough to make the engine run well.
I stopped at a gas station and w/ my razor knife made a cardboard template and
blocked the radiator. Temp went up to 200 and I stuffed some paper towells in
the gaps under the hardtop.I like driving of the night. Fewer law officers and
less traffic. I also tend to drive a bit faster. For anyone that makes notes,
the engine ran much better at 200 vs. 170. Gas milage went up as did power.
The sbf engine isnt suppose to be that cold at top speed. I have an AMC 5
speed and my speedodmeter is on my GPS- I tried to keep it below 2400 rpms or
I was worried about a ticket. It is nice that most states now have 70 mph
speed limits- except IL. of course but they are raising truckers to 65 after
the first of the year. Cars wherent mentioned in the news article.
 SO, you can drive a Beam, 4 or 8 cylinder year round. I did so from 1972 thru
1982 and although I would like to keep my cars in a warm garage from cold
weather until spring, I drove the Tiger to the garage tonight and with luck
will get it out on those days that for no reason, it warms up enough I can run
some oil thru the engine, some fluid thru the water passages and get the
thrill Ive been getting since my very first Tiger ride. With luck by spring my
S5 Alpine will be almost as fun- if you have an Alpine, OD makes it a
completely different car.So much so when I purchased it, I flew to Phenoix,
drove to Austin- burning a hole thru number 1 just short of Austin- fix the
piston, stopped in Dallas to visit friends and those miles where about how
many I was short of getting home before I lost a bearing cap off number 3 , I
think it was. I shouldnt have tried starting it as I shut it down before any
damage was done BUT no signal, 3 a.m. and I wasnt
 sure why oil pressure was jumping around when I killed the engine- live and
learn. Alpines can be as much fun as some Tigers- but if possible dont drive
them in the snow. I did but in those days I had to or maybe I just wanted to.
Merry Xmas to EVERYONE
TonytheTiger
PS- Im going to pull the thermostat and check it w/a thermometer and hot water
to see if its stuck open or opening pretemp.