[Roadsters] How to warm up a Roadster?

[Jim Gammon]

My Dad is 85. He has owned cars since he had a Model T when he was 16. He was a mechanic and apprentice machinest before he left high school. He and his buddies built a racer with his buddies from a model A and they ran it for speed on the desert outside LA. After a time in the USAF during WW2 he was, among other jobs the chief engineer in the Thompson Products Engine Parts development lab. You know them today as TRW. He was chief engineer at Purolater Filters back when they were huge.
   
  He told me many years ago, the best way to warm up a car is to drive it. He said an engine doesn't benefit from being warmed up once the oil pressure is up, just don't get on it hard. He has gotten huge miles from cars. Even back in the 60's, he didn't expect to open an engine before 100,000 miles, and he never did. His best, 240,000 on a 1969 Volvo without opening the engine.I had it the last 60,000. We have no idea how long it went after that, we sold it. 
   
  All he did was take it easy when cold and change the oil every 3,000 miles.
   
  I think he knows engines. He helped me rebuild my first Datsun.
   
  JimG


James Fogg <James at jdfogg.com> wrote:  > To choke or not to choke, that is the question.
>
> Once and for all I'm trying to figure out the best way to
> start off without fouling the plugs or causing gasket
> problems due to metal components warming up (and therefore
> expanding) at different rates.

You don't have much control over, or contribution to, expansion. The
only thing you can do wrong is run too lean, which will cause a higher
cylinder temp. I use full choke for cold starts and I open the choke
slowly until the engine starts to stumble (too lean) and then close it
up a bit. I test the choke setting a few times while it warms up. If
you're really worried about a too-fast warm-up then you want to be a bit
generous with the choke. Plugs are cheap and the kind of fouling they
experience with choking will burn off after a bit of driving. True
fouling is best done by oil contamination (worn rings, or worse).

If you open the choke fully as soon as it's running and use the throttle
to keep it running you are running lean (hot). The choke isn't an on/off
proposition. It's a variable setting that will get closer to full open
as the engine warms.

> I've always choked it as little as possible, for the least
> amount of time as possible. If it's warm out then that's not
> too much of a problem. When it's colder out it becomes more
> of an issue. The hand throttle really helps with this. I try
> not to take off until I see a bump on the temp gauge.


That's a good policy.
________________________________________

gtpjimgammon at yahoo.com

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