Quote:
Originally Posted by David R Leifheit
One of my trucks, that I used to drive fairly regularly (until something from inside the engine punched a hole in the oil pan) came factory equipped with -no- heater. Defroster ducts aren't even installed (slots are there but that is it, the metal duct that fastens to the dash isn't there).
Nothing like driving it in the winter, wing windows open to keep airflow on the windshield so it didn't fog over. Fun times...  |
Winter driving with wing windows wide open reminds me of Big Green, the 1961 K1500.
She came up with a new heater fan noise, like a little bird chirp. Then, it was a semi-screech. Off goes the fan switch, on comes the windshield fog, out goes the vision, and open go the vent windows. As winter followed fall that year, little league screech became a major leaguer. At 20 below late in January, I took a stance at shade tree garage center, threw down the gauntlets (chopper mitts), and pulled Big Green's heater fan and motor (which, by then, had stopped screeching, mainly because it stopped running). In dark of night, my impatience, and a too loose crescent wrench weren't making progress on a rusted nut. Big amounts of penetrating oil and a couple of hammer raps later, centrifugal fan and fan motor relaxed their mutual death grip. Fan shaft decided this would be a good time to rotate. "Good move", I said--I still had the hammer: "Here's some 30W motor oil". I spun the shaft, gravity did the hard work, I added more penetrating oil, and the combined effort re-lubricated the factory lubricated (so you never have to do that again) fan bearing/bushing. Heater fan has no desire to repeat that nightmare and is still walking the straight and narrow.
My grandparents had blankets and hot bricks to keep from freezing in their Model T. I still carry that hammer in cold weather.