Errol

Haven't fired mine up for years either.

Technique for those who haven't ever seen and/or used.:

Fill with gas.
Pump pressure up..
Put hand over end of nozzle and crack valve.
Raw gas will hit your hand and fall into the preheat trough.
Shut valve off, remove hand (G) and light gas in preheat trough.
When most of this gas has burned, crack valve not pointing nozzle at
anything.
If hot enough will get the characteristic 'roar' and thin blue flame
that can be used to heat any thing (mine was used to heat a big old
soldering iron that you could almost weld with and to unfreeze frozen
water pipes up in Iowa.
If not preheated enough, will send a thin stream of fire (like a flame
thrower) out for three to ten feet depending on how much you open the
valve. Experience taught you how much you needed to pre heat to get
the gas to vaporize and burn properly.

When full of gas not a lot of room for the air pressure you pumped in
starting. After a little while of running that pressure would start
down. You just set on ground and pumped pressure back up while
running. You can't over pressurize and rupture tank as body made out
of heavy sheet metal and only has a little hand pump.

I need to get mine out of the corner pile of 'stuff' and rehab. You
never know when you might need something like that G

May get the buggy whip out at the same time.

Oh, those good ole days G


Big John


On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 22:13:22 GMT, Errol Groff
wrote:


A long time back Alaska Flyer magazine had an article about
overnighting on frozen lakes. The authors used a old fashion plumbers
blow torch and a length of cheap stove pipe to duct the heat to the
engine cowling. The torch could be refueled from the wing tank drain
so no extra fuel needed to be carried.

Although I have one of those old timey torches I have never attempted
to fire it up. Too chicken I guess.

Errol Groff
EAA 60159



On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 04:44:14 -0500, Michael Horowitz
wrote:

I'd be interested in any schemes you may have developed for
pre-heating your engine.

One idea I heard was to use flex ducting to direct car exhaust into
the cowling; that does present CO concerns, but on could leave the a/c
doors open. - Mike