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Greetings:

It's winter here in Tennessee a question for the group: If I took a
flexible Aluminim duct,/ hose hooked it up to my car exhaust pipe,
then put the other end in the lower end of the engine cowling to pre-
heat the aircraft's engine would this cause any problems?

I would drill a small hole in the cars exhaust pipe to allow for
exhaust water to escape

Today's cars are very clean burning with almost zero emissions or so
they say? I would not direct the exhaust at the airframe or the
engine just enough to enter the cowling at the nose strut. I would
open the oil door to allow a flow of exhaust. I would leave the cabin
door open on the aircraft to make sure no CO2 besides, my aircraft
has a CO2 detector installed.

I would allow the exhaust to heat the engine up just enough to get it
past freezing give or take plus turn the prop to limber the oil

This seems like a inexpensive idea to pre heat

Any corrosion potential ?? What do you think

Thank you for your comments.

Depending on your ambient temps and if you have a hangar with electric, just
a sealed light bulb (100 or 120 watts) hanging in your oil door might be all
you need. Just make sure the bulb is sealed in a casing, such as a drop
light, and won't burn any hoses or such.

You could put it on a timer that goes off at say at 11 pm and turns back on
at 7 am...or whatever would suit your flying needs. They make inexpensive
times that even know what day of the week it is and if you only fly on
Saturday and Sunday...well you get the idea.

Reiff and Tanis Heaters are pretty inexpensive to buy and install...again,
if you have electric in your hangar.

Without electric and a hangar...hmmm...there's always the FBO 25 dollar fee
or a propane fired pre-heater...but unless you make it yourself...it's
pretty expensive. There can't be much to it. A propane tank, a regulator
and hose, a squirrl cage fan, two clothes dryer hoses and some type of heat
exchanger box. I'm sure someone has posted a home-made unit online
somewhere. Readers, anyone know of such a thing??

Kobra