It's cold..... Really cold.
 

Its cold. At the moment it is -16. It's supposed to get down to -25 tonight. The windchill ATM is -34...:gasp: When I got in my truck after church the inside of the window had a hard frost on the entire thing and it took me 5 minutes to scrape off.:diablo: Then the whole drive home sucked because I never got any hot air.:grrrrrr: Even with a 5.2 v8 MAGNUM it was freezing...:wink:

It's cold.:no:

Oh well.:lol: tomorrow I have a late start due to semesters and I'll have to see what the temp is when I get up.:mdr: It's all good. I only have to go to school until 11:45 too!:yipi::yipi:

You are gonna hate us SoCal'ers right now. We've been getting temps in the low 80s for some reason... We must have stolen heat from you guys!

Yeah.. I love being in SoCal... :]

Haha im in the same situation dude. Were sitting at -11 with -30 WC's.

So there must be snow everywhere?

Just about 0 here without wind chill. Its nasty!

Worst pic I've ever posted and ever will post...
http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/S7301521.jpg

Plug that "Magnum" in buddy - and get some cardboard in your grill (zip tie it in place if you can).
A V8 might actually take longer to get warmed up than a smaller motor (more cold metal to warm up).

I try not to take phone pics whenever possible... :rofl:

It's cold here, too! ATM it's like "9". :lol: No wind though. That will change tomorrow with the storm coming through.

Good point... Me and my dad searched for anything to plug in and didn't find anything...:sleep: I'll... Should I put cardboard covering the whole front grill?

Sadly, thats not a phone pic.:oh::rofl:

Usually my camera takes nice pics but the comination of the darkness and far awayness ruined it...:diablo:

Awe. Your camera doesn't have night vision mode..... :mdr:

When it's this cold you could probably get away with that. Though usually you cover about 60-80% of the area.

^+1 those cold stat ups are terrible on engines. If you don't have a block heater, get one. I'm cold too neighbor.

Haha, you're just as cold if not colder tonight. :na: I remember one of our old cars had a block heater, but we sold that awhile ago. Now the accord doesn't have one, and doesn't need one. This truck has had starting problems (battery draining), but for some reason the mechanic unhooked the rpm gauge :grrrrrr: and it has started perfectly ever since. This should be the beggest test for it yet.... I do have a garage going for me though.:yipi:

I'll cover about 3/4 of the grill area with cardboard and see how that works out tomorrow.

Unless that garage is heated it wont make a big difference in starting ease. :whistle:

Oh yes it does.:yes: It's probably -5 in the garage and -20/-40 windchill outside.

My grill aint too"cardboard friendly" either... i'll post a pic of my dilemma.

like I said, cold starts are bad on engines, and although the accord will start, it too should have a block heater. The cardboard is for your comfort, it doesn't help the vehicle. The proper way to heat the engine is with a heater that will replace a frost plug on your engine block. Alternatively, auto parts stores have magnetic heaters you can attach to your block or oil pan. Of course 99 percent of people don't know that and are just fine. My van has a block heater and a trickle charger that gets plugged in at 10 or below. Peace!

Just being enclosed will make a huge difference - especially if there is any wind.
Like stated earlier, just leave a couple corners open for a little air flow. At the temps you have right now, you can get away with complete coverage.
If you have a block heater, Dodge sometimes had them coiled up on the passenger side of the radiator (I'm assuming Dodge since you said 5.2 Magnum). Put your card board on the inside if you have to.

http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/S7301522.jpg
the engine.. Yep, its a dodge
http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/S7301523.jpg
cardboard idea?
http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/S7301524.jpg

I'll go out and try to strap the carboard on...

Guys, think about it- The wind cant get at the engine when it's in the garage, but it can't get at the engine when it's outside either because the truck is in the way! And unless the "wind" is somehow cooler than the stationary air then it wont cool the engine down any more. That's why when the weather people describe windchill they use the term "feels like". Things aren't actually colder just by being in the wind, unless the wind is colder.

Happen to have any better cardboard? One time I got caught in some unexpexted cold in eastern Montana - I stopped in a K-Mart and bought some thick plastic place mats that I cut up to fit in my grill. They actually worked great. Dont let your mom catch you digging through her china hutch...!

You might be able to cut each individual one to fit the four "openings".

what's nitro- I've lived in MN all my life. Cars start better enclosed than outside. Your theories are wrong.

Tell you what - you leave one rig outside, and one inside overnight. Then go out in the morning and try to start them. My money is on the one inside. And every farmer between Idaho and New York will tell you the same. I understand your rationale, as I also argued with my old man about it many years ago. But now, like he was then - Been there, done that.

Well, I only have one rig. So I can't perform your experiment. Must have something to do with air density/pressure having higher contact area with the metal... IDK.

I suppose I can accept defeat just this once. :lol: :oops:

I think it looks pretty badass. I clipped the ends off the zipties too... I'd estimate I have 40-50% covered. Should I cover more?
http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/S7301525.jpg
http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/S7301526.jpg

edit -:lol::rofl:

Awesome. If I said that on the kiddie forum 9 people would have cried, 11 would have argued with me and 4 would have asked for a ban. I just got kicked off of there yesterday for small minded people. VIVA LA RCM!

Metallover- off your license plate I have your parents names and social security numbers and your home address. I may open a new credit card! j/k, but be careful what you post on the net

Is that the Coors Light box??? Turn it around! :lol: Yeah, you could cover one more section.

Lets see, the air intake is on the left side looking at the pics. Should I cover that side or the right side? Or equal?:neutral:

I think you out-lasted the rest of us. :na:

Metallover- I would cover the side that isn't in front of the intake. It's more about functionality than looks.

Let me guess!.... Micro T forum?!?:lol:

I got the next section on. Now everyting is covered except for the original open area on the left which is where the intake is. If it gets too hot I'll go out and rip out some cardboard. Thanks for all the help guys!

Think I should say there's a heat wave next week and it'll be about 35!:intello: It's gunna be a big thaw!:yipi:

You'll need to do much more than you have, and doing the whole thing (including over the intake area) will be fine. Look at a few semi's and guys with diesel pickups - they will have the entire front covered. When it warms up over xero, they will unvoer some of it.
Your intake will be able to suck air from behind the grill.

What's Nitro: When you get to temps that are below -20, and with wind, just being enclosed will likely keep the temp up about 10+ degrees than outside. And at those temps, over a certain period, fluids can and will start icing. Oils, espeically in the tranny and diffs, gets extremely stiff. Fuels start to either form frost (gasoline), and the parafin in diesel will start to solidify. The wind chill will accelerate this process. If you cant park inside, at least park with the radiator pointed away from the wind.

I'll cover more in the morning... I'm tired.

Just remembered after the 10 minute drive home from church the engine temp was bottomed out.. haha

Like I said, there must be some part of the equation that I'm missing. It's been a long time since I took any classes on the subject. I've been outgunned 3:1 on this one, so I will take what was said as fact. The details really are irrelevant. :yes:

Thank you for the advice. My car is parked about 3' in front of a solid picket fence. I'm not sure where the wind comes from relative to my car's orientation, so I'll just hope it starts when I need it too. I have two batteries in it and that has seemed to help in the past.

maybe think of it this way-

when you are outside on a cold windy day your balls are much colder than if you were standing in a shelter, even though your balls aren't actually touching the wind. As things around you get colder you get colder. Basic thermal dynamics.

To back this up I must add your balls get.... well they shrivel up. Not the actual balls, but... you get what I mean. They are just trying to get out of the wind more because the wind makes everything cooler.

Am I late again? Did you guy already discuss the rectum as a hole or is that next weeks meeting? I don't have my curriculum here and I can't remember if that was before or after the discussion of the testicles natural defense of shrinking to avoid the cold or being inadvertently struck.

way late man. we've been over (and through:lol:) all human cylyndrical orifices, and a few man made

Reading it the way you put it, I’m kind of glad I missed out on that discussion Harold. :lol:


Just a note on wind chill and the wind chill factor. It is only used for animals and yes us humans also to factor in what the temperature feels like to our skin. It is some magical formula that takes into consideration what the wind is taking away from our skin in the terms of heat. I don't know the big terms. But one day while drive 65mph down the road I asked why the digital thermometer that the car had didn't display the wind chill factor. Just something to drum up conversation to keep my coworker awake behind the wheel. Well it worked 140 miles later the answer was explained to me. Exaggeration but he enjoyed telling me why and I wasn't going to get any sleep with him driving. Wind chill will have a factor on object like metal or water but it will only effect how fast that object reaches the temp of the air. Driving down the road at 60mph in 10 degree weather should have one hell of a wind chill. If it effect object you might burn you hand on your car not from it being so hot but the wind chill made it -100 f. Water will not freeze if the air temp is above freezing no matter what temp the wind chill is factored at. I did check to make sure he wasn't just BS me the whole time.


Two factors to consider why a vehicle may start easier if it is inside. One it is in a controlled environment. Two is the amount of moisture that may be inside that garage vs. outside the garage. Both have some kind of effect on the overall temperature including the cooling of the earths crust blah ,blah. It may be the garage has a nice concrete floor which helps in insulating it from the soil which could very well be 20 degree outside but inside the concrete in not. It has been ages since I was an inspector and knew all the r-values that a slab of concrete has. Point is controlled vs. not controlled area. Most attached garages weather officially heated or not. Get heat from the house via attic space, crawlspace, under/around/through doors, and/or the freezer that is always on, the vehicles engine that was just parked, being in a controlled area it will retain that heat for quite a long time. So being parked in an area that can keep moisture (frost) out will help you vehicle start. Believe it or not just a carport that keeps the frost off you vehicle will help. Not in the cold ass unbearable weather you guys are having though.

Its -2, windchill -19 here in NW burbs of Chicago. Anyone living in Arizona or So Cali will ge their payback with heat in a few months, but I envy you all now. My car is frozen, I literally cant start it. I think the battery is frozen. I would have it inside the garage hooked up to a slow charger with a heater on like last year but my wife took it upon herself to fill our garage up with excess supplies for her photo labs. She can taxi me around till spring then LOL

I had to turn on the AC today, and usually rolling down the windows alone suffices...