[AT] Oil and cold weather.

[Ron Cook]

Gene,
     The 124s used to come in and out of Sioux City Airbase frequently 
when they were in service.  Nice sounding machines!  I always pitied the 
poor guy sticking out of the top giving taxiing observations when it was 
below zero.  I did witness the heaters working on the B-29s and B-50s.  
The C-124s never stopped long enough to cool off, I guess.  Or they kept 
them running.  I did witness a jeep yanking on a rope to start a B-29.  
Now that was interesting, to say the least.  They had every Herman 
Nelson and every ground power unit on the base that would go on that 
thing and still had to start #4 with the jeep.  It was cold!  Waaaay 
below zero.  I am guessing it was Jan 1957 or 8.  They should have just 
parked some of the F-86s in front of the thing and warmed up the whole 
airbase!
     Preheating is the way to go, and I think your idea of doing it when 
below 35 is wise.  I have started many flat engines at colder temps than 
that without preheat but it is really hard on things, I think.  Plus, if 
you get a miss start, you frost the plugs and now you are just sitting 
until something warms the cylinders or you pull the plugs.  With light 
enough oil,(65) I have started R-985s and R-1340s down at around 15 to 
20F without preheat, or very little preheat.  Danged hard to get them 
going, and impossible to keep the oil pressure below redline during 
warmup.  Not a very good practice.
     I still like waiting until spring. :-)
      Are you referring to the Harold Johnson that did the airshows with 
the Ford Tri-Motors?

Ron Cook
Salix, IA

On 1/2/2011 8:00 AM, Gene Dotson wrote:
>      Ron;
>
>      Never flown behind a round motor. I did one time get a ride with Harold
> Johnson in his Waco. Probably the smoothest pilot I have ever flown with.
>
>      Biggest engines I have flown were the GTIO 520's in a Cessna 421. Very
> temperamental engines and very critical on EGT and CHT temperatures. I
> really liked flying the 340's. Lot simpler systems.
>
>      I always preheat the IO 360 Continental in my Maule at less than about
> 35 degrees. Use a forced air kerosene heater at the rear cowl outlets so the
> oil gets the heat first.
>
>      Our C-124's were a challenge to get started in cold weather and required
> 2 heat carts with dual outlets to warm the engines. With ground power we
> could heat the cabin with the gasoline cabin heaters to a tolerable
> temperature while waiting for the engines to warm.
>
>                      Gene
>
>