Brush Guard Cover Requirements?

[Rainman]

Hey all,

Having little need to drive my A2 in extreme cold, I have seldom thought of running a "grille blanket". Last week I was forced to move my A2 to a different storage location, some 50 miles away. The Ohio temp here that day was 16 F, a might colder than it used to get at Ft. Hood, TX. Concerned with operating temp only, since I don't have a heater, I put on the brush guard cover for my hour long drive. I hit the highway, chugging along at 50 MPH. About 15 minutes out, I saw my temp start to rise, higher than I see it in normal driving. To make a long story even longer, I had to pull off the highway, and remove the cover totally before I boiled over, to get back to a normal range. Now my A2 has a re-cored radiator, maybe not as heavy duty as an original, but WTF? If 16 degrees isn't cold enough to run a covered radiator, just how cold does it need to be? Has anyone ever actually had the need to run a closed front? I am sure a simple heater core would not completly reduce the overheating potential I had created.

As for the drive, other than my feet, that radiant heater between the seats, that little area over the muffler, warmed the inside up to comfortable. In service, we used that spot to dry gloves and warm C rations. Made me think of the ammo box console, or oven as it should be known, and of the many miles I have driven in M151's with gas cans sitting over that muffler. Anyone with past experience?


Rainman

[mrdibbles]

Rainman I really like you man Just keep bringing it.

As for the blanket heck no I have never needed it for cold weather. Pledge turns to acetone in sub-zero so I stear clear

Besides... mine is there as a "Brush Guard" for when I get a little loose and take this bad mother into the scrub brush. It is not a question of if but when... trust me.

[halftracknut]

Scrub brush....yea right.....with that paint job???

[k8icu]

First off where abouts in Ohio are you. I'm in Cleveland.

Secondly, I use to run my M151 with a winter cover and found that if you kept it fully closed it would cause the vehicle to start over heating unless it was like below 0. I would in the winter put it about halfway down and the thing would run tosty but not over heat.

These days the old girl stays in the garage in the winter.

[Rainman]

Thanks for the input. Sub zero, so that's where I screwed up. That or just half covered
would have worked. Like I say, with the re-core, I may not have the full cooling capacity
as the original radiator would have provided. Another lesson learned.

Thanks MrD, back at ya. Your a quick wit! Acetone huh?

k8icu, I'm in the Falls, just north of Akron, the move was to Massilon, Ohio. Previously
stored in the basement of a Subway sandwich shop, it now resides in a temp controlled
medical warehouse. Needless to say, I don't work on it much in the winter.

I really did mean for this to be technical question, sorry Moose53!

Rainman