Cold weather?

LilBerx · Jan 15, 2013

Just curious to see how many of you live near cold weather... An if you drive your stang in the cold.

I live in Utah, and I drive 30 miles each way to the Idaho boarder for work.

The past 3 mornings have been freezing, at the warmest -10* we have been seeing -20*-30* weather. My car hates it'

Mustang5L5 · Jan 15, 2013

Not that cold...but cars tend to run and drive a little different when it hits 0 around here.

srtthis · Jan 15, 2013

mine sits in the garage when it gets around 40. i aint got no damn heat!

ratio411 · Jan 15, 2013

I would think it would run great at that temp.... ???
When I lived in Minnesota, I parked up my LSx Z28 through the winter, however, I would sneak it out and play with it when the roads were clean and dry between snows, and it was GREAT! All that super cold air felt like it added 50hp to the car! The colder the better.

srtthis · Jan 15, 2013

ratio411 said:
I would think it would run great at that temp.... ???
When I lived in Minnesota, I parked up my LSx Z28 through the winter, however, I would sneak it out and play with it when the roads were clean and dry between snows, and it was GREAT! All that super cold air felt like it added 50hp to the car! The colder the better.

my truck liked it down to about 10* after that it started to knock up top.

and also around that point it liked to get squirlly around between the 2-3 shift and put me sideways at around 100mph once.

Husky44 · Jan 15, 2013

Neither of my running Mustangs have tires or suspensions suitable for the winter traction conditions, so they get stored for the winter.

That said, in extreme cold, I'd be concerned about dissimilar metals. The Army up here uses a vehicle called a SUSV (tracked snow vehicle). It has a high-end Mercedes motor, with aluminum heads on a steel block. We were constantly cracking heads because the engines got uber-hot while running, and then when shut down they cooled at different rates. Metals do crazy stuff starting around -10, and get plain dangerous at -40. So does rubber.

At -25, a ball that is much the same as your average racketball (a broomball for you northerners) will shatter like glass. Hydraulic seals fail regularly at that temp.

So no, when it gets cold, the Mustangs stay tucked in all toasty-warm, and the Excursion gets to earn its keep.

ratio411 · Jan 15, 2013

Husky44 said:
Neither of my running Mustangs have tires or suspensions suitable for the winter traction conditions, so they get stored for the winter.

I tried my Z28 a time or two during the winter before the roads were clean and dry, and it was impossible to get it moving from a stop with even the slightest dusting of snow on the road.

larrym1961 · Jan 15, 2013

I drove my Mustang for the first 14 years I owned it through Idaho and Colorado Winters. Since 2001 it sits in the Winter and I drive a 4X4 unless the roads are dry then I will drive it on occasion

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jan 15, 2013

Just gutted my heater box this year. Very very rarely ever use heat, because I never drive the car unless it's nice out anyway. I do plan on getting an aftermarket defrost setup just for dealing with foggy windshield.

ratio411 · Jan 15, 2013

85_SS_302_Coupe said:
Just gutted my heater box this year. Very very rarely ever use heat, because I never drive the car unless it's nice out anyway. I do plan on getting an aftermarket defrost setup just for dealing with foggy windshield.

Any specific reason for doing away with the heater core?
My 87 had the heater core disconnected at the firewall since I bought it.
I never asked the PO why he bypassed it, but my guess would be it was leaking.
The tubes over the manifold have one hose in the rear, going from one tube back to the other.

I guess what I am wondering is how hard is it to replace a heater core?
I live in Florida, and the car is a rarely driver, not daily driver, so I could probably do without heat, but I'd like it to be right.

gearheadboy · Jan 15, 2013

ratio411 said:
Any specific reason for doing away with the heater core?
My 87 had the heater core disconnected at the firewall since I bought it.
I never asked the PO why he bypassed it, but my guess would be it was leaking.
The tubes over the manifold have one hose in the rear, going from one tube back to the other.

I guess what I am wondering is how hard is it to replace a heater core?
I live in Florida, and the car is a rarely driver, not daily driver, so I could probably do without heat, but I'd like it to be right.

If you want to know how hard it is.. well its not HARD. It is time consuming. Considering you want to do it right I assume, knowing you. Nicest way is to remove the front seats, pull the console, drop the column, remove the box and replace it. 6-8 hrs if i remember correctly. I think the book time was like 10?

ratio411 · Jan 15, 2013

gearheadboy said:
If you want to know how hard it is.. well its not HARD. It is time consuming. Considering you want to do it right I assume, knowing you. Nicest way is to remove the front seats, pull the console, drop the column, remove the box and replace it. 6-8 hrs if i remember correctly. I think the book time was like 10?

Wow!
That's alot of hours!
No wonder they didn't fix it. The PO was so cheap, they replaced the GT headlight switch with an LX switch to save half the money, so I don't have a foglight switch because of it.

Btw: Sorry to the OP for hi-jacking.
I went ahead and made my own thread, but Gearhead was already responding while I was posting it.

gearheadboy · Jan 15, 2013

Almost forgot you will need to R&I the refrigerant if you have A/C.

aar0s · Jan 15, 2013

mine come out only if the roads are clean, usually the day after a rain and the deicer is washed away, otherwise they stay put up. I havent put more than 5 miles on either the 01 or the 91 in a month.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jan 16, 2013

ratio411 said:
Any specific reason for doing away with the heater core?
My 87 had the heater core disconnected at the firewall since I bought it.
I never asked the PO why he bypassed it, but my guess would be it was leaking.
The tubes over the manifold have one hose in the rear, going from one tube back to the other.

I guess what I am wondering is how hard is it to replace a heater core?
I live in Florida, and the car is a rarely driver, not daily driver, so I could probably do without heat, but I'd like it to be right.

To be completely honest...i just got lazy. I even bought a header core, had the dash out, and just did not feel like putting all that crap back together. Plus like I said, I use defrost and heat less than 5 times a year, if that. I've already looked into aftermarket defrost/heater setups that I plan on mounting under the dash and using the factory duct to blow defrost...that's plenty for how and when I drive my car. As a bonus I can do away with the heater core hoses under the hood, which for a carbed car IMO look like crap, and I can't run the EFI style tubes because they get in the way of the fuel lines on my carb.

Vaz88GT · Jan 16, 2013

10 degree's here. Mine sat outside covered since October.

Started up just fine last week, drove it around.

7991LXnSHO · Jan 16, 2013

My '79 was like a Honey Badger that did not care. It just needed 4wd.

My fuel injected 91 is cold blooded. If it is below 50, it needs a warm up - or you'll hit something right as it dies on the way out the driveway.

stangman11 · Jan 18, 2013

Yea man honey badger doesnt care honey badger doesnt give a sh**

mustangkarl · Jan 20, 2013

I live in northern Wisconsin and in fact the windchill is currently -22 degrees. When I lived in Northern Minnesota the year I bought my Mustang one cold day -20 I believe it was, my 1988 beretta gt and 1988 grand prix both would not start. I tried my 1988 Mustang GT which had been sitting for months and it fired right up. complained a little bit at idle for about 10 seconds then off I went to work. When the roads are clear a 5.0 mustang is perfectly capable of below zero weather. that was 14 years ago and she is still running strong. And looks great in her new sonic blue paint IMO.

JordanB21 · Jan 20, 2013

My 92 fox fires up better than my 95..

But then again, I live in texas and the coldest day out of the year was 32 degress
so probably a starter thing!

Cold weather?

LilBerx

Active Member

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

srtthis

the guy doing it does every local racers rear end

ratio411

srtthis

the guy doing it does every local racers rear end

Husky44

ratio411

larrym1961

85_SS_302_Coupe

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

ratio411

gearheadboy

ratio411

gearheadboy

aar0s

85_SS_302_Coupe

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

Vaz88GT

Active Member

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp

stangman11

Member

mustangkarl

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JordanB21

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Cold weather?

Active Member

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

the guy doing it does every local racers rear end

the guy doing it does every local racers rear end

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

Active Member

wanna catch the space herp

Member

Member

Active Member

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