[AMC-List] Heat Crossover

[jackbarncord@xxxxxxx]

How many times have you said a few unsavory words about the half paper, half foil tube that runs from the snout of the factory air cleaner to that annoying tin shield that wraps around the exhaust manifold?  How many have you removed and tossed in the corner or worse the trash?

Once upon a time in nineteen hundred and seventy-seven, back before global warming, I had the misfortune to be chosen for a mission to the great outdoors of Northwestern Illinois in the dead of winter.  My mission was to hunt down the company wrecker and help the operator with a call that was taking too long.  We had calls stacked up for the wrecker and could wait no longer.

He was on the crest of a hill just outside of Baileyville on Montague Road.  A full milk truck was stuck in a snow drift and for some reason couldn't get out even with the wreckers assistance.  With plates down, two and half inch cleats digging in to the roadway, the wrecker still couldn't pull the truck from the snow.

The fiberglass nose of the truck was leaned forward and the air cleaner was half on, half off.  I watched as the wrecker once more tried to move the truck and I noticed that the carburetor was not following the movement of the throttle.  I gave the stop signal and brought Marv, the wrecker operator and Marv, the milk truck driver together under the hood.  First we're going to put this air cleaner back together, complete with warm air supply tube, then we're going to close the hood and let the truck run for five or ten minutes, then we'll try again.  We completed the tasks in short order and went to our vehicles to get warmed up.  Several minutes later the milk truck, with very little help from the wrecker, drove out of the drift.  The throttle plates has frozen to the bores and since the truck had a govenor throttle movement was normal, but throttle plate movement wasn't.  A few minutes of heat from the exhaust manifold, with the hood closed warmed up the carburetor allowing!
  the th
rottle plates to come off idle.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the temperature was around -25°F with sustained winds of 45 mph, wind chill negative 100°F.  When we returned to the garage the boss had trimmed his list of service calls to those that were actually out in the weather.  Those that were at home with cars that wouldn't start were told they were the lucky ones and to stay home.  Not all his decistion, the Illinois State Police had issued orders that put their wrecker needs at the top, safety was the order of the day.

AMC content - I noticed that my 1970 Hornet doesn't have warm air to the carburetor from the manifold, just an open snout to engine compartment.  Good thing I let her rest in the garage over winter.

Jack

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