Demisting in old vehicles!

Blimey, 'Bad Taste', that's a blast from the past, proper funny that one.

Martin

Ah the good old days ( we used carrots ).

Uncle came back from Western Desert on leave and in the dusk ( in Cape Town) dragged a black tie across the road scaring numerous locals with the "snake". Until the hard case vicar came along and hoiked them from behind the wall by the ear.

Another highlight of the NZ film industry from none other than Peter Jackson of Lord Of The Rings fame.

I may set up a small bleed pipe that I can use to aim it directly at the point in front of the passenger-side mirror, it might help. We've got plenty of experimenting weather this weekend it seems!

Yesterday I went for a drive and in both directions the misting didn't happen until I was about 10 minutes from my destination. The explanation for that seems to be that I was driving along the A303 in a truck with a large side area on a windy day at 50-55MPH, so was most likely holding my breath for about 25 minutes before relaxing as I got close to the destination ;-)

Hmmmmmmmmm, that's got me thinking. I wonder if you have just cracked the secret of the 'no more tears' recipe. Maybe its just washing up liquid in disguise? This calls for some experimentation, I shall be back soon and let you know the results, I am just off to squirt some fairy liquid into the eyes of a small child.

So how would that keep the window clear then?

||| Not sure is it was one of those ceramic jobbies or a better one. ||| Thinking about it, though, my best trick when we had longer spells ||| of cold mornings was a 230v fan heater placed between the front ||| seats pointing at the screen with the cord passing out and into the ||| house. Put it on 30 mins before you want to go, and not only were ||| the screen and all windows clear, but the car was almost too warm ||| to get into.

|| I did that a few years ago with my series III and cracked the || windscreen - oops. 3KW probably too hot!

Must have been bloody cold outside for that to happen. I used to use the quick and brutal method (kettle of boiling water over the outside of the screen) until someone told me I could crack the glass. Never did any harm, though.

||| Dad had two uses for potatoes (that he told me of, anyway). One ||| was the replacement wiper trick; the other was to ram up the ||| exhaust pipes of vehicles in other regiments when they were messing ||| around in the desert with Monty. The kind of fun you have whan you ||| are bored stupid. || || Ah the good old days ( we used carrots ). || || Uncle came back from Western Desert on leave and in the dusk ( in || Cape Town) dragged a black tie across the road scaring numerous || locals with the "snake". Until the hard case vicar came along and || hoiked them from behind the wall by the ear.

My Dad was in the 8th Army in a Matilda and had a couple of gruesome stories to tell. The worst was the death of a number of squaddies who had decided (common practice apparently) to sleep under the tank to escape the chill of the desert at night. Problem was, they left the engine running for extra heat, and over the next few hours the vibration settled the tracks into the sand, leaving the tank resting on its belly with the soldiers underneath. By the time they realised what was happening, it was too late to get out. Brrr.

"Richard Brookman" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

My dad fought in Italy, with Shermans and Cromwells IIRC - though he did mention Matildas. Sleeping under the tank was the norm because it gave you protection from attack, I think you had to dig a shallow trench first. I don't think leaving the engine running was an option the noise would have surely prevented any form of sleep! Not too mention the fuel burn and the noise (and smoke from the Diesel versions) giving your position away.

Julian

I've always used that method, even at several degrees below, never had a windscreen crack yet.

And retaining not just your breath. 50-55mph, you reckless fool. :-) When it's windy with a high sided truck it's best to slow down and steer into the gusts.

Martin

With 6 wheels in quite a short vehicle, it's quite stable, but still rather un-nerving!

That's what I did, hence me being healthy enough to post tosh on the internet. I don't think 10-year-old cross-ply tyres help much! Replacements are in the post.

What are you on, 9.00s? and how much roughly?

Martin

Not sure what a 9.00 is, it's a 235/85/16 (slightly taller than a

750R16) Greenway Anaconda, an absurdly aggressive tyre, I'm trying them as an experiment. As I'm buying 7 I got a few quid off each one and delivery for a tenner. Road manners are supposed to be s**te, and speed rating is just under 70MPH but the pinzgauer has no road manners anyway and while it tops out at 60MPH, my bowels start to leak solids at about 50. Normal price for this size is about £56.

The idea behind these tyres is a progression on my experiences with all-terrain tyres compared to mud tyres on my landy. Nothing makes more of a mess on a lane than a stuck truck, the second most destructive thing is a spinning wheel. The pinz, with diffs locked, spins no wheels or all six wheels at once. I was on an off-roading trip with two other trucks recently, a rangie on muds and a disco on roads, it was the disco that made the mess, the rangie wasn't too bad, and you could hardly tell the pinz had passed.

So I'm going to see if the beastly tyres' aggressive nature causes significantly more damage in general use than mud patterns would. If not, then they should help make sure I don't get stuck and don't spin wheels, which saves me a whole shitload of hassle and should make the old beast even less damaging. I do have some misgivings about such a tyre, but if I don't try it I won't know.

|| "Richard Brookman" wrote || in message news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net... ||| ||| My Dad was in the 8th Army in a Matilda and had a couple of gruesome ||| stories to tell. The worst was the death of a number of squaddies ||| who had decided (common practice apparently) to sleep under the ||| tank to escape the chill of the desert at night. Problem was, they ||| left the engine running for extra heat, and over the next few hours ||| the vibration settled the tracks into the sand, leaving the tank ||| resting on its belly with the soldiers underneath. By the time they ||| realised what was happening, it was too late to get out. || || My dad fought in Italy, with Shermans and Cromwells IIRC - though he || did mention Matildas. Sleeping under the tank was the norm because || it gave you protection from attack, I think you had to dig a shallow || trench first. I don't think leaving the engine running was an option || the noise would have surely prevented any form of sleep! Not too || mention the fuel burn and the noise (and smoke from the Diesel || versions) giving your position away.

Well, it's what he told me. He isn't around to confirm or deny, unfortunately.

Not necessarily, when I used to have to sleep in a truck, if I parked anywhere noisy, I tended to leave the engine running all night, as the constant noise drowned out the other noises from outside, its easy to sleep through a constant noise, its intermittent noises that wake you up. I always find a large Diesel engine ticking over to be very soothing anyway!

Bloody hell, what a way to die, its a pretty safe bet that the pressure from the tank woke them up long before it killed them. That's going to give me bloody nightmares that is!

||| My Dad was in the 8th Army in a Matilda and had a couple of gruesome ||| stories to tell. The worst was the death of a number of squaddies ||| who had decided (common practice apparently) to sleep under the ||| tank to escape the chill of the desert at night. Problem was, they ||| left the engine running for extra heat, and over the next few hours ||| the vibration settled the tracks into the sand, leaving the tank ||| resting on its belly with the soldiers underneath. By the time they ||| realised what was happening, it was too late to get out. Brrr. ||| || Bloody hell, what a way to die, its a pretty safe bet that the || pressure from the tank woke them up long before it killed them. || That's going to give me bloody nightmares that is!

Sorry 'bout that! But it's given me nightmares too,and I thought I'd share :-)