I would say i feel for ya but. After I visited my Bro in Montana a few years back I feel for no one less than arctic explorers. I was there for so snow boarding and just to hang with him. I landed wearing a hoodie and a Colombia "winter" coat. -40* everyday for the entire time. No lie. It was the coldest air I have ever felt. Hey man what do you want to do first. I said go buy a freaking coat. It was funny all the parking spots at the hotel (more motel) had outlets for your block heater to plug in. They say cars just wont run without them there.

Our clear day stayed and turned into a frosty clear night. No cloud cover is worse than a blizzard.

 

Back in 1979 I drove to my new duty assignment in Anchorage, AK! I got a flat tire in Watson Lake, BC from a iece of grader blade so I took the opportunity to swap my snow tires onto my 78 Chevy G2500 van. The snow and roads were getting bad and thought it was a good idea! Well, in talking to the mechanic that repaired my flat on my summer tires, he told me they had to run tubes in their tires in the winter as it it would get so cold that if you drove the car without the tube it would go flat from the bead breaking from the extreme cold.

On base at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, all the residences including dorms had plug ins for block heaters. While the stores didn't provide them, every apartment or house in town had them. My former father in law was a geologist in Fairbanks in the 50s and 60s. He'd have to drain the oil from the car many night in the arctic winter and keep it on the wood stove and put it in the am so the car would have oil that would flow.

People sure learn the tricks to adapt to the extreme weather. I lived there 22+ years and loved it. I've never had to plug my truck block heater in here in Michigan yet but it's still there just in case! Love the winter! Just got back from skiing about an hour ago and headed back next weekend!

 

We've got something in common! I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB in 1971 as a Loadmaster on 141's. The USAF's idea of fun! Take a guy and station him in Hawaii, then make his next station Alaska!

 

I hear you Val, I was in New Mexico for 6 years before that assignment from 73-79! I was over on your side of the runway over the hill at the 6981st Security Squadron working right in the middle of the elephant cage! I got out in 82 when they told me I had to leave for another assignment. I even joined the guard up in Alaska and finished the military part of my career as an avionics tech on C130H, HC-130N and MH-60 rescue choppers. From the frying pan into the ice box! I was in the AF at Elmendorf from 79 to 82 then went back as a civilian from 86 to 2002. Now I'm at Selfridge ANGB to finish up until retirement in about 4 years! Not soon enough!!!

 

Funny! My story about visiting my bro, he was stationed in Great Falls, Mt. in the USAF. He was a nuke cop. Not much fun.

 

Happy February (and January's gone!) everybody, i'm trying to keep true to the project title and capitalize on the days where it's above single digits in temp and whittle away at the front subframe. The heater is the only thing getting miles put on it these days around here. I was finally able to get the subframe stripped down (first time spring removal by myself with no weight.) No problems other than one of the lower control arms mounting bolts was really seized in there! I put a pic of the 2 bolts and you can see one of them is literally like the day it went in (in '78) and the other is a little "discolored." I had to beat on it with a 3lber for almost 10 minutes before it came out. Also, would love to hear any tips/tricks to getting the motor mount pads off the frame EASIER than it was for me?? What a setup that is....

I'm accumulating the new hard parts and kits for the th350 rebuild and should be tearing into that soon as well. Have a question regarding the trans: Do I need to have the kickdown connected when it goes back in? I would rather not even install the cable if I don't have to. I'm more of a manual downshift kinda guy and with the Transgo reprogramming kit, don't see the need for it anyway. There's probably reasons why it's needed but I'm not that knowledgeable about it. If someone could enlighten me it would be immensely appreciated.

 

Technically it's not a kickdown cable, it's a detent cable. On a stock trans, without the cable being hooked up, upshifts could come too soon, depending on throttle position. And downshifts will always have to be done manually. Might want to contact Transgo and get their thoughts, they should know the full effect their kit has. You won't hurt the trans without the cable though (like with a 700R4), so give it a try.

 

You're right, it is a detent cable. Appreciate the info about not having to have it hooked up. I think the Transgo kit should help with the early shifting. I wasn't sure if there were other reasons that made the hookup necessary. Most of the time I'll probably shift manually anyway.

 

Or....row row row your gears, gently down the street: Hughes Performance Manual/Automatic Valve Bodies HP3222 - SummitRacing.com

 

Exactly. Perfect. With the Transgo 1-2 I should be able to do the same thing from what I understand. Automatic or manual shift. I'm just not worried about having to downshift manually is all. When I want to get on it I would shift manually anyway.

TransGo Performance Shift Kits 350-1-2 - SummitRacing.com