How to survive the winter without your 'fun car'?

". ." (xllx) 01/30/2016 at 20:20 • Filed to: None

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It’s barely been a month and a half since I last got to drive my little Fiat, and I’m already struggling to stay away from it.

How do you guys survive the cold season, when your ‘toy’ cars are parked up (and possibly somewhat dismantled), and you’re stuck with your daily drivers? There isn’t a day when I don’t wish I could take the Fiat out for a short spin.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:22

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Mine hasn’t run since I’ve had it, so it’s become much easier for me to cope.

Flavien Vidal > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:26

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Get a fun car that doesn’t rust :)

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:27

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I’m missing my TA, I should get it back next weekend.

. . > Flavien Vidal 01/30/2016 at 20:29

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Heresy!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:29

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If I had mine already, I would be very sad, indeed, that I couldn’t take it for winter runs and test the “melt your face off” heating capabilities in some Canadian winters, haha!

But, alas, salt + FIAT = pile of iron oxide. :(

Is it costly to strip your car to bare metal, galvanize it and completely restore it? XD

AkursedX > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:38

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I couldn’t deal with having a boring car for the winter http://akursedx.kinja.com/10-months-with…

Now I have a ‘16 STi. And the funny part is, I still miss driving my rx8. It actually looks like it might be nice enough to take it for a spin tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it.

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 01/30/2016 at 20:38

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Looking back, I wonder how much of the face melting capabilities of the heating were down to the broken thermostat that wouldn’t open. :P Just driving around in the city at up to 60 kph in 4th gear you’ll be getting exactly bugger all heat. Any sort of hot air starts coming in if you drive around at about 70 kph. Also, you have to remember that fan speed (and therefore the volume of air pushed into the cabin) depends on how much you rev the engine, so if you stop at a red light you’ll have to resign to being cold. All of that said, during a 70km winter trip (temperature below freezing) on some A-roads last year we got the interior of that car up to positively boiling temperatures. At 80+ kph the little engine is working so fast there’s no way you’ll be cold inside. :D

As for rust protection, we absolutely drowned the little bugger in rust check twice last year and I still don’t want to expose it to road salt. :P

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:40

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I daily drive my toy that is perfectly capable at handling winter, but I live in South Carolina, so I don’t have to worry about it.

. . > AkursedX 01/30/2016 at 20:42

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My CLK isn’t bad in the winter, but I’m already quite satisfied with the amount of sliding around and general arse-out action I’ve done this year and I’m defnitely ready for summer (or even spring) to return.

 > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:52

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Get a fun beater car.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > . . 01/30/2016 at 20:53

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Just don’t have a fun car. So.... boring all year and no change necessary!

. . >  01/30/2016 at 20:54

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I get too attached and inevitably end up fixing up anything I own. Then it’s no longer a beater. :’(

. . > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 01/30/2016 at 20:56

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Jesus wept, don’t say that! Doesn’t the saying go that it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

Sweet Trav > . . 01/30/2016 at 21:05

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I have an AWD fun car that I don’t care about dinging, rusting or ruining and a 2wd fun car that never sees salt. 2015 Ford Taurus and an 86 Monte Carlo SS

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > . . 01/30/2016 at 21:07

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It’s probably something like that. I mean.... It isn’t a Camry, so there’s points there right?

yamahog > Sweet Trav 01/30/2016 at 21:07

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yamahog > . . 01/30/2016 at 21:10

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My philosophy is to get a fun, cheap, 4WD beater for under 5k, drive the piss out of it for a few years until it’s not suitable for winter daily driving, then sell to someone looking to build a mud truck, repeat.

 > . . 01/30/2016 at 21:16

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I am the same way but it’s still a beater. I just oil spray my daily so it doesn’t rust.

Roadster Man > . . 01/30/2016 at 21:19

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Let it rust away, make your fun car your winter car!

That is, if your fun car cost you under four grand or so...

911e46z06 > . . 01/30/2016 at 21:32

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Move to San Diego. I’ve been driving the shit out of the Porsche this winter.

Cé hé sin > Flavien Vidal 01/31/2016 at 18:12

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The body won’t rust but plenty of other bits will!

Flavien Vidal > Cé hé sin 01/31/2016 at 18:24

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No, it’s very well protected. It never got a single bit of rust... And it was sleeping outside.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 01/31/2016 at 21:57

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Ah, maybe not as good as I was led to believe! :P I’d just make sure I was bundled up for slower/shorter jaunts, haha!

Most of the roads around here are 70-80kph unless you’re in town (50kph), and the local motorway (the closest “main” town is about 15-20mins from me on that road) has a speed limit of 100kph. The A-road parallel to the highway that leads to the same town is 80kph though, so if the little 126 couldn’t handle a fairly flat with gentle curves bit of a 90-100kph jaunt on the motorway for 15-20mins, I would just take that A-road! :P

Yeah, once I get mine, I would make sure to undercoat it every year like my DD Hyundai even if I store it before the snow flies...better safe than sorry!

I wonder if there’s ever been an electric fan conversion rather than the motor-driven fan...? Not saying I would ever attempt it as I, like you, prefer originality. That being said, something like an electric fan conversion would make the engine more free-reving and therefore a bit more power as well as there wouldn’t be the extra weight for the engine to need to spin. It would have to be wired in such a way that it had a minimum constant speed (most modern engine fans in water-cooled cars only come on when needed, as I’m sure you know), as the 126's engine is air-cooled. You could just set it to spin all the time at a minimum of whatever the 126's motor-driven fan usually spins at at idle...? Otherwise, you could have a rheostat on or under the dash somewhere that you could speed up the fan speed when you want a bit more heat, etc in the cabin whether you’re moving or not! :) I doubt installing such a thing would be easy or feasible though...

. . > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 02/01/2016 at 06:48

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Pretty much all city roads here are limited to 50 kph, which in practice means that everybody is doing 60. 4th gear becomes feasible at 50 kph (if you don’t want to accelerate any further) and at that point, or even at 60 the engine won’t be spinning fast enough to push any air into the cabin. The car is also quite draughty inside, so when you’re stocking up on parts you may want to get a new rubber seal that goes in the trunk, underneath the gauge cluster, cause if that’s not perfect you’re gonna have air blowing from between the buttons, right into your hands (this applies to FL and EL models, no idea about ST).

Swapping the fan for an electric one is definitely a bad idea. According to people on the internet you’d need an electric fan with 1.5 kW of power, which is rather unreasonable for 126p’s small alternator. Also, you have to remember that an electric fan might actually increase power loss, as instead of being driven directly it needs 2 conversions along the way (movement -> electricity -> movement). I mean we’re talking about a car here whose engine ‘feels it’ when you turn on the lights (you can hear it slow down at idle).

If you want a faster revving engine, a lighter flywheel is a very common mod.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > . . 02/01/2016 at 18:09

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Oh, I would never do the electric fan conversion, was just curious how feasible it was....consider that a just “talking out loud” thought experiement! :P

I know there are lighter, aluminium flywheels AND fans available. Yeah, when I import one I would want all the “perishables” changed.....window gaskets, belts, etc...