manifold heater

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     I was talking to a friend yesterday and strangely enough the subject of old tractors came up. He was raised in a small town but his grandparents had a small farm in SE Ohio when he was growing up. When he was about 5-6 years old (60+ yrs ago) he was at their farm in the winter and remembers his grandfather starting a tractor he had. Seems the tractor had a sort of metal box around the manifold and carb with perforations in it and a small door on the side. His grandfather lit a rag soaked in kerosene and stuck it in the door and let it burn for a while to heat the manifold. Has anyone ever heard of such an accessory? My friend didn't have any idea where it came from. Maybe grandpa just made it himself but it sounds kind of dangerous what with the carb right there. He thinks the tractor may have been a Fordson but only remembers gray paint and big steel wheels with lugs. Any thoughts?

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ac hunter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 05 Jan 2011 Location: OHIO Points: 1065	Post Options Post Reply Quote ac hunter Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: manifold heater Posted: 04 Jul 2017 at 7:49am
	I was talking to a friend yesterday and strangely enough the subject of old tractors came up. He was raised in a small town but his grandparents had a small farm in SE Ohio when he was growing up. When he was about 5-6 years old (60+ yrs ago) he was at their farm in the winter and remembers his grandfather starting a tractor he had. Seems the tractor had a sort of metal box around the manifold and carb with perforations in it and a small door on the side. His grandfather lit a rag soaked in kerosene and stuck it in the door and let it burn for a while to heat the manifold. Has anyone ever heard of such an accessory? My friend didn't have any idea where it came from. Maybe grandpa just made it himself but it sounds kind of dangerous what with the carb right there. He thinks the tractor may have been a Fordson but only remembers gray paint and big steel wheels with lugs. Any thoughts?

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wfmurray Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Location: Bostic NC Points: 1225	Post Options Post Reply Quote wfmurray Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jul 2017 at 12:02pm
	My dad had a 31 A model ford car that had a manifold heater .Had a door under dash and you opened it and speed of car pushed air over manifold into car .Have not heard of set up above but there were a lot of ideas in older days

DougS Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 03 Nov 2011 Location: Iowa Points: 2490	Post Options Post Reply Quote DougS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jul 2017 at 12:32pm
	Was that tractor set up to burn distillate?

Gerald J. Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 12 Sep 2009 Location: Hamilton Co, IA Points: 5636	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gerald J. Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jul 2017 at 12:48pm
	Could very well have been set up to burn distillate. Most tractors that burned distillate had a small gasoline tank to allow starting and warming up the manifold on gasoline before switching the distillate. The heater burning a rag soaked in kerosene probably used less costly (probably distillate rather than kerosene) fuel that gasoline for getting the engine running. Gerald J.

ac hunter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 05 Jan 2011 Location: OHIO Points: 1065	Post Options Post Reply Quote ac hunter Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jul 2017 at 2:03pm
	Not sure what the tractor burned for fuel. I think the idea was to heat the intake to help starting in cold weather. Must have heated the carb too since he said it was inside the metal compartment too.

Dakota Dave Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 12 Sep 2009 Location: ND Points: 3973	Post Options Post Reply Quote Dakota Dave Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jul 2017 at 7:19pm
	Our military H1 heaters had an intake heater. Small metal tray with a lid at the bottom of the carb. Open the door push the primer twice pumped gasoline into the tray. Light it with a match and close the door. It warmed the intake when the fire went out pull the cord till the engine started. Usually by the time you got the stupid thing started you were sweeting.if it was below 32 deg it wouldn't start without preheating. Luckily at the time most of the crew chiefs were smokers and carried lighters.

LeonR2013 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 01 Jan 2013 Location: Fulton, Mo Points: 3500	Post Options Post Reply Quote LeonR2013 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jul 2017 at 7:28pm
	We had a old CJ2 that we used in the woods and on cold days we just poured a little chain saw fuel on the manifold, let it burn for a little bit and started it up.

groundhog55 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Silver Level Joined: 26 Apr 2011 Location: nw in Points: 217	Post Options Post Reply Quote groundhog55 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Jul 2017 at 9:59am
	the wd45 diesels had a plug on the intake manifold that could be unscrewed and heat it up. I was told that people would use a burning corn cob to heat them.

j.w.freck Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Orange Level Joined: 16 Sep 2009 Location: karnack texas Points: 1153	Post Options Post Reply Quote j.w.freck Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 2017 at 7:21pm
	I have 4 45-d and the ops manual says to open the manifold plug,lite a diesel fueled torch and start cranking it over...don't need that here in texas.....