Small hole in floor / little surface rust... 71' Safari - repairing?

Now that's a heck of an idea for the tire well! Thanks!!!

 

Not sure about the old ones like that.... my 72' Caprice has some sort of insulation down there and my 89' Safari has like a rubber mat in the bottom of the spare tire well, which BTW, is still like new.

I just took some photos tonight for someone interested in it....
As you can see, its still in VGC - being a southern car- it should be.







(whoops - that last photo was my error.... I had to send someone a photo of a Windmill palm tree and I had accidentally downloaded it on the same files as the wagon)....

 

I suppose it looks ridiculous to say 'awesome' about a tire well, but then seeing what roadsalt does, it's nice to see how the damage can be minimized. Thanks man! That's AWESOME!

Now how can I get that palm tree in my back yard, hmmm.

 

Yeah, thankfully we not not get much snow at all here... hence very low amounts of salt on the roads in the winter. When it does snow, its normally light and only is on the ground for more than a few days and thats if we get a bigger storm - like 4 or more inches. It melts fast here.

As far as I know, my wagon has NEVER been in the salt. The original owner was from eastern North Carolina- where if they get an inch of snow, its a big deal and I personally have never had it out in inclement weather. You can see some surface rust on the frame and things like the axle, etc. When I bought it in 2000, it did not even have that. The undercarriage was showroom. The surface rust was from where I have let it set around in the yard for years. :banghead3: Still very solid though.... I wish someone would buy this car and give it some TLC, as I do not want it to go down hill any further.

Not to stray to far off-topic, but LOL- the palm tree.... well, if it does not go below 4° or 5°F where you live- this particular species will grow in your area. The coldest we got last winter was 8°F (was record lows and was 21° below normal at that time) and this palm was unscathed. No damage. I think below 0°, they start to show damage, but do not permanately suffer damage unless it drops below -3°F.

I have other palms - some not as hardy and some hardier. Needle palms will survive below -10°F. Never gets nowhere near that cold here.

 

So -40C is out of the question, eh!

 

-40C ?? WOW.

 

Good long johns and long janes are mandatory here! We actually carry a winter driving kit with candles, flares, tin food for 3 days and small pot to boil snow to drink, and of course 5 gallons of gas. When the snow graders go by, they can bury your car. If you skidded off, it could be spring melt before they find people. But at -40C, you have about 10 minutes before your skin begins to freeze. There's lot of people around with a chunk of ear or nose or a finger missing from frost-bite, around here. It really gets chilly in mid-January to early March (below -30C) but we often get -15C to -25C from the beginning of December, right through to mid-May.

Here they say we have two seasons: Winter and Construction.

But we have a road race called the Prairie Schooners: real cars, powered by sails on the main Highway. We get some pretty high winds screaming across the flat Prairie, so the Universities set up this race.

It takes two winters to get acclimatized to it, if you get the right clothes, and then you can handle it like most 4-season regions. We get some pretty good snowfalls too, sometimes up to 12 inches in one shot, so you need a small shovel in the car and a broom to clean off the car, as well as a couple of ice-scrapers.

Why do I live here? Have you ever seen a Sea of Sun-flowers or wheat or a sky so blue that you can almost see stars in broad daylight? But besides the countryside, its Prairie Farmer Friendly. Great, helpful folk. Nobody leaves you stuck with a stalled car here, ever. Everybody drives with battery cables or a bit of gas or a bottle of gas-line antifreeze. Good folks.

 

Hey 72! I see its really hot down your way! You're OK, right?

This is for Nashville: 91F!!! and 41% Humidity???

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/USTN0357?from=search_current

We've got 50F and 76%, going down to 49F
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/CAXX0547

Keep a cool tool, eh?

 

More stuff on Heat!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/forcesofnature/extreme-heat.html

Because the cost of electricity, like taxes, never goes down, I came up with an idea! Everybody is using solar energy for one reason or another. Others in Canada have adopted Geothermal heating to reduce their monthly bill for Natural Gas or Fuel Oil or Electric heating systems. The trouble with Geothermal besides the $8,000 to $12,000 to drill the holes down 50 feet and install the antifreeze PVC tubes, is the replacement of the huge heat exchanger. At today's prices for a 1,200 sq. ft. house, they're about $8,000 with a 10 year guarantee. Throw on 10 years of inflation and you're into some small mortgage to replace it with the New and Improved technology.

Here's my idea:
The earth below the Frost line is about 55F, all year long. With Passive solar heating, one system that worked well was pouring a concrete bunker and filling it with 6" to 8" boulders, then running hot air 4" PVC pipes from the dual pane solar panels (paint the back glass black) and then using a fan to push the heated air into the stone cavern. 2 12" variable speed fans on room or whole house thermostats (one for colder air in the bottom rooms and one for warmer air in the top rooms) Recirculate the warm air back down through a filter back to the stone cavern in the winter and summer. The difference is that you open up the PVC pipes from the solar panels so the hot air doesn't go to the cavern during hot weather.

My house has about 2400 sq ft on 3 floors (basement, main and top at 800 sq. ft. each) with 8 foot ceilings. You should move the air about 5 to 6 times per hour to keep it fresh and dry, so you'd be moving about 2,700 cu. ft. every 3 hours or say 1,000 cu. ft. per hour. I think 2 12 inch fans can handle that (it might be too much in a less humid region). Here, the sun generates 800 kw/hour of electricity per sq yard. The average house uses less than 3 kw/hr on electric heat. But a Central AC unit can chew up huge power demand. A 2 HP unit, would be eating up at least 1,500 watts per hour!

Those two fans might run at 400 watts (3 to 5 amps) and only on demand by the thermostats OR set up two rooftop whirlygigs turning a small compressor and filling a tank that runs the fans when there's no wind!

My rough guess is that the stone cavern under my backyard would cost me a one time cost of about $7,000 and the rest (all standard farm grade equipment (stuff they never change)) maybe another $2,000. But my hydro bill wouldn't change much in either Winter (down to -45C last winter) or summer (with Humidex to 45C, this year.) Like about $30 to $40 per month without heating bills or cooling bills. We use the Compact Fluorescent bulbs (CFL). Standard furnace filters and bob's your uncle. It sure beats the old $270 in February 2005, I paid before I super-insulated the house and switched to radiant electric heat.

 

Your not kiddin' its hot! I am fine though.... been staying in the A/C! It was 97°F at my house today (Friday).... cooler than yesterday though... it was 100°F here at my house on Thursday. This mornings low was 72°F. We are one of the "cooler" spots in Tennessee, because we are in northeastern Tennessee and east TN is higher in elevation that middle/west TN, so it is normally hotter there. I think Nashville ended up hitting 101°F today.

Its 10pm here and its still 82°, under clear skies... low will probably be about 72° again. We barely missed some much needed rain this morning.. it all passed to our northeast. It was severe storms, so I guess it was good that we did not get those.

Sounds like the weather up there is nice and crisp... we normally do not see weather like that until late October / early November around here. Supposed to be in the 90s and lows in the 70s all week..... whats more, we have 190,000 "out of towners" coming to town this week for the races.

 

boy oh boy i remember them humid days in the midwest ie;oklahoma and kansas and actually kinda miss it,,,,,i think what i like the most up here is when people complain it,s hot or humid ,,i just laugh of course i hate to admit i think i,m gittin acclamated to this climate thats sweet tea he,s drinkin of course