TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:46 pm

The Vanagon engine layout is ideal for warming things, and one day soon I will try heating food on it while I drive as I've done on the Cruisers. Today, I need to put some black tar-like stuff around a vent up on the roof to prevent leaks. But it's cool in the garage and when I opened the can of black sealant, its very thick. Coincidentally, I need to go to Home Despot to get some flashing as well. So, the can is sitting atop the intake manifold to warm up while I run two errands.

These girls are more useful than a Swiss army knife!!

Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:50 pm

I've heated up hot pockets and sausages on my engine on road trips....it works well enough if you don't have a bunch of stuff in the back.

Sun Oct 12, 2014 3:53 pm

Worked perfectly. I thumped a dent in the can's side so it would not want to roll around atop the engine, but it was overkill. On a cool fall day, that tar was as easy to spread as butter on the furnace vents. And on the way home, my 16yo daughter driving, we stopped at a house with the most photogenic double row of Black Walnuts to ask if we could come back with a camera and take pictures of the van when the leaves reach their peak. Turned out to be a 97 year old lady who said we could, and then insisted we leave with a bag of the walnuts laying all over the place. She warned us they are hard to open with little reward, but we are vegetarians, so kinda used to working for our food some times. Heh - these are going to be a nightmare I predict.....

DougM

Sun Oct 12, 2014 3:58 pm

If i'm about to sleep in the back after a drive, I will usually flip the mattress over so that the warm side is up! :wink:

Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:05 pm

Dang, with winter approaching it is great timing to part with that gem. My wifey will love it!

Mon Oct 13, 2014 2:37 am

This brings back memories of the original "idiots guide to VW repair" and "engine chicken"

:D :D :D

Mon Oct 13, 2014 8:56 am

My Skidoo has a panini press on the muffler.
Seriously, an option from the factory.
You can cook franks and beans in it to :D

Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:27 am

I once worked with an excavator operator who said that one of the older guys he knew could cook a can of soup by dropping it into the vertical exhuast pipe of his Caterpillar. He would keep the revs just right to "float" the can in the pipe. Then he would up the revs a bit to lift the can out when he thought it was hot enough.

Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:41 pm

Glad I'm not alone in this! Its a tradition that dates back to early motoring.

Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:12 pm

Somewhere I've got a cook book for cooking meals on your exhaust manifold.

I think that I got it back in the 1970's, I,ll look around the shelves for it.

Dave

Mon Oct 13, 2014 8:31 pm

Sounds like "Manifold Destiny" to me.

http://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Destiny-Guide-Cooking-Engine/dp/1416596232