Club 80-90 Forums

Was talking to a friend last night
And he informed me his dad use to put those marigold rubber gloves over the distributor to stop them getting damp in wet weather said it works a treat anyone ever use this method

No, but my old man always used to leave a small greenhouse heater beneath his engine overnight if the weather turned really bad and his was the only car that seemed to start readily the next day. Either that or he was too tight to buy antifreeze.

ladybird wrote:his dad use to put those marigold rubber gloves over the distributor to stop them getting damp in wet weather said it works a treat anyone ever use this method

Anybody who ever owned a "proper" Mini, I suspect...

You used to be able to buy rubber seals like gloves for Mini distributors. They were sat right behind the front grill (the distributor) and so would get the worst of any rain, coming straight at them. I had one fitted for a while, and it worked a treat. Guess a marigold glove would do the job just as well. Strange, I was trying to buy one of those Mini kits not so long ago, but couldn't find one anywhere.

My grandfather had an Austin 1100 - he used to put a blanket over the engine in winter for his 5 o'clock starts. It obviously worked as he never had any problems. He also used antifouling around the bottom of his cars and never had any rust there! It's good for keeping teredo worm at bay so obviously worked at keeping the tin worm at bay.