My Mercury loves the low mercury!!

[juno]

55 this morning in Jupiter. The cold snap adds quite a snap to the stock MM.
I was playing with a Dodge Dakota Sport (v8) at a light this morning and left two 20 foot strips with just a WOT go. Surprised the crap out of both of us and now he knows that a Marauder isn't just a black GM.

[Cobra25]

I know what you mean, had mine out for a drive this morning too.

[DEFYANT]

Catchy title.

Yeah, the cold air is nice for these cars.

[Marauder386]

Had fun last night after work with the 40 degree temps ... love that cold, dense, inducted, compressed air ! ( Did I cover everyone ? )

[TripleTransAm]

I've always noted a big change in this car's behaviour when the temperatures fell. Based on recollections of my track strip visits, I'd say the biggest difference came from the low end of the RPM range. I'd say there's something along the lines of knock retard or something that is not present at cold air temps that keeps the low end from falling on its face, either that or simply a matter of more dense air making up for the poor intake velocity at low RPM with these oversize heads.

Whatever the case, I was extremely surprised at how well my 2nd MM is taking to the cold weather. The powertrain on my second car seems more 'willing' than my 1st, and now with the cold weather it is just gliding on auto pilot. Very pleasant to drive. I wonder if this car could actually beat my 1st car on the track under similar conditions?

[ckadiddle]

Drove the wife's Mustang GT today, accidentally got some rubber from a stoplight. Definitely like this cool dry air.

[Rick-n-Miami]

Yeap!

I had the car out both yesterday morning and today, and it's great!

[mercfirst]

TripleTransAm,

1. I think that I saw on one or two of your posts that you store some or all of your rides in the winter. I'll be doing the same w/ my Marauder, probably Dec. - March. It'll unfortunately be outside, but under a deck, and under a car cover. How much gas do you recommend I leave in the tank. What other storage measures, if any, do you recommend I take? I live in a cold climate.

2. Is your 14.56 car stock?

Thanks.

[gjtcodered]

What is a WOT go? Is it just punching it from a standstill? What's a good technique for burning rubber? Thanks, GJTcodered.

[RoyLPita]

My MM ran smooth on those cool days. I could tell it had a little more power.

[jstevens]

WOT is just laying it to the pedal at take off.

Laying rubber on a naturally aspirated MM is best by brake torquing.

Hold the brake pedal just lightly, and let'er rip. I've learned as the rpm's increase this car just goes wild.

Love'it

[Fastronald]

Even my daily driver 93' Vicki loves the cool air as well.

[merc6]

WOT is just laying it to the pedal at take off.

Laying rubber on a naturally aspirated MM is best by brake torquing.

Hold the brake pedal just lightly, and let'er rip. I've learned as the rpm's increase this car just goes wild.

Love'it

With the mods listed below a pedal stomp will break the rear loose walking it to the right for second and a half. No snow or ice, just cold as hell out. Tires are 3K old

[TripleTransAm]

2. Is your 14.56 car stock?

Totally stock. Only deviations from the factory "as delivered" conditions were the functioning oil pressure sensor and a 20% tint all around. Right down to the original factory air filter, too. The car ran 14.6s and 14.7s all night as I tried different techniques. I recall remarking how the low end response of the car totally changed with the cool night air.

As for car storage, it's much like an oil or wax discussion... each person's got their own technique and someone else is bound to disagree or comment on it. Personally, I try to make it as easy as possible on myself, since I'm on my 12th year of storing cars over the winter, and it can get old real quick. This is what I do, more or less in chronological order (easy to remember since I just parked the T/As for the winter earlier this week).

First, I tank up with a full tank of high octane fuel from a reputable source. By reputable I mean both brand AND station, since I've noticed varying results between stations of the same brand (results corroborated by others, so it's not just my opinion). Then I stick the car in my garage. In the case of my '78, I usually add gas stabilizer since it uses a carburetor and might take a bit longer to go through that tank in the spring since I tend to use the other cars more often for regular commuting, etc.

I don't often worry about putting stabilizer in my '98 and '87 since they're parked maybe 4 months or 4.5 months tops, and I tend to fire them up every month or two. I don't usually bother to unplug the battery... say what you will but I get 5-7 years out of all my batteries as it is without having to charge them over the winter until the last year of their life span. Of course, that all depends on the current draw when the car is stopped. so every case is different.

One of these days soon, I will pump up the tires to 40-44 psi to prevent flatspotting. I don't jack my cars up. None of them have sagged over time. Plus, I like my cars mobile in case of an emergency of any sort. Depending on the tire brand, 4 months of sitting on the same spot might be enough to flat spot them, so that's why I overinflate.

At some point in the next 2 weeks, I will change the oil. Old oil age-wise is just as bad as old oil mileage-wise, so I prefer not to leave the old oil fill in there. However, there have been situations in the past where I did not get the chance to do so, and I haven't lost sleep over it. Most of the time, I end up doing an oil change sometime in the fall, so at worst the oil is 6 months old when I finally do get to change it.

I don't cover my cars. If figure if there are some corrosive pollutants that will be deposited on my cars while sitting in the garage, paint damage is the least of my worries since I will be BREATHING that ***** while in there! So again I don't lose sleep over it.

[jdando]

My MM ran smooth on those cool days. I could tell it had a little more power.

Coldest morning here (so far ) No clue if I had more power, my teeth were chattering to much.

Wish I had bun warmers. Maybe Santa will bring them for me.

jeremy