PULSE AUTOCYCLE NETWORK

[elden simons]

There I was, employed as a vacuum salesman, and not a penny earned yet, for the three weeks of Cold Calling and some door knocking. I had recently left Active Army, and not only used up my unemployment, but drained the savings on an Owosso Motor Car Company, Pulse.
This one and only time I had operated in snow conditions was entirely unexpected. My wife needed the car, so I chose to use #308 for to make visits to potential customers.
I stuffed the sales boxes into the passenger seat area of the GCRV and set out at daybreak for the first appointment 25mi. away.

I was just giddy and apprehensive. I just picked up the Pulse two months prior and operating it was still foreign to me. The engine was a little troublesome for starting up in the nippy temperature of late October, I slowly eased the choke and the engine finally smoothed out after five minutes. I headed out and tried my best to anticipate what the distracted urban drivers might do until I got out on the four-lane.
As for the weather, It was overcast with no indication of rain, really.

Even at 10mi. from home, the engine temperature didn't register as sufficient enough for me to turn on the defroster yet for cabin warmth.
Next turned off onto a two-laner highway so to reach the first destination. I reached the 12th mile from home and was suddenly in a heavy snowfall! Oh Great! This wasn't part of the plan! The windshield fogged up quick so I switched the dash blower on and tugged on the pull knob for to allow heated coolant to flow through the front heat exchanger.
Sheeesh...that took a bit to do any good and I pretty much was driving with my eyes level to the top of the instrument panel to see through the small clearing on the glass.
I did debate whether to turn back or not, but no...I had a job to do.
I may have seen five or six vehicles coming from the opposite direction, I could only wonder what they thought they saw driving in this snow storm. The Pulse drove reasonably well. The front tire was the Chevette size 2-ply passenger tire, and the rear was the Dunlop motorcycle type. I didn't notice any disturbing pull from either outrigger as the amount of snow on the road increased the further I drove North. My eyes felt they were getting irritated from the blown air from the dash blower, so I turned it off at 20 miles from town. I totally lost windshield clarity in no time. Yikes! I got it going again, but was back to dashboard level driving until the fogging cleared.
I arrived rather buggered-out, and a little shakey in the small town of my first appointment. I pulled into the little corner gas station and parked so to get directions.
After shutting off the engine and stepping through the only ankle deep snow, I entered the station to use the phone. The attendent looked past me to #308, squinting at it. He didn't ask much, and didn't get silly either (relief).
My first appointment didn't answer the phone call, so I got directions from the attendant. He merely pointed across the street to the two story house on the other side of the highway. (Oh) I got back outside and knew I was a little early, so I checked around the Pulse and was pleased to not see any caking of snow on the body, but the underwing lights were caked.
I picked at that and found that there was a little damage done to them. See, I bought a pair of neat driving lights that had louvers that automaticly opened when the lights heated them when on (quickly). Unfortunately, my turning off the lights when parking had allowed the louvers to close and they did so on the snow that had collected on them...packing them a bit tighter and "snap".
So...anyway, my appointment ended up not being home anyways.
My next appointment was two hours later so I stopped at a tavern in the next locality. Very quiet. The people that owned the place had no clue what I drove up in. they stayed indoors. I headed to the next place and found myself on the wrong road. Turning around on a narrow two lane called for repeatd use of the reverse motor. Hard left, forward. Hard right, reverse..(repeat over and over until facing opposite direction). I didn't trust any of the snowed-in dirt driveways.
Finally made it. Didn't make a sale. Couldn't get out the drive way and had to wait until the husband got home from work. Got a couple good laughs and a push. Headed home at dark around 7:30PM and found no snow in town when I got there. Wow!

[elden simons]

So, in observation to the story, the operation of a GCRV in newly falling snow is alright while moving forward. I don't remember the type of tread on the Dunlops (which are yet on the vehicle). I did have to make turns, but did so gingerly. Still, no fish-tailing occured. Moving from a stop on the fresh snow wasn't a problem either.
Having not been prepared for the storm (five hours of gradual decreasing snow fall), I would not have chanced this. Using the reverse in snow isn't smart, since the motor has to labor more. Yet, it worked well when I had to turn around on the narrow secondary road. Hmmm...I believe I even blocked the way of a motorist when I was doing that. No matter, I remember a look of amusement on his face when I finally got the Pulse facing the opposite direction.
I don't think I'd care to try the Pulse on roadways with snow that has been packed solid by previous traffic.
Then there would be rutts that would perhaps affect steering.
Windshield defrost worked okay, but slow with the given heat exchanger in the dash. Deffinately a need for adjustable louvers on the radiator cowling (more things to go wrong) so to reduce cold air flow from keeping the engine coolant too cool. My feet, I recall, never seemed to warm up. Tammy, my wife, suggests that maybe the coolant hoses be routed through the floor so it becomes radiant heat in the cabin. Who knows.
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Tammy and Elden have Pulse #308 from 1988.Built in Butcher's Barn and presently sets inoperative in their garage. We are still keeping it!

[tomcap21]

Good story, elden.

My LiteStar is all wrapped up in plastic for the winter.

[Dave Bauer]

Elden,
Great story. Glad nothing bad happened to your machine.

There is a fix for your (and everyone else's) heater problem. The issue is that the heaters on these machines are plumbed in parallel with the radiator. This causes two problems:
1. The heater cannot get hot water until the engine is warmed up sufficiently to cause the thermostat to open. This causes the 10+ minute delay in heat.
2. Once the thermostat is open, the hot water will go to both the radiator AND the heater. Since water will take the path of least resistance, the majority of it will go to the radiator, thus depriving the heater of hot water.

The fix is easy or hard, depending on your engine. To solve this problem, simply relocate the heater supply hose to the inlet side of your thermostat. This may be as simple moving the t-connection to the inlet of the thermostat. Easy if your thermostat is mounted separately from the engine. It is somewhat harder on the Honda engines since the thermostat is mounted directly to the top of the engine. This fix requires some parts to be manufactured.

I did this for my Honda GL1000 powered machine. It works great. I can get hot water to my heater within the first mile of operation. In fact, it gets so hot, that I normally have to throttle the heater valve to reduce flow. I can (and have) drive my Pulse all year round.
-Dave Bauer
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-Dave Bauer
Pulse 167