Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Has anybody here (successfully) cooked anything on your car's exhaust manifold?

Way back when, I was in an Army Nat Guard armor battalion. We were out on maneuvers and one of the guys who was driving an ACP decided to set a can of C-rats on the engine to heat it up since we'd been parked for a couple of hours. He also neglected to open the can. Then we got the order to move and we didn't stop for several hours. His can exploded and the food (at least it was roughly defined as food) was thorough baked on the engine. It took him many hours to clean up that mess.

I knew mafia apprentice one time who tried to blow up a car, but he burned his lips so bad on the exhaust pipe he sought work in another field.

I don't recall all the details, but my parents would cook an entire meal in one pound coffee cans wired to the engine of the old '36 Pontiac Touring Sedan (really cool suicide rear doors). In 1950 I was 5 years old, even with my awesome memory, that was a long time ago. In those days coffee cans had a tear strip that was wound off with a key soldered to the can's bottom. Once open the can lid could be placed back on the can to seal it - well sort of - and provided you didn't cut your finger on the sharp edge. So my father, ever the experimenter, lined the cans with aluminum foil, then placed a layer of sliced potato, a layer of canned whole kernel corn, a seasoned hamburger patty on top, then a layer of onion rings. The lid was placed on and secured (here I don't recall if it was wired down or somehow taped in place. One for each passenger was wired to the engine. I recall a trip to L.A. from S.F. once where we stopped somewhere, maybe near the Holister cut off, don't exactly know because the roads were far different then. I do recall they brought paper plates and the food was tasty, but heck, I'd eat anything. They'd do the same thing for camping out, except use embers of the campfire. Good thing they lined the cans with the foil as the cans were likely to leach lead into the food.

Newer coffee cans were introduced which opened with a can opener, and we switched to packing a picnic lunch. Now of course there are gut bomb parlors everywhere and that rural magnificence of two lane county roads (some still with spring fed horse troughs) is long gone.

The trick to heating cans on manifolds or anything it to knock a dent in the can and when the dent pops out it's ready. Open in a safe direction.

I've been using the hotdogger on snowmobiles for 5-6 years now. Actually have them on 3 different sleds. Used them to heat Brats, leftover baked ham, beef roast, pork roast, even baked beans. Nice having a warm meal while on trail.

Never did on an automobile, but cooked much on an old D-8 Cat back in the 80's when I actually worked for a living

Mostly was reheats but did lots of dogs, chili, spam, stew, bacon and eggs- all the good stuff! Was always gonna bake a Salmon but never had the time later on. Would have worked great. Always kept my gloves warm when ripping frost in the winter.

Car/truck should work fine...

bhtr

I recall a few (??) years back seeing a book titled "Manifold Destiny" about this very subject. You could probably find a copy on Amazon.

Here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Dest...amp;sr=1-3&keywords=manifold+destiny

Maybe an updated edition as well.

Most people here don't even know where my car is.

Hell , You probably don't know where your car is.


Mike

Useta' make up "Cheesie Baked Potatos" mashed,drenched in butter, and loaded with meat, green onions, etc,...double wrapped in foil.............Stick em' in my welding rod oven an hour before lunch, or break time.

Laying em' up on the flathead Continental powering the Miller Big 40 generator worked well, too.

GTC

Made fresh caught trout on my dirt bike. Cleaned the fish, wrapped in aluminum foil with butter and spices, drove 20 minutes back to camp, and had a nice fish meal before loading our bikes. The package fits behind the cylinder and below the carburetor. Gets travelling pretty good before reaching camp.

Camped at Chinook camp ground outside of McCall, Idaho and road into Loon Lake.

Never got to try it. Was reaching down to work on a balky starter solenoid and got my hand stuck - did not feel like eating for a while after that one.

Cooked a chicken when i was a kid, really good. Hobo dinner would be easy once you figured the time.

I heated up a can of chili on a turbo charger once, would that count?

I've reheated stuff, but never cooked anything. Poptarts on the defroster vent are a nice treat when leaving camp in the dark too.

I've heated C-rats on transmission of duece&half
Canned chili, stew, and C-rats on headers if my Jeep

Used to be able to buy a metal box that connected to the exhaust manifold, it worked but I have not seen one for years.

Most truckies just use a 12 volt oven/heater for warming food.

I had a 56 jeep with F head 4. , I would put a piece of chicken with a 1/2 cup of minute rice and a 1/2 of a peach in tin foil and use #9 wire to tie it to the manifold. Need to be about about and a half drive but it came out ever time.
Went good with boonesfarm wine

In the Corps, we used to warm up our food on the manifolds of the diesel Blazers that seemed to be at the end of every hike.

Other than that, we'd warm up breakfast (MREs) by sleeping with it in our crotch. Somehow that wasn't the same.

Not if vented.... simple Boy Scout knowledge...

This summer on a trip to the east coast and back, several times I stopped and picked up a batch of cut 'stew meat', and wrapped it in tin foil, with a little vegetable oil and a little WorcesterShire Sauce.. and put it on the valve cover of my 4 Runner's 2200 RE engine...

stopped a while later, put it in a camping frying pan at a rest area, and ate that, along with a baked potato with some butter....

as I said, simple Boy Scout stuff...