Greetings, All, Today, I decided to get down into the Hobbit Hole, locate my very first Coleman M400, and see if it would fire up. To steal a line from Top Gun Maverick, "It's been a minute, Mav"! I found the stove, and it still had some fuel in it from the last time I used it. Here is the stove, and himself at the very first CASG #1. I have always called this stove, "Ol Number 1", as it was my very first Coleman M400! My wife and I used this stove, in tandem with a Sigg Tourist Peak cook set, and the special windscreen that went with the set, all over the Sierra, and on lots of other adventures. From the blazing desert, to ice and snow in Southern Oregon, and it's never let us down. We have successfully fired up this stove, at over 11,000 feet of elevation, too, and it worked a treat! Now, I have "more than a few" M400 stoves as I believe it's one of the best ever made by Coleman. The last time I used this stove was in August, 2004(!) at the aforementioned CASG #1! The fuel has been inside this stove since that time. That's 22 years! Today, I followed the directions, as always, and this stove fired up without a single hiccup! It's been kept in a temperature controlled environment, and the Coleman fuel is STILL GOOD! Nice blue flames, and very steady. Yes, I do need to oil the leather pump cup, but will do so soon. More on this later. To be continued.......... See you soon, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hey Doc, Glad you're having fun at CASG. I've been working on my vintage trucks. I had to pull the Speedometer from my '67 K/10 Suburban and extract it from the Instrument Panel. The Speedo in my '68 C/10 Stepside was malfunctioning. Indicating 35 MPH when GPS said 50 Mph. So today, I pulled the bad Speedo from the Stepside, and installed the '67 Speedo in its place. Mechanically, it all fit. However, now I have no Dash lights. It was dark when I secured, so a test drive would not be advised since it's INOP and dark. Can't see the needle. Dome Light works, so its not the switch. The Cluster Connector broke a couple years ago. I bought a replacement plastic connector piece, but it's lost somewhere. I think that's why my electrics are BO. I will send the '68 Speedo to a friend in Auburn CA who can recalibrate it for me. He also has a replacement connector. Stovewise, I boiled a quart of water in a Swedish M40 to make Miso soup, a pint of Green Tea, and hot water in a canteen cup for a flask of Sake. My usual back deck Friday night ritual around a bento of sushi nigiri. Racing Methanol in a Trangia burner brought that quart to a rolling boil in no time. Enjoy the Stovie Camporee. Maybe next year.
Thanks for sharing one of Colemans best IMHO. First Coleman I bought with own money was this Peak 1 black 400 with case and windscreen 4-85. Its going with me on next outing!
