In gold mines in Alaska in the old days (50’s) the guys usta build fires under the engine between the crawlers. Took time. However they only did that when it was well below zero degrees f. in the winter. I only witnessed that once in early November.
The D8 Cats had a “pony” engine, clutch and transmission. It was a gas 2cyl. Water cooled flat head engine. The coolant circulated through the big Cat engine and warmed it wherever the coolant went. Some pony engines were hand crank and some had electric starter motors.
After starting the starter engine (pony engine) one shifted it into 1st gear and put the big Cat in low or/and no compression. One worked up the speed and compression until the Cat started.
Could take a long time or just a few minutes.
The big Cat engines didn’t have electric starter motors.
