[QUOTE=Illmatic370z;2174806]:icon18: Me too!

Either wait for water to move off the bottom or let the juices flow then drive like a granny

I ignore the dash water temp gauge (it's even more worthless than the fuel gauge). I use my ScanGuageII to monitor water temp.
The main thing I'm looking for is RPMs to drop before moving. After that, oil temp is what I'm looking at.

What exactly does "let the juices flow" mean?
I do drive like a granny until the oil temp comes up.

Welllll... What I mean is you just let the oil lube up the top half of the engine

:iagree:
Exactly. Once the choke comes off, we're just about good to go. I trust the engine mgmt system. Not that I could fight a case of cracked rings or hairline cracks in the cylinder walls with the dealership, but manufacturers 'generally' test the engines and program the CPU to act accordingly.

She hasn't let me do that in months....

we're still talking about cars, right?

The choke in my car is only engaged for... 30-45 seconds, then the RPMs drop
And the garage is... 60-ish degrees

During the summer I let the juices flow a bit and then drive like a granny. When it's colder like beginning of spring or end of fall. I let it warm up for 5-10 mins. I have a starter installed.

Nice!
At my townhouse, there's no garage. So, the choke runs for a good long time and is already adjusted to the ambient outside temps by the time the RPMS calm down. I walk back in the house if it's cold enough anyways, and the engine is good and warm while I feed the dogs and kiss the fiance.

I expect that the block sitting at ~60 would be ideal for me. I miss my garage. Probably getting another property in a year or two and a work garage in the year after where I'll rest the Z.

I do somewhat the same, oil temp dictates when I can be naughtier with the throttle. Plus I don't want the cold oil to cause excessive oil pressure (read somewhere our engine oil bump max at 100 psi or something?)

Keep Your Engine Alive: The Importance of Oil Temperature | Tuner University

Same here

During the winter, I smoke a cigarette (outside the car) while the car warms up. Does anyone else's clutch move slower when it's below freezing? I've never experienced that in any of my other MT cars. During the summer, I give it about 30 seconds, then I go.

^^ I also smoke a cigarette while waiting for the water temp to go up to, or close to operating temperature.

I wait until Torque Pro says the engine has reached full operating temperature.

I'm pretty sure that my procedure is overkill for most cars built in the last decade or two. Modern engines are a lot tougher and have a much stronger sense of self-preservation than the "classics" I'm used to driving and working on. I wouldn't want to cold start and then immediately do a WOT 1/4-mile, but merging onto the freeway when cold (I live in S AR so my "cold" is pretty warm compared to what some of you see in Winter, plus I have a 1 mile cruise through the neighborhood before getting to a freeway) shouldn't be all that hard on a modern engine.