Hey guys,

Just wondering if there is an after market heating/fan equivalent to the heater boxes found in bugs? I've got an engine without heater boxes and still want to heat the car, and also defrost the windscreen.

Cheers,
Jimmy

hey, how u doing jimmy...

ill start off by letting u know im no expert, ive only been into my beetles a couple of months, but was looking for the same thing. Pretty much a 12volt heater element...(im assuming u have a 12 volt....) that u can hook up to the existing fan....

i have looked everywhere...(or it feels that way) in melbourne... not much there.. only thig i did find is a 12 V aftermarket heater with a fan on it. If ur in melbourne, i found it at a place called East Coast Auto spares in bentleigh... (03) 9570-6188 It would heat up your cabin, or so the guy said it should, but as far as window demister etc..... i find it hard to believe.... they went for about $60-$70....

ok, hope that helped.....

Pishtols

It might be cheaper and easier to just put the heater boxes back on the motor you should be able to pick up some second hand or new theyre a bit pricey ($150? each):thumb

I'd be putting the heater boxes on. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the stock heating system. :thumb

Or, move up here, you won't need a heater... On a more serious note, there used to be electric heaters advertised, but they went the way of the dodo - I supect because of the amount of current they drew (40-60A.) The ones being advertised these days use hot air off a remote oil cooler, maybe you can adapt that idea.

I imagine you removed the heater boxes because you have an oversize exhaust system to match ported heads, in which case your third option is oversize heater boxes from Gene Berg - but they'll cost you, big time. If you could afford to build an engine that needs a 1.5" exhaust system, I guess you can afford them too.

Yep, the heater boxes were removed before I bought the vehicle. The guy who built the engine put a serious exhaust on it.

Serious can mean a number of things - is it stock diameter (1&3/8" or larger. If it is larger and the heads aren't ported, you'll get more power (throughout the range) out of a stock size system with heater boxes.

They don't list the heater boxes alone in their latest price list; but a complete system will come to about $1500 landed for 1&1/2" or $2000 for 1&5/8" You could stay up late and call them - they're pretty helpful.