Well it was 11c the other morning when i jumped in the bug to head into town and grab the paper and winters not even here yet so the time's come

my cooling system works to perfection currently and i really dont want to upset it cos it only takes 6-7 mins to get to temp and it never drops below that and only creeps above if it idles for more than 5 mins without moving.

I've got a spare heatercore from my old festiva which im currently building an enclosure for so it can mount under the backseat and duct into the original heater channels
so that i can have either heat to the footwells or onto the windscreen as per stock.

but my main concern is the length of the hoses seeing as subis use the heater loop to control the thermostat.
Has any with an EJ added a heater core with really long hoses before?

rubber heater hose is a really good insulator so im probably worrying over nothing but i know the vanagon guys in the US and UK had real probs with overheating due to the vanagons long pipe runs and duel heaters shedding to much heat and keeping the 'stat closed

Gday Joel In my 180bnissan powered baja I used a toyota coaster underseat heater mounted under left side of rear seat &r un into lefthand side heater tube to the dash this keeps the hoses short &works quite well
Ernie

cheers Ernie,

thats pretty much the same thing im planing on doing.

was just abit worried about the heater hosesgoing from being only 6" long to well over 1 meter each and down hill significantly

Don't worry about it going downhill, because it's a closed system it has no effect.

If your worried about the hoses losing too much temperature, put some pipe insulation on it. The foam stuff that you put over hot pipes for insulation and personnel protection.

Joel , I walked in the door of the local work shop that does the wheel chair doors in busses. I picked up a new 4 speed heater core c/w fan for $50.00 ( donation to the local RSL )

cheers bloke thats what i was hoping to hear.

Im cool on the windscreen defrost, my model bug has an electric demist fan as well as stock heaterbox heat

the fan is enough to keep the authorities happy

are you using one of tom's flanges? or just the stock heaterloop?

I made a bypass valve, not too sure if I actually need it.

Take:

2 x 15mm copper pipe "T"s
Bit of copper pipe
1 x Isolator valve (I used an inline one with a slot for a screwdriver)
4 x 15mm olives
Plumber's solder

Make up an "H" using the Ts, isolator (the horizontal in the H) and bits of pipe. Solder up using the olives as lips for the rubber heater pipes.

Now connect this into the heater line. One of the verticals of the "H" will be the feed, the other the return.

When it gets proper cold, I open up the Isolator valve so some of the hot water doesn't run the 14' there and back to the matrix

My bypass is under the rear seat in the bus

I don't use Tom's adaptor BTW

I'll try and grab a photo of the bypass for you tomorrow

Edit: I knew I'd taken a photo somewhere (appols to linking to another site)
http://www.vwkd.co.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2446&postdays=0&postorder=as...

perfect, i had a very similar idea in my head but wasnt sure if it would work but that answers that

the only variation i was gonna do was use a mechanical heatertap from some mainstreamer like this



and hook it to the original heater cable

do you find the heatercore doesnt get as hot if you open the valve right up?
i was kinda hoping that was the case seeing as ive only used a single speed fan so need some sort of temp control

Hi Joel

I haven't tried it but I was going to use a 3 way tap on my car, with a T to link the hoses. Some cars have 4 way valves which would work better.

With the 3 way valve there is always coolant returning to the motor irrespective of the tap position.

I had a Toyota troop carrier unit under my rear seat and down the heater channels in my old bug, you don't get the ankle burner effect like VW heater boxes give.

I recirculated the air and after a short time the car was nice and warm.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Yep i thought one of those 4 way valves that dunnydores use would be perfect but I can't find a cable operated one

they're all vac operated, which i could probably make work but it would be fiddly.

i guess the idea of permant flow through the heatercore like all cars seem to run now is so theres instant heat rather than that lag while the heatercore circulates like older cars do.

Gday all I set up the heater tap to work off 1 of the original heater control levers between the seat on my baja. Quite simple to do if you take time to work on brackets etc.
Ernie

I don't think you'll have a problem J
Where's your matrix going to be ie how long a run from the donk?

Subaru designed theirs along with the engine knowing it had to heat the passenger compartment of a Scooby.
I bet a bug is close in internal volume

I haven't really noticed much difference in temperature with the valve bypassing TBH.
The good thing about my matrix (alfa) is it can be totally shut down (as can T3/Polo?/Golf ones) so in the summer there's no hot water circulating through it - it's all going through the bypass (after ensuring it's open!)

Have you seen Gerrelt's under seat (bug with alfa) heater? Very neat job

What ampage blower are you using? If you say a bilge fan, you could get away with a small PWM module
Or use some in-line resistors like T3 fans do

thanks for the replies everyone

I'm gonna give a 4way VN-VY dunnydore heater tap a go, looks like the vac unit just unscrews off, perfect for attaching the heaterbox cables to.



and theyre dirt cheap too so that all the bogans dont have to go without beer and smoke money for a week.

Balders cos im cheap im using stuff i got laying around.
Ive got a good heater core from my old Festiva which is about bug size inside so shouldnt have probs shedding to much heat and will go under the rear seat like gerrelts and duct into the original bug heater system.
so the 2 hoses will be roughly 1 meter each

Im just using an old 12volt cool room condensor fan i have from my fridgy days which is perfect size for the heater core
its only single speed but moves alot of air so i was thinking of wiring a pair of balast resistors in series to make it 2 speed.

I'll get some pics of it all up soon. not much to see at mom

I'm going to use a Ford Ka 4 way valve that has a built in solenoid so just need to connect a feed wire to it. Should be pretty simple and they are dirt cheap... (about £10 new on ebay)

Hi Joel,

Have you used the heater valve yet ? I am looking at using one. Do you have a flow diagram for it ?

I am wanting it to send water back to the motor when it is off, but when it is on I want it to force all the water to go to the heater. Not sure if it does that, or allows water to go to either the heater or back to the motor.

Cheers,
Mark.

Hi Mark,
I bought one off ebay a few weeks ago

They work the opposite of what i would have thought
when theres no vacuum the butterfly diverts the water through the heatercore and back to engine

and when there is vacuum it pulls the butterly the other way and it shuts off the path to the heater and sends it straight back to the engine

with a small amount of vacuum it can open half way

Ive just unbolted the vacuum diaphram off it and am gonna hook the stock heater box cable on the drivers side to it

heres a rough flow diagram

I did find a commodore manual diagram too

Thanks heaps Joel. Thats great info.....but yes, the opposite to what I would have thought.
What was the cost off ebay ? Repco sell them for $46.

they range from $18 upto about $40

I found a good ebay shop selling them for $24.50 with free postage

genuine holden is around $80 from what I've read

OOOOOOO, that looks just the ticket fella. Fully adjustable bypass, use a spring and a friction lock or solid core Bowden cable. Connect it to the stock bug/bus heater levers and laugh

What size is the inlet/outlet? if that was 15-16mm O/D there could be a market over here for 'em!

5/8" / 16mm same as subi so perfect for the job

Hi

I just bought one of these taps from Supercheap, they have a special at the moment $39.??, shop stock only. Don't bother going to the Bankstown store I got the last one

Steve

Syncronicity....
I actually spent this arvo making up brackets for my cable setup

I dont fancy driving down to valla with no heat.

I'll probably get some pics up tomoro

Hi Joel

We must have been separated at birth.

I'm just fitting new headers to Davids bug now, with no heater boxes, so I will be working to have something by Valla or freeze.

Good to hear your coming.

Steve

Wouldn't miss valla for anything even if it means taking the mainstreamer

if i can only make 1 vw show every 2 years valla is it
I've only missed one since 93

Well Steve, I wont tell you then that I got one off ebay for $23 delivered......but it did take a few days to arrive on my desk

I have almost finished installing it.

Hi

Mine is made by Gates, it has different plating colours than yours, so yours is maybe a different brand.

I like you vacuum solenoid idea, I was wondering how vacuum switching would work with boost pressure, I might just do what Joel is doing and hock up cable.

Steve

I went rummaging through my crap pile and found the cables from a flat screen beetle fresh air fit perfectly, they have the same round eyelet connecting end and even have the clamps to hold the cable in place

just gotta join the other end to the heaterbox cable which is the easy part

I though about an electric solenoid like above but thats only an on/off solution, i need to be able to control temp as I'm using a single speed fan

I currently have a cable controlled heater tap so I can control the temperature, but found I always had it either off or fully on. It never seemed to get really hot. Now there may be a couple of reasons for that. One being that the heater core is probably not that big in the unit I am using and two, the hot water has 2 paths it can follow and so goes back to the engine rather than pushing it all through the heater core. The new tap will push it all through the heater core so I will see if that makes it hotter.
If it is too hot then I can always cool mine down by turning on the A/C