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Date:         Tue, 24 Oct 2006 09:53:28 -0700
Reply-To:     Nathaniel Poole <npoole@TELUS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Nathaniel Poole <npoole@TELUS.NET>
Subject:      Re: Possible funky smell solution.
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2006102409081704@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

That must be frustrating given what they want for these boxes. I hope your solution works for you, although engine cleaner stinks to hi hell when you get it on exhaust manifolds; I cleaned my daughter's cabrio engine and the inside of the car stunk for quite awhile afterwards -burning engine cleaner. It does eventually burn off though. The risk is that the cloth in the box absorbs it but doesn't get hot enough to burn off. You might try giving it a rinse with acetone afterwards.

These covers seem to be aluminum and they come apart quite easily; I think it took me about 30 minutes to have the first (unwelded) one apart. The welded one was a pain in the ***. The cloth is only on the bottom of the boxes so I think it's more about keeping the bottom from getting too hot and starting grass fires than retaining heat. The top would get the hottest and there's only the aluminum cover. If one wanted to they could recrimp the whole seam, but if you are sealing it with hi temp silicone, you can make the boxes tighter than factory; there are many, many places for pressurized air to escape. Because the cases expand differently from the exhaust, they leave gaps wherever the covers and exhaust meet. I've taken the inside of my cases down to clean, bare metal with steel wool and acetone, so I can't see how they will be able to stink (famous last words, I know). There was old dried oil and some places where the oil had hardened to a varnish; These things don't get hot enough to burn off the oil, they just bake it, which is why the stink never goes away even if the oil leaks are stopped. None of what was in my case would have come out with exterior cleaning, it took a lot of elbow grease to take it out. Think more of cleaning the inside of an oven where lots of crap has boiled over and burnt onto the bottom and walls. I'll report on my success or lack thereof when I get the block back from the machine shop.

Nathaniel

> > Hello, > > I also drive an air cooled van (1982 Westy) and have struggled with > the "stinky heat" syndrome. I replaced the drivers side heater box > because the original was terribly rusted out. I thought this would give > me nice clean heat, but it turned out that the new box stinks horribly. > It is not the oil burning smell that I get from the original box on the > passengers side, but more like a chemical paint burning smell or > something. It has gotten a lot better over time, but 3 years later I > still have that side wired shut and only use heat from the passengers side > box. > > I also insulated the black plastic riser tubes (the accordion looking > things just upstream of the baffles) and the hot air tube from the front > of the gas tank to the dash (using the Bulley-Hewet method) and this has > helped a little. > > Last week somebody suggested disconnecting the duct work at either end of > the heater box and hitting the inside of the box with engine cleaner at a > car wash. I like this idea and will give it a shot this week. > > I have also noticed the fiberglass matting inside the heater box. I > suppose it was originally installed to help retain heat. It makes sense > that removing them may eliminate one source of contamination, however I > would worry that you would loose a lot of heat through the seams if you > simply bolted the boxes back together rather than welding them. I would > try the power spraying first as it is the easiest solution. > > jake


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