Date:         15 Nov 94 14:51
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         L.S.Griffiths@physics.salford.ac.uk
Subject:      My thoughts on heat.

     Hmm, some interesting ideas I found the following ones the most
     interesting:
     
     
c) oil heater system (takes bypass oil and feeds through fan)
 upside: relatively inexpensive; no drain on efficiency;
 downside - no design yet available for Vanagons (bugs only); effects on
oil temp and engine unknown; a challenge worth exploring;
     
     Nice idea since you can buy external oil coolers for bugs, so
     your half way there. It's also easy enough to find a fan 
     housing off a normal car to sit the oil cooler in. One problem
     would be that the you would have to have oil pipes leading all
     the way to the cab area - if you wanted to have the heater the cab.
     Could the standard oil pump cope with that? What would happen if
     you got an air pocket in the oil pipes?
     
d) water cooled heater boxes -
upside - may be the most efficient and maintenance free; 
downside - unknown cost and availability; installation;
     
     This has to be the coolest (or rather hottest) idea, I thought about
     it last Winter. I figure you would have to get hold of stainless-steel 
     J-pipes to replace the old heater boxes. Then get some larger diameter 
     s/s tube about 2 inches? make some discs to go on the end and MIG/TIG 
     it all up - then fit inlet and outlet tubes. Check below:
     
             __|
            / _| <- s/s exhaust pipe
          / /  |                               /  <<<< water in pipe
         | |   ______________________________/ /     
         | \  |   o          o       o       /
          \ \_|_________o_________o______o___|_____
           \_______________________________________
              |   o         o        o       |
             / _______o_________o__________o_| <- s/s end caps 
     hot   / /                  \
     <<<<<<                       \
     water out pipe               larger s/s tube
     
     
     ( Do you like the bubbles ? )
     
     Ok then you'd have to pump the water round with a small water pump off
     some suitable car, I reckon driven, by belt, from an extra pulley 
     attached to the generator pulley. Plumb in some rubber hoses upto the
     front of the bus where your all-in-one heater radiator and fan could
     be situated. I had a FIAT 127 and the heater rad and blower all came 
     in one unit under the bonnet - I think the Yugo 311 or 45 use the
     same idea (they are FIATs really). Bingo - big time heat at the flick
     of a switch.
     
     Problems:  What would happen if the water in the new heater tubes got
                too hot ? 
     
                Would cooling the exhaust pipes so close to the exhaust     
                ports cause running problems ?
     
                You couldn't turn the water cirulation coz the water would  
                boil in the heater tubes.
     
                
     
e) electric fan booster -
upside - easy to install; cheap
downside - works well with existing heat will not create more heat; good 
for defrosting;
     
     Been there, seen it, done it , - works good. Instant snow removal 
     in winter. Doesn't make the bus any warmer, but does remove ice   
     and steam-up quick. I put a fan right at the front of the bus     
     under cab floor. It basically sucks the hot air and blows it up   
     the steel tube in the center of the cab. I fitted a Carburettor
     cooling fan off a FIAT and Yes I talked about this conversion a 
     while back. I'll be putting up plans on my WWW server in GIF
     form - soon.


Comments welcome,

Lee.
L.S.Griffiths@Physics.Salford.ac.uk
'64 Samba
'78 FIAT
'68 Dirty, rusty front beam