Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 09:46:34 -0500
Reply-To: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Subject: Heat in Aircooled van,
one last time: Putting a water cooled engine in an 82?!?
Ken-
I love you man, you know it. But anyone who whines about "there's not
enough heat in air cooled vans" hasn't taken a few simple/inexpensive steps
to make their heat work. I took a few hours on my Vanagon, and would now
compete my air cooled heater against any water-cooled heater for speed in
heating, and overall ability to scorch. My Jetta doesn't heat as fast and
hot as my Van, and my Jetta heats pretty fast.
E.G. It is 19 degrees in NC this morning, and I just got back from a drive
to the post office. Our 1982 Westfalia was stone cold, not used since
yesterday at 4:00.p.m., and it sat outside. Within the first mile, the van
was getting warm. By the time I got to the post office, 4.7 miles from my
home I had to turn the heat down.
The solution boils down to this. Make sure all of your heater parts are in
place, and functioning correctly. Then (MOST IMPORTANT) spend $15 for a 25'
box of Hart & Cooley 4" inside diameter R-4.3 or R-6 insulated ducting, and
cover ALL of your heater ducting, from the flapper valves forward. Start
with the heater noise dampers, all the way to the front of the van.
This alone will give you more heat than you can imagine. You can add
additional fans, or recirculation, but I haven't seen the need in our 1982.
There's a gob of info in an update to my site at
http://www.bulley-hewlett.com/VWindex/heatdum.html . If you haven't been to
the site before, you might want to start at
http://www.bulley-hewlett.com/VWindex to get the full picture. The site is
safe for kids, the info is free, and the inferno billowing off your exhaust
system is FAR hotter than any weenie coolant wandering around in a rubber
pipe.
No more whining about "cold in my air-cooled"...
Cheers.
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Corporate Communications Counselors
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree
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-----Original Message-----
From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM [SMTP:KENWILFY@AOL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 10:59 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Putting a water cooled engine in an 82?!?
In a message dated 12/1/99 10:14:50 PM Eastern Standard Time,
waxi@MAILANDNEWS.COM writes:
<<
Air-cooled Vs.
Water-cooled
- Engines cheaper not as cheap
as
air-cooled
- Radiators free not as
cheap
as air-cooled
- All those radiator hoses free not as cheap as
air-cooled
- $ spent on fluids like
coolant (not oil) cheaper not as cheap as
air-cooled
- $ spent on gas equal equal (lucky
for
you guys)
- $ spent on oil expensive cheaper
(Hey oil is cheap)
- All the parts that are
common to all vanagons equal equal (again lucky
for
you guys)
>>
My additions:
Horsepower and Torque: Less Power More Power
Environmental: More Emmissions Less Emmissions
Time between rebuilds: 100-120k miles 170-200k miles
Probability of dropping
a valve on overheating: High Very Low
Heat in the winter: Poor Very Good
A/C in summer: None- Poor Good
Just pointing out a few other things. Not slamming folks who drive
Aircooled
VWs (I am getting my '74 Bus ready for the road), just pointing out why I
like watercooled vans more. I love heat and A/C. Wind in my face gets
annoying at 65 or 70 mph :)
Different strokes for different folks. Maybe I'll become more enlightened
after I drive my groovy Bus for a while :)
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
http://www.vanagain.com
John 3:16
Office (856)-765-1583
Shop (856)-327-0027
Fax (856)-327-2242
