heater/defroster refit

[Ray_WA]

Greetings!

I have removed my main heater in my bus and now I need to figure out something for a defroster. here is a picture of the heater before removal....



As you can see, it was HUGE. But hauling kiddies around there was no better use for that space so they filled it up with that heater and the door opener mechanism.

I have thought long and hard about it and have decided that it is space I can't waste like that. I figure that by removing the heater, modifying the door so that it opens outward, then building up a platform in the stairwell equal to the the space the door took up when opening in, that I would be able to mount a passenger seat there. It will be the ideal place for a passenger seat, and I'll mount it on a swivel base so that it will be functional both driving and parking.

There is room up under the dash for a smaller heater. I yanked the heater out of an old ford truck and I can cram it in under the dash, but the vents aren't in a usable place. I could hack the heater off just past the heater core and then fashion my own ductwork, but to be honest, I've never fabricated anything like that!
Before I dive into that I thought I'd ask if anyone has done something similar with their bus and if there is a better way to go about this.

-Ray

[paul iossi]

disassemble the heater box and study it before you start cutting, their should be a door or doors that control where the air blows, you will want to be able to direct full flow to the windshield for those cold winter days with a foggy or icy windshield, after that requirement is met its a matter of where else do you want to blow hot air, just use flexable ductwork to plumb where ever. standard heat duct material, shopv ac hose and fittings, dryer duct, salvage yard pieces are all good places to look for hardware, put a gate valve in the coolant line going to the heater core so that you can turn the heat off in warm weather.

i used a piece of 1 1/2' pvc pipe with slots cut in it for defroster ducts on my brothers 47 willys, it lays right under the windshield on top of the rollcage crossbar and is plumbed to the heater box with a piece of shopvac hose, the footbox heat is supplied by a couple of holes in the heaterbow on the passenger side and a piece of pvc over to the drivers side with a flared end from a leafblower.

let your imagination loose, something will make sense.

[Ray_WA]

Oh wow... I'm glad I posted this question... I had not even considered the idea of making my own defroster out of pvc pipe.... I'd only considered trying to force things into the current ductwork. Now I have options!!
I will ponder them in the next few days and see what I come up with. Perhaps I'll get even more ideas from others here.

Thank you!

-Ray

[the_experience03]

If all else fails you could do as the hotrod guys do and install and aftermarket heater that comes as a complete self contained unit. You could then plumb in with the PVC or whatever else you wanted (drier vent hose actually works rather well for the ducting) to get the heat where you wanted. These units aren't TERRIBLY expensive and are very compact in that they are designed to be stuff in the chopped and channeled bodies of old cars that were small to begin with.

http://tinyurl.com/6qkdbb

[Ray_WA]

I have decided to rip out everything, including the entire passenger side dash which is hollow and incorporates the defrost vent inside. Hooking into it would be difficult anyway, and it takes up more than half the width of the bus!!

Here is a pic of everything ripped out.



I will make my own ducts/vents out of pvc pipe and will make use of that ford truck heater unless I find something better before I get to it. Then I will make a cabinet to fill the space, the same shape as the drivers instrument console. That will give me places to put things!

I have some more questions... under the hood...



which is some kind of filter hooked into the whole heater hose maze here:



My question... This filter uses the smaller type heater hose. The other remaining heater behind the drivers seat also uses the smaller hose. And my ford heater uses the smaller hose. Can I yank out all the large heater hose and redo things using just the smaller hose? Or does the engine cooling system count on a larger flow through the heaters?

-Ray

[the_experience03]

The engine cooling system should work 100% effectively independent of the heaters. I don't see a problem with using the smaller hose.

FYI that filter is a coolant filter (duh) and is very important. It will contain a slow release packet of the supplemental coolant additive. You could get fully formulated coolant and not have to worry much, but the additives do break down over time and should be "boosted."