I had already thought about coolant, Duffman, as the coolant in the average auto is about 200-220*F. I like your idea though. Thermal efficiency of a heater core or oil cooler is not 100% by any stretch, and the addition of other pipes that would lose heat and more coolant to warm up seemed to me to be the deciding factor against that.
That is why was searching for a "warmer" heat source. I thought about the exhaust system, as that is a huge waste of potential energy, but after further inspection of my car, I realized how difficult it would be to make and mount a system that wouldn't lose most of its heat from the back of my engine bay to the front (my engine's turned 180 degrees from you Honda guys
)
I got this idea a few weeks ago, when I was browsing an online catalog that sold battery relocation kits. I wanted to even out the weight distribution in my car, so naturally, I sought to move one of the heaviest objects to the trunk. Then I realized all the unused space up front could be used to engineer a more fuel efficient air intake.
In the same online catalog, I found oil filter relocation kits and oil coolers. A gear in my mind must have up shifted and that's where I got the idea of using the oil for a heat source. Often at upwards of 250-300*F (not sure of the exact temps, please correct if I'm wrong), and the oil being a fluid so it was more likely to hold energy longer, it seemed to me to be an ideal solution to "where to get the heat?"
The other reason I wanted to get the oil filter relocation kit was because of the nature of the Rolling Lemons current filter to be high and recessed. I just wanted to make it easier to do oil changes
.
Maybe I should make a hybrid Oil/Coolant based HAI
. That seems like more of an engineering challenge (nightmare) to me.