So i got my heater installed but it didn't go as planned. First, there was waaay less flat surface than i had remembered. I did go for a small 3" round heater but the most flat area on my oil pan is about 1" by 3". A heater to fit that would not have sufficient wattage to do anything other than waste electricity!
So i had to find a more suitable location. The front of the engine block has a curved area where an AC compressor would live. This was just a little too small but was my only chance of this working. I have tried looking up info about the 1nd-tv engine block but can find nothing. There may be a chance that the coolant jacket might go all the way down to the oil pan but i doubt it.
Pic:
As you can see, there is overhang to the left. This would seem disastrous but the power lead is connecting there and there will be little or no heat, apart from radiated heat from the actual heating area. I powered it up and felt the pad heating up but no heat went out to the overhanging area. Relieved? Oh yes!
I looked at the rear of the block too but there was no chance of it working there either:
You can see the vertical bulges where the block bolts are. I thought the pad might bend around them but the radii were too small. Grrr. There was even factory installed insulation over that part of the block!
Ah well.
I thought about using some kind of metal putty to fill in the grooves in the oil pan but i was worried about the putty not taking the heat away from the pad quick enough. Plus i dont have any putty like that.
Aaaanyway, the heater is wired into the existing pumped block heater and is currently sitting parked ready for heating two hours (it's on a timer) before i go to work. I normally get up to 50 deg c out of it. Let's wait and see what it gets up to and sounds like when i start the engine.