Quote:
Originally Posted by wagonman76
On my cars the coolant always flows through the heater core. When on COLD it just pushes a flap so the fan doesnt blow through the core.
Wonder if the Thing used exhaust to heat the car like the old Beetle did. Id prefer oil heat too, at least if it fails its probably not going to kill me.
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I forgot about that... most modern cars have contious coolant flow through the heater core, and control where the warm air goes via the under dash air plenum. I had worked on some older cars where the heater core was valved off when there was no call for heat, the dash control for warm air opened up the valve and allows coolant to flow through the heater core.
VW's; I've owned 20-some-odd VW's, including a Thing. The VW Thing used a beetle confiuration engine, cooling, and heating. The factory heaters on those use a heat exchanger, aluminum fins cast around two of the exhaust pipes, then encapsulated in sheetmetal to form an isolated plenum (called a heater box) for fresh air to be warmed and piped into the cabin. Carbon monoxide poisoning in those cars is not very common. I remember seeing an aftermarket system where engine oil flows through an oil cooler, an electric fan blows warmed air into the cabin, but it was a DIY kit sold in hotVW's magazine 15 years ago. I wish I had one to use this winter, I've been invited along on this year's Mt.Shasta VW Snow trip. 10-15 teams driving pre-'68 VW buses, offroad, mud, ice and snow, hillclimbs and overland trials. I understand numb fingers, rolled busses and hangovers are common.