What did you do to your VW today?

[6T5 square]

I guess I should add to this thread since I started it.
Ghia- checked and topped off the oil- needed 1/2 a quart! Tightened the steering wheel- the nut inside was loose. trying to figure out where the relay is for the rear window defogger. I also thought there was a fuse connection for it, but the two I have back there go to the transmission. Its also pulling to the left when I brake, so I guess I may be doing brakes soon.

Ned- finished working on the drivers side door sill. I have to fix a couple of "basketball dents" in the roof some rotten kid must have put in there. I worked them out pretty smooth with the hammer and dolly so I think friday night I put on a coat of filler and start smoothing the curve out.

Weezer- readjusted air pressure in the tires ( I'm trying out an experiment with air pressure in aftermarket tires) Other than that, I put the cover on it so I wont get sanding dust on it.

Also gotta get the garage ready for winter.  m-d2

[Yuma]

"Also gotta get the garage ready for winter.  mad2  "

Me too, have to make room for the VW guys in the neighborhood,
Have the only garage frig full of beer, some how they migrate to
my garage !!!!   
Only 88 today

Yuma

[Daverted]

Glass beaded the brake, clutch Accelarator cluster thing, and primed.  :icon_thumleft:
This part belongs to the Vert. REALLY BO**

[Baha (Shawn)]

Covered up the motor to keep out the nor'easter so Jay doesen't get upset with me

[Daverted]

I primed the pedals in white, its all I had at work. They kind of look ... good.  Should I leave them white?

[Baha (Shawn)]

Not if youre shooting for the stock class

[Daverted]

I don't know about Stock, But it does give them some CLASS :icon_cheesygrin:

[Daverted]

Pics to follow....

[6T5 square]

white pedals were never stock.  @3#

I'd think youd have a tough time keeping them white.

[njgt-1]

Should I leave them white?

only if you drive in a pair of "white bucks" !

[braidmeister]

I test fired the gas heater today. I rigged up a 12v/15A power supply I had laying around for the power & a coffee can about 1/3 full with gas. After about 30 seconds, the pump was primed and it fired up!  BO**

It was burning, but lots of black smoke...I shut it down and realized that the combustion blower hose had a tear in it...therefore it must be running a tad rich. I taped it off with some duct tape & fired it back up again - no smoke! After about 2-3 minutes the air was blowing out nice & hot. Can't wait to get it in the car!

I did some test fitting in the car under the hood...Following pics I found on the Samba of other people's installations, I tried to get it to fit...and it just wasn't happening. The brake reservoir is in the way on the driver side & the filler neck hose is in the way on the other side...besides, I really don't like the idea of it sitting on top of the gas tank...These heaters were mostly installed with a 3.5" hole cut into the trunk area, so that the heat blows down at your feet & no where else. Fairly crude if you ask me.

So...The plan is to mount the heater behind the rear seat in the package tray area. I am going to line it with aluminum, basically making a firewall of sorts, to shield the carpeting etc from the heat. The 3.5" hot air outlet will then be fed into the factory tubes that go in under the back seat, basically giving me instant heat in the front, back and windshield defroster areas. I'm going to try to hook up the heater control valve by the e-brake to the thermostat cable on the heater to keep things semi-stock. It should be pretty sweet when it is all done.

The only pain in the butt things to do are hooking up a low PSI electric helper pump under the gas tank, run hard lines back to the heater, and make a Y-pipe to split the hot air off into the heater channels. Oh...and run the exhaust out & away from the car. I think it will be worth it. I've got $60 into the heater, plus probably about $100 in replacement hoses and fittings for the heater itself, fuel pump and bulk fuel line and fittings that I'll have to make up. It would cost me at least that much for ONE good quality heater box. The turbo header doesn't have provisions for heater boxes...but that's another story.  :icon_cheesygrin:

-Brady

[scarecrow]

Would love to see pic's :icon_geek:

[6T5 square]

So the heater will be inside the car? Any concerns about fumes? There has to be some odor or toxic smells coming out of that thing.

I'm feeling dizzy already c23

[braidmeister]

So the heater will be inside the car? Any concerns about fumes? There has to be some odor or toxic smells coming out of that thing.

Yes - the heater will be IN the car, behind the back seat.

No - there should not be any fumes provided that the intake and exhaust for combustion are correctly routed out of the passenger compartment & that they are sealed/gasketed correctly to the outside world. At first I thought that only the combustion exhaust would have to be routed outside, but it turns out that smoke from unburnt gas can creep out of the combustion fan inlet when the heater is off & cooling down. This was observed yesterday.

There are essentially 2 'circuits' that air moves along in the heater. They are completely isolated & distinct from each other:

1) Combustion air flow -> Air enters the combustion blower airhorn and is compressed via a small blower (motor #1). It is transported to the combustion chamber via an air hose. The combustion chamber gets hot. Exhaust from combustion exits via an exhaust pipe outside of the vehicle.

2) Heated air flow -> Ambient air from inside the car is sucked over the OUTSIDE of the hot combustion chamber (combustion chamber is closed, open cylindrical shroud/tube goes around closed combustion chamber) and hot air is sucked into squirrel heater blower housing (motor #2). Hot air exits the 3.5" diameter opening. This is where I will route the 3.5" hose under the package tray into a Y pipe to distribute hot air into the stock heater channels.

In my research I found out that this unit is 13,000 BTU. The one for Busses & Things are 20,000 BTU. Quite a bit more heat than a BN2 Espacher (6500 BTU) that would have been a factory option for my car. I also found a guy that put one of these in the package tray area of his Ghia. He was able to tee off of the stock fuel lines, since his car is not fuel injected. It's safer/easier in the long run for me to run a low pressure (5-7psi) supply & return line than try to step down the high pressure (40-60psi) FI lines.

I like the idea of having hot air distributed to all points in the car. The dealer installed version just blows heat at your feet after you hack a big hole in the trunk. I'm trying to minimize holes and hacking...while improving/maintaining functionality of the heating system. Right now my heater boxes have pin-holes in them. Rather than replace them and use the for a short time, I'm just going to setup the gas heater and turn my attention to the new engine setup, which cannot accomodate the stock heater boxes.

I'm going to order up all of the goodies today. Looks like Summit & McMaster-Carr should have everything I need to do it right.

-Brady

[Baha (Shawn)]

That junker Jay has had a gas heater in it. This is an Eberspacher fuel pump.



Maybe it has one





http://www.germansupply.com/home/customer/product.php?productid=17063