116 replies to this topic

[Bargi]

When I first got my VX all the heater did was make noise. I drove it home for 3 hours and outside it was 2 degrees, needless to say my toes were ice cubes. Got a spare, sealed it up and had it fitted when I got it SC'd It doesn't blow air with the force you'd find on a regular car but within 10mins it's warm in the car and windscreen is pretty much defrosted. 10-20mins it can get to the point all I need is a t-shirt on. Seal it, clean the coolant pipes out and make sure you've got the piping air tight and sealed and you will get acceptable warmth. One thing I notice makes a difference to drawing air in is to wind down the window a little so air gets drawn through. As fezzasus said the unit is external to the cabin which is sealed (well sealed enough) so the air doesn't move through as easily. I reckon some small vents at the back of the cabin to allow air to move though more easily would help a lot as well. I'm also guessing the soft top sucks a lot of heat out as well, hopefully have my hardtop on soon so can confirm/deny that one.

[smiley]

Also heared people ducting shut the vents that point to your feat under the dash, to make sure it actually reached the end ducts. (may also be the reason you froose your toes as the blower direction knob does nothing)

[Whiteboy]

I also found that lining the soft top made a massive difference. I also find that in my MX5 that heated heats make a big difference, as leather takes ages to warm up.

[Harry Hornet]

I have a winter coat and gloves, salopettes for when its really cold, wellingtons when wet and a GPS transponder for snow drifts Bl**dy cold this morning though, first iced up screen of the year

[bradley]

Try insulating the aluminium coolant pipes that supply the heater. They run down the RHS of the car. If you take of the rear wheelarch liner off and the sill cover you can get enough pipe insulation to make quite a difference. A very cheap easy mod and I now have to turn my heater down!

[astravxr]

Try insulating the aluminium coolant pipes that supply the heater. They run down the RHS of the car.
If you take of the rear wheelarch liner off and the sill cover you can get enough pipe insulation to make quite a difference.
A very cheap easy mod and I now have to turn my heater down!

Gonna try this, is it hard to take the sill cover off? I heard its a pain. And could i just use wall insulation from work? lol

[smiley]

Gonna try this, is it hard to take the sill cover off? I heard its a pain. And could i just use wall insulation from work? lol

The sill cover is just 2 screws, but the bottom part is doubles sided tape. Be carefull with that, as the sill cover cracks easy. Once of for the first time, don't re-use the tape part when putting back. Wheelarch lines is easy; just a few bolts.

Edited by smiley, 28 November 2011 - 02:01 PM.

[astravxr]

Gonna try this, is it hard to take the sill cover off? I heard its a pain. And could i just use wall insulation from work? lol

The sill cover is just 2 screws, but the bottom part is doubles sided tape. Be carefull with that, as the sill cover cracks easy. Once of for the first time, don't re-use the tape part when putting back. Wheelarch lines is easy; just a few bolts.

What do you mean dont re-use the tape part. Do you mean use some new tape to stick it down?

[smiley]

What do you mean dont re-use the tape part. Do you mean use some new tape to stick it down?

Yes. Easier in the future to get back in if needed.
The sillcover sits flush with just the 2 screws.

[astravxr]

What do you mean dont re-use the tape part. Do you mean use some new tape to stick it down?

Yes. Easier in the future to get back in if needed.
The sillcover sits flush with just the 2 screws.

Ah right cheers matey

[fezzasus]

Try insulating the aluminium coolant pipes that supply the heater. They run down the RHS of the car.
If you take of the rear wheelarch liner off and the sill cover you can get enough pipe insulation to make quite a difference.
A very cheap easy mod and I now have to turn my heater down!

Gonna try this, is it hard to take the sill cover off? I heard its a pain. And could i just use wall insulation from work? lol

http://www.vx220.org...ng-improvement/

[GPA Signs]

Thanks for the advice.. did it today, turned that part on top of the heater box, undid the clip and......yerrr warm... No Hot Hot Hot. I'm like a pig in sh@t. 

Edited by GPA Signs, 28 November 2011 - 09:48 PM.

[Ben NA]

Thanks for the advice.. did it today, turned that part on top of the heater box, undid the clip and......yerrr warm... No Hot Hot Hot.
I'm like a pig in sh@t. 

Awesome. Glad it worked for you too! mine gets hot in about 3 mins now. Happy days.

[GPA Signs]

I think I'll buy some summer clothes for this winter 

[Paulus H]

Photo's as requested.
Before fitting insulating foam I plastered the heaterbox with silver gaffa tape.

It is possible to get foam to 3 sides of the heat unit without removal.

[smiley]

Heat actually goes through that?

[astravxr]

Photo's as requested.
Before fitting insulating foam I plastered the heaterbox with silver gaffa tape.

It is possible to get foam to 3 sides of the heat unit without removal.

Is it safe for all that foam bunched up like that? It looks like no heat will escape from there tbh. Where did you get that foam from and the pipe if you dont mind me asking?

[2.2_na]

Ice on my VX lastnight. Heater worked fine! (as usual) after a few minutes I had to turn the heater off as it was getting too hot inside.

[Zx in france]

Fill the driver's sill with loft insulation. Pipe lagging is way too difficult to get into the cavity and feed it onto the pipe. You'll need access to both ends of the sill cavity to do this, but it's an easy mod. Last winter I stripped the heater box and sealed it with RTV, then replaced the crappy metal hose (from box to cabin) with a silicone & stainless kit (ebay). No big difference, but I noticed that when tooling around at slower speeds, heat eventually trickled from the vents.....however, when at higher speeds (I get a 20 minute motorway blast to and from work each day, with few other road users around.....) all heat disappears. This suggests that the air passing over the car is cooling the heater circuit to the point that there is no more energy left in it to transfer.

[Paulus H]

Filter works a treat. It has virtually NO restriction. PM me if you want some material.

Pipe comes from https://www.europaspares.com/



Foam is packing material we receive at work. It is actually anti static foam. Not sure how much is knocking around. Again if anyone would like some, just PM me and I'll have a scout round and see how much I can collect. I would estimate I used at least 1 square meter of the foam (obviously compressed now).

Kind regards, Paul