Alternate cabin heat using oil cooler?

[johncj8989]

I was wondering... With cooler temps coming soon and for guys wanting to run headers as opposed to exchangers, would it be possible to run a second "shrouded" oil cooler and somehow extract heat from that to warm the cabin? I know the subject of alternate heating sources has come up before but didnt know if this has been looked at. Seems like a viable idea to me.

[TimT]

Yeap, you can do that... A friend of mine bought a car built buy Anziano ( bad boys?) the car had spaghetti type headers, yet the heat was sourced from the oil cooler, they made some sheet metal shrouds , and plumbed the air over the oil cooler..... It worked

[HawgRyder]

I have also been thinking along these lines.
I plan on mounting a front cooler and trying to run a vent from behind it to the cabin area.
I thought that a flap of some kind to deflect the heat either into the cabin or under the car would work.
Bob

[Chuck Moreland]

It would be easier to grab heat off the engine mounted cooler. It could be plumbed right into the existing system at the flapper boxes.

[Paul Franssen]

Now why didn't Herr Doctor think of that! Seems like a brilliant idea to me...

[Jeroen]

Yep, untill your cooler springs a leak (specially a front mounted one)...
Being sprayed with hot oil doesn't sound like a good idea to me

cheers,

Jeroen

[thrown_hammer]

Being sprayed with hot oil doesn't sound like a good idea to me

I never thought inhaling carbon monoxide seemed like a good idea either...
Let me know how it works John, I see headers in my future.

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by Chuck Moreland
It would be easier to grab heat off the engine mounted cooler. It could be plumbed right into the existing system at the flapper boxes.

I was told about that setup by Jim Newton (his shop is pictured on the from of Bruce Anderson's book). He hadn't done it but he'd heard or saw someone else do it. I mentioned it to my friend Dean ("Blown") who tried it. I don't think it worked very well. Dean, you want to chime in here?
-Chris

[Vipergrün]

I've been toying with the idea of adding headers and attaching a 12-18" length of 2.5" SS tubing to them and running the heater hoses as normal, just need longer ones. I think it could be fabricated to actually look decent and it would cost very little. You could even get fancy and put some bends in the tube for *clean* installtion of the hoses...

[Paul Thomas]

you can get a setup to get hot air off of an oil cooler for VW setups, so it could work for us. I know JC Whitney sells it, i have considered that cause it gets mighty cold on those winter runs.

Paul

[pwd72s]

Any reduced efficiency to the oil cooler because of the ducting?

[ruf-porsche]

If you want a warm heater for your car upgrade to a 996.

Contrary to a water cooled engine which use the engine cooling system to provide heat to the cabin, oil heating has some draw back.

Unless you have a valve and bypass system in place, the oil will always be circulating through the oil cooler/heater. Okay in the winter but not okay in the summer. You think the cabin to your P car is hot when there is no a/c, imagine how it will feel with the engine oil going into a heater/cooler that is always on.

[HawgRyder]

I would not think so as long as the amount of air was the same (CFM or flow).
The only drawback that I can think of so far is that the heat would not be available until the oil thermostat opens at 180 deg.
The warm air from the normal feed is available almost right away.
Bob

[Embs]

I know one person that really tried to make it work, the heat was just not hot enough to make it worth while. A person would be better off using an aircraft style clamp on muff on one or more of the header tubes.

http://www.kitairplaneforum.com/gal/rbrv6/heatmuff.html
http://www.wicksaircraft.com/gotopage.php?page=229

[Todd Simpson]

I'm missing something here, why not just use SSI's? Sure they're expensive but so is fabbing up something that's not likely to work and make the car look hacked.

If you must fab and need something bigger than SSI's you could adapt 993 heat exchangers, I would think.

[89911]

Originally posted by Todsimpson
I'm missing something here, why not just use SSI's? Sure they're expensive but so is fabbing up something that's not likely to work and make the car look hacked.

If you must fab and need something bigger than SSI's you could adapt 993 heat exchangers, I would think.

No you haven't. Now you know why, despite some criticism for higher output 911's, SSI's are still the best option.

[Jack Olsen]

Uh, B&B's give you plenty of heat, too. And they work with big displacement motors.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Noah, that last line? Well..... how can I put this delicately? You ain't turnin' queer on us, is ya?

[1fastredsc]

You sure that auroma isn't the sweet smell of the grim reaper in the form of carbon monoxide. I love living in NM, I only need the heater for 1-2 months of the year, after that, nothing. So the heater is already gone. And to aid your idea, i saw in a race shop one time that carried a switch valve meant for a dual exhaust system route that on one side would route through a straight pipe, and the other through a cat. That might work in regulating the heat from the oil cooler if you really attempt that project. And it has a fitting on it for a cable of some sort to regulate the valve.

[ChrisBennet]

C'mon guys, I agree with Noah. That wiff of oil-on-heat-exchanger smell when I start using the heat again brings a smile to my face. It's the smell of a 911.
-Chris
P.S. I must admit that the smell of Hoppe's #9 makes me think of bird hunting. Not that there's anything wrong with that...