half heater backdate....ok to leave till I finish this fall?

[gunlover05]

I got into a mood today and removed my engine heater blower on my 85 carrera...I also removed a passenger footwell blower that wasn't working...I don't need heat in the summer here, and thought i'd finish the heater backdate in the fall. I decided for now to block off hole up where the blower moter went with aluminum tape (upper left) to act kinda like a blockoff for a little better airflow over engine, and left the hole open down to the heat exchangers (lower right)...



I went for a spin down the road, and when i got back i noticed a heat exchanger was burning off oil and smoking....this typically doesn't happen (smoking)...the engine wasn't even up to normal temp either....

Is it ok to leave as is for this summer, or will the lack of airflow through the heat exhangers cause them to get too hot? or....?

[KNS]

Even when the heater blower is not turned on the fan is pushing some air through the heat exchangers. I suppose the heat exchangers are just acting like a heat sink instead?

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by gunlover05

Is it ok to leave as is for this summer, or will the lack of airflow through the heat exhangers cause them to get too hot?

There was a long debate on this about a year ago. Crowd was split 50/50.

[gunlover05]

after a little more searching, I believe no airflow through the exchangers isn't good at all...

given that, I went ahead and took the blower motor out of the metal housing to save weight , covered the resulting hole in the metal housing with aluminum tape (love this stuff), and mounted it back with orignial plastic arm going back to the exchangers...should suffice until i get a real backdate engine shroud converter this fall....probably hard to see, but no motor behind the blower housing now...


also used aluminum tape (same aluminum tape for heating and air duct work) to cover the hole in the footwell blower, and will mount back later this week...

[rfloz]

Why not remove the whole apparatus and install a block-off plate from TRE (metal) or Pelican (plastic or fiberglass) in the opening next to the distributer?

I used a plumbing pipe block-off gadget I got at the local hardware store for the HE opening in the engine tin (lower right corner of your last picture). Makes for a much cleaner looking engine compartment that is also easier to work in.

FWIW, I have had no smoke issues doing it this way. It is my understanding the other side is still open so you are not unduly restricting the HE air flow. In fact, there is a thread somewhere on how to make the Carrera foot-well blowers work (apparently the engine blower is part of their circuit) so you can have a decently functional heater/defroster. I haven't tried that yet, but a working defroster at least would be a good thing even in California.