Heater Delete w/ Heat Exchangers
 

Im working through detailing my engine compartment and am removing unwanted componentry. I've already removed the non-op AC and Cruise Control, and wondering if it would be worthwhile to pull the heater hoses and blower from the engine compartment, I think it would help tidy things up in the engine compartment and improve accessibility in there.
Two questions-
1) what to do about defrost? This is a 99% street car and I will be driving on rainy days, is there a way to use the fresh air blowers in the front to defrost the windshield? I dont mind losing the passenger heat, it doesnt blow hot at all, but the defrost...
2) What will happen with the heat exchangers? New headers are not in the budget any time soon, what will happen if I pulled all the hoses and had the open holes in the heat exchangers? Is that ok, not ok?
Just toying with the idea of pulling everything, needing some insight.
thanks everyone

An enthusiast after my own heart...my little project is based on stripping everything out of the car that doesn't make it legally go down the road. I thus also pulled the AC and heating system components, as well as a lot more...

But yes, you have to do without a reasonably functional defroster if you don't have the warm air source. Cool air alone gets mixed results at best.

To make up for this when I absolutely need these things, I am looking into various electrical heating options. I am trying to find a 12V heating element with integrated fan, essentially like a hair dryer, that could be engineered into the system to at least put warm air on the windshield and about the seating area. I am figuring I should ideally install a high-output alternator first, though.

If you leave the heat exchanger and/or air duct holes open, you will invite debris, water and/or critters. There have been many approaches to sealing these - do some searches here...

BTW, in addition to simply not using the heat exchangers: if your heat exchanger bodies are rusty, or if you can get a hold of a rusty pair, you could do what I did - cut the heat exchanger housings off the manifolds, and voila, headers.

There are a few ways to approach this depending upon your year. In my case, enough heat comes forward with everything removed. You've may have a valve stuck "closed" in the flapper box if you have no passenger side heat/defrost, but something "isn't right". Do a search on "heater backdate", etc. as there are several threads with the options depending upon what you have.

Keep me posted on that project, or I'll keep an eye out on the forum, that sounds like something like that would be a feasible option in the future...
My exchangers are currently rust and corrosion free, would I be out of my mind to just cut them apart? I'll do a search for sealing them up first but that doesn't sound that bad...

The car is an 80 3.0, I havent done a full system check, but I'm at the point going through the car where if it doesn't work and isn't neccessary for the enjoyment and legality of my driving experience I'm pulling it. The heat produced is minimal, at best, enough to power the defrost, not going to cook the cabin by any means. I will also do a search on the heater backdate as well, though, thank you for the suggestions!

Check out this photo. This is what I did, along with footwell blowers for cold days. I'm trying to work out a way to get some filtration for the air.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1211118636.jpg

Some examples of heater backdate here:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=331731&highlight=heater+backdate& page=2

Aurel

That looks very clean, I like it very much! I don't quite know what exactly I'm looking at, though, are those hoses coming off of something in the wheel wells? Is the system heated for defrost or is this fresh air coming unto the windshield?


I read through this thread and looked more along the lines of what I was trying to accomplish compared to other backdate threads that I was able to find, Gunter touched on the issue, that pulling the hoses and plugging the heat exchangers deprived the exhaust ports of cooling, and that hoses should be reconnected once the blower motor is removed. I'm going to dig in and try to come up with a plan today, but can anyone expand on this?

Some people use half a soda/beer can to cap off the heat exchangers. In the engine compartment, you need to block off the duct coming off the engine shroud next to the distributor. If you leave that open, it will allow cooling air meant for the cylnder heads to escape. You can either find a way to cap off the duct or you can track down a used or new replica of the (left) engine shroud blockoff plate. But, the best way to go is a heater backdate (as mentioned above).

In the footwell blower area (behind your map holder area carpet) you could put in footwell blowers for lower heat or run straight hose for defog/defrost only. I chose footwell blowers. I will eventually hook up individual switches for left and right blower to control the heat instead of relying on engine speed alone.