VW bus and the northern winters....

Someone asked about heat in VW vans. Well, I live in Manitoba and
I'll tell you that it takes a hardy soul wearing a parka and warm
boots to drive about in the aircooled VW. The auxiliary gas heaters
suck way more fuel than you thought imaginable for their task, with
insignificant results when it gets really cold. We tried everything
with our 73 bus. We put an insulated bra on the front, and sealed off
the front interior with see-through vinyl and piped the gas-heater
heat to the front. Still nearly unbearable so we just resigned it to
blocks for the winter. Now, I just bought a 83 Vanagon Westy,
watercooled, and I am hoping for the best this winter! There seems to
be heat there but we'll see when it gets really cold out there.

Observations: the fins inside the old aircooled VW heat exchangers
can become corroded or otherwise blocked. You'll get much better heat
if these are serviced. The air-cooled vans start quite reliably
despite the cold, and plow through snow rather well because of their
excellent clearance. Also, as far as I know, there is no way to
install a block heater, even in the Vanagon water-cooled models as
there are no frost plugs. Block heaters are something you southern
folks won't know anything about, but they are high wattage 120volt
plug-in heaters which warm your engine blocks and are required if you
want to be able to start your vehicle once it drops below -20 degrees
C overnight ... my diesel Jetta likes to be plugged in once the
mercury falls just a few degrees below freezing) as there are no
frost plugs. I am looking into installing a circulating heater into
the coolant system. Any advice.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-cheers.
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B Hydesmith/83 Westfalia/Winnipeg/MB/Canada/hsc@mac.com
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