About six years ago my wife and I moved from Bozeman MT to Silicon Valley.
We have an 82 Diesel Westy.  On the colder nights we found it more
comfortable to put up a curtain between the front and rear of the van to
keep it warm while driving.  With that curtain even the coldest nights were
fine to drive in.

I am not too sure about the air cooled ones though.

One warning though.  If you plan to spend the night in the van and wear
contact lenses keep them in the sleeping bag with you.  The first time we
went camping in the winter I put my contacts on the counter over night.  In
the morning the solution had frozen and my hard contacts were ruined.

Scot

BobKat <kbpendle@ABOUTMONTANA.NET> on 07/29/2001 08:08:42 PM

Please respond to BobKat <kbpendle@ABOUTMONTANA.NET>

To:   vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
cc:    (bcc: Scott Sullivan/Disco_Corp)
Subject:  Question of heat?

I am new to Vanagons, but not VW's (we own several MkI and MkII cars), due
to a growing family, we need more room...Vanagon.

We looked at one yesterday, nice rig, good shape.  82 air-cooled Vanagon.
No frills, no rust, $1000.  Runs great with 30,000 on the engine.

My question: I live in Montana...will this thing be able to give us heat in
the winter? (no underbelly gas heater, just the engine ducting.)

Any suggestion or ideas?  We are not in a hurry, and I am reading the list
to learn all I can before we commit to a vehicle (need to learn what to
look
for, and look out for:)  I am considering a diesel if I can find one that
runs good. (easier swaps to a TDI or a 1.8.  A VR6 sound like fun, but not
realistic at this point....gotta get the Cabrio project and the Jetta
finished first~G~)

Thanks all!

Bob and Kathy
88 Jetta
82 Cabriolet (Project Rabid Bunny)
84 Jetta GLi (RIP, now parts:(
soon a Vanagon?