Wes,
I have no idea where to get one.  I've heard of at least one van being
retrofitted, maybe it was
Ark Mirvis who did it.
You would have to pull a heater out of a wrecked Canadian or European
syncro.  It would
be a bunch of work, there are a couple control boxes, fuses and relays
involved.  The associated parts are scattered under the dash, under the van
and in the engine compartment.

I've only seen these heaters on 1986 - 1987 Canadian syncros, they were not
available on the 2WD.
The Eberspacher BA6 gas heater, found on 2wd Vanagons, will not fit on the
syncro because the driveshaft is in the way.

Eberspacher and Webasto have new 'universal application' heaters available,
lots of $$ I think.

Gary Lee
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/vanagonrack.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wesley Alden Pegden" <wes@cs.uchicago.edu>
To: "G. Lee" <gary2a@TELUSPLANET.NET>
Cc: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: battery powered block heaters? - BBW 46 gas heater on Canadian
syncros

> wow...
> where can I get one?
>
> wes
>
> On Sun, 5 Oct 2003, G. Lee wrote:
>
> > > I'm getting ready for winter here in chicago.  Anybody know of any
battery
> > > options for block heaters that would be reasonable?
> > >
> > > wes
> > > '84 vanagon 1.9l
> >
> > Not that this is a viable option to retrofit, but I thought some people
may
> > be interested.
> > VW offered an optional stand-alone coolant heating system on Canadian
> > Syncros.  The Webasto BBW 46 gas heater will operate while the van is
> > running or not.
> > A timer will turn the heater on in advance at a preset time.  You can
warm
> > up the engine anywhere, you don't need to plug into 120 volt AC.
> >
> > I put up some pictures, description and repair manual on my web site.
> > Also the factory heated drivers seat.
> >
> > <http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/bbw46/BBW46.htm>
> >
> > Gary Lee
> > http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/vanagonrack.htm
> >
>
>