Had a leak in the heater core of my Chevy van. Pulled it out and found a
crack in a passage between a set of fins, so I opened it up slightly,
roughed it up and carefully laid in some JB, in about three layers IIRC- I
wanted to build it up to make sure it had a grip, particularly on the inside
of the crack.
Anyway that was 15 years ago and that heater will still bake you out of the
van. I did have to pull that dash and I would've preferred to replace it
with a new one since I went to all that trouble but I'm cheap and I was
broke to boot.

People have since told me that JB softens up in hot antifreeze but I haven't
had a problem- anybody else heard that?

I was in Yosemite several years ago trying to buy some JB for a tent pole or
table leg or something (don't know why I didn't have any, I usually do) and
this store operator there told me he didn't like the stuff and thought it
was snake oil, essentially. I told him about my heater core patch and he
took a long look at me and said 'what part of Oklahoma you from?'

I said 'East Tennessee, actually'- he said 'same thing'.

Cya,
Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Harris" <rdh24@CORNELL.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 2:10 PM
Subject: alternate front heater core options?

> My Westy's front heater core has a slow coolant leak and the replacement
> cores are spendy at $350+.  Has anybody tried fitting a heater core from
> Jetta/Honda/Toyota/etc (something easy to find cheap at the junkyard) to
> the Vanagon front heater box?  Very interested to know what car you got
> the
> part from and how much fabrication you had to do to the VW heater box to
> make it work.
> thanks much!
>
> Robert H
> Ithaca NY
> '84 Westy "Busaru"