Long ago, when knights were bold, I installed a shutoff valve up on the
side of the heater core. Messy, drippy job.

If you pull the glove box you can see the hoses.

Turns out that I needn't have bothered: my hot summer feets were not due
to a partially-open heater valve at all, but because (a) the main
footwell flappers didn't close completely, letting in hot outside air,
and (2) the radiator, which makes a living dissipating untold* thousands
of engine watts of heat into the air, blows its hot air onto the sheet
metal directly in front of and below your feet. It's a crap design in
terms of driver comfort.

============
* Anyone got a handle on how many Watts** that thing has to get rid of
on a hot day at, say, 60 miles per hour?

===========
** As an electrical engineer, I think of these things in terms of Watts.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
Bend, Ore.
1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.

On 05/23/2012 02:24 PM, JRodgers wrote:
> What options might there be - even temporary - for shutting off the heat
> up front in the Vanagon. My heat valve is stuck to a degree of open and
> it gets pretty warm on the feet up front now that warm weather is here.

[snippage]