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Chilly Willy


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The problem we have with the cab heaters in our vans is they only run for 1 hour then need to be left for 5 minutes before being switched on again and being the basic tran(sh)it van they don't insulate them so it gets very cold very quickly in winter.

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  • 4 years later...

After the winter we've just had my wife and kids simply refused to go any where in my 110 V8 without wearing thermal undies. Even a new matrix has failed to help. Not saying that the heater was useles, but at one point this winter the door windows froze shut, there was a half inch layerof ice on the inside of the entire vehicle and I got stabbed (drew blood too) in the head by the icicles that formed on the sunroof. Yrt my 110van has a heater in it gives out hot air that's hotter than the surface of the sun. My experience suggests that the heaters in Landrovers vary from vehicle to vehicle.....

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Insulating the truck is the most important thing... With good insulation and a properly setup heater, it is sufficient.

I've been planning to fitting one of these: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-991102/ Good price and the specs make it out to be a much higher capacity heater than the stock one. I have read of one person fitting it to a Series and one to a Defender. Should be pretty straightforward.

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Hi all...

I made a heater box for my defender 130, and it heats the cab much better than the original.

No flaps inside as it just uses the fan speed to control air flow.

To add cooler air I just open the vents under the front window.

Took me about 2 days as I had a little trouble getting the shape right at first.:huh:

Regards Phil....

post-24254-128086972555_thumb.jpg

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Hi Mo...

The fan and matrix are original parts as I wanted to at least keep some things genuine. :)

The box is water tight sealed with SikaFlex, except there is a small hole at the bottom fan section if water gets in.

Also aluminium brackets either side of the matrix with soft rubber holding it in place so its sealed in nicely.

It will be very easy to add an extension outside the box with control flap to bypass around the matrix, which I will get to soon.

Regards Phil.

PS: Attached a pic of it all mounted I took tonight. The goop dripping down the firewall is Linseed oil which I pump my Landy with each year to prevent corrosion. Looks a little messy but 15 years strong and no corrosion living near the beach.

post-24254-128090976934_thumb.jpg

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Just looking at the diagrams(I'm well impressed with them by the way,very well explained-Thank you)would you just not have the heater as just that a heater! why would I want to have a cold air facility when all I need it for is heat?-seems an awful shame that we're trying to get the heaters working correctly to provide heat during the cold spells and we have the cold air flap possibly open(taking into account the possibility of the cables have been adjusted correctly)-would there be any need to have that opening at all and then direct the heat straight through the heater matrix instead of via two possible places,I've never in 13 years of land Rover ownership used the cold facility on my vehicles-I can't remember if I've ever moved the heater controls to change between cold and hot on the right hand side of the dash, hmmm I can see some tinkering coming on when I get home to see if that's what it needs to be for me,If I want cold air all I will have to do is open the windows or the front bulkhead vent flaps

John

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Mo,

great idea of Phil's to remove the Extra bit's, but what about just sealing them up-the flaps I mean, You could always add two matrix's out of a series 3 as Simonb has done to give you a bit more heat and go from there, And whilst I think about it can you remember seeing in any of the mags or it may have even been on here somewhere that someone had put a paddle/Blade for a better word in the middle of the fan on the heater so that it makes the air get more oomph? I'm wondering wether that may increase the power of the air coming onto the matrix and also do you or anyone know if a disco heater fan is quicker than a defender one or would it spin at the same speed?

I shall be taking an old heater box I have at home apart and see what it'd take to seal up the cold passage of air side of things and also see what it would take to swap out the heater matrix for perhaps something a bit larger than what's in there at the moment

John

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I think that if you are going to go to the trouble of dismantling the heater box, then you may as well build a new one ! IIRC the disco fan is much bigger than the defender one so you'd have to make a new housing for it anyway :) Might as well use a disco matrix too. It's not as though you'd be pushed for space.

Mo

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Mo,hmmm another Idea to think about mate, I wonder if I could use a disco heater matrix?? if the fan is as you say bigger than a defender one then would it be possible to use the motor and swap out the fan for a defender one?-just trying to work out wether it would be faster than the defender one or the disco one pushes more air out as it's bigger!

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Something else to consider is the fact that the outlet from the heater matrix box is larger than the hole in the bulkhead. This restricts the airflow. Unfortunately to make the bulkhead hole the same size as the box would mean extending the hole a couple of inches to the left side. This would then make the hole extend beyond the left side of the dash box and into the wiper motor cover (for RHD vehicles). Someone should find out who designed this mess and if he's still alive, take away his pension!

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