MTFCA Forum

I am fixing to start working on a new T and while I am thinking about installing a heater in this one. I really don't mind the cold in winter but my wife would rather not freeze. I have been looking at exhaust heaters with the floor grill. They look like they would be the most effective but I wonder how you shut them off in the summer. Would you run it off of an exhaust cutout or just cover it with something? Does anyone have something nice that they would want to sell?

As always, thanks and God bless.

A heater not installed came with my car 47 years ago. I never installed it and the previous owner never did either. If I could find it, I would be willing to sell it.

In cold weather, I just remove the upper floor board in my 23 touring without the side curtains installed. A small board might be placed so that a foot doesn't touch the exhaust manifold.

I stay plenty warm in 40 Fahrenheit. But warm hat, good gloves, and a closed coat are recommended.

Art Mirtes

Josh, There is a "sleeve" of sheet metal that fits over your exhaust manifold. The "sleeve" has a tube that connects the rear of the sleeve to the floor vent. The floor vent (usually) has a sliding "door" to open or close the vent. Temperature is mostly regulated by the amount the vent door is opened/closed. During the summer months, the tube and/or the "sleeve" can be removed to eliminate the majority of the heat entering the cabin.

Being as the coolant system is thermo siphon, there is not much that can be done to move warm coolant into a heat exchanger in the cabin. A water pump in the cooling system will not move enough coolant to make much difference in the cabin.

There are period correct "foot heaters" that set on the floor, had a fuel block inside that a person would light, and as it burned slowly, would heat up the passenger's feet placed on top of the heater.

I have seen 6 and 12 volt electric space heaters for sale. You could investigate cost, installation, and wiring for one of them. I suggest you have a way to hard mount the heater as you do NOT want to have it tip over when you're driving.

The last thing: You might design an elaborate coolant hose system with an electric water pump, a heat exchanger, and electric fan in the cabin. The system would have to take hot water from the outlet of the engine (where it goes into the radiator), pump it through the heat exchanger, and back into the lower radiator hose or engine inlet. This system would be subject to a lot of potential problems and leaks. BUT, would be very much like what modern cars have.

I have an Arvin heater on my car. There is a casing that wraps around the exhaust pipe with a pipe and funnel system extended up to the front of the car behind the radiator. It works...kind of. The car is a Tudor, so maybe there is just too much air space to heat. The passenger stays warm from the floor vent though. In the summer I just take the casing off and leave the vent I place on the floor board. One winter I added a 6 volt fan with tubing that blew directly into the funnel at the front. That made a pretty big difference.

Thanks for the answers so far. I have looked at those manifold type heaters that are similar to those on an A Model. They do work pretty well. We had one on our 29 and it was very comfortable. What I have been looking at now is the style that mounts in the back floorboard and has an exhaust inlet and outlet. I think that Bovey might have been the maker but there were probably others. From what I can tell from the pictures that I have seen there is a cast register that mounts to the floor ( it looks a lot like an old house register) inside the heater box is a cast iron finned section of exhaust that provides the heat. It looks like there is a small door on the bottom of the heater box that partiality opens to force air up through the register while the car is in motion. It looks like it would work pretty well but I see no way to shut it off without disconnecting the whole thing in warm weather.

You might see what is available in a gasoline heater. They were used in the 1920s and 1930s, and could put out a lot of heat. I think they may still be available in some form. Wal Mart had some "golf cart heaters" last winter. I don't know how they are supposed to work, but that might be worth looking into. A T would need an alternator to run any kind of electric heater, and most 1940's style hot water heaters needed several amps to run the fan, so I'd think an alternator would be required to run both an electric water pump and a heater fan.

The plus on the exhaust manifold is that it not prone to warp but check the threads

The ARVIN on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134990497521?i ... R8ip1bjQYw --
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/256283378615?i ... R9Sn5LjQYw --
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I have a heater, it's called an Australian right hand drive.

The exhaust passes beneath the pedal slots and you have heat, whether you want it or not!

Have a look in our gallery Accessory Item section for an overview of heaters too, that may give you some ideas: Try this page and the next one: app.php/gallery/album/75/page/14?sk=n&sd=a

Cheers
Adrian

Here is my setup, I found the floor grate with damper on eBay and made the exhaust shroud out of a couple of pieces of flexible hot air intake hose that you can get at most auto parts stores. The shroud intake is down low, so it isn't visible from the engine compartment. Better than nothing!

I run one on our '19 Centerdoor - wife has a kick control register on her side - very functional !

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/download/f ... &mode=view
The heater label on the heater that TRDxB2 shows is not correct but one I copied and added on that heater. I'm sorry if I have added to the confussion. That was my best guess at the time.
Rich

IMHO I have heaters on both my Ts that utilize heat from the exhaust pipe, not the manifold and have a fresh air pickup behind the engine fan. No danger of exhaust gas this way. Starting below the manifold connection there is a surrounding cover over the exh pipe that is sealed at both ends and open to a floor grate.