Heater

[DHGTR]

just a sort of side shoot to the a.c. thread.

Does the GTR actually require a feed to the heater?
If the heat soak is as great as is being implied would it not be better and more comfatable to just bypass the cockpit all together and route the heater pipe around the engine bay (obviousley cut it and not route 12ft of pipe!!)
If you are not bothered about heating the cockpit why not just have the ac connected?
am i missing something?

dave
p.s. no water in my car yet so VERY interested in the replies.

[bluesatin]

I tend to do this in the summer. Even with the volve closed and a cross over the heat makes it to the fan after an hour!

[Steve_D]

You are required to have an effective demisting system so you will require the heater unless you provide some other heat source.
I think we may need two valves to shut the thing down properly.

Steve

[Pb3]

Steve is right. Plus I have actually used it a couple of times in the UK. Alsp, an early morning start, when the car has been outside has required some heat on the windscreen to clear it.

[Stig]

The heat soak isn't just from the heater pipes, it's from the feed/return to the rad, so I doubt it will help.

To be honest, when the heating gets a bit marginal (heavy traffic, hot weather etc.) I prefer to have the heater as an option to help cool things down (it does help). It roasts the occupants, but does keen the engine temps down.

[Crazy of Cookham]

Thanks Stig for the memories, yes sat with mine for an hour in crawling traffic coming back from Le Mans with full heater and fan on to keep temps down below 100. Having to crawl for long distances at under 5mph is a killer.

[andygtt]

why not get a heated screen?

[DHGTR]

Hi Andy, i have, hence the 'do we need the heater' question. has anyone that has fitted uprated rad fans suffer from the slow traffic heat build up?

[andygtt]

I lagged all the alloy pannels with heat resistant material that the rear clip gets to prevent heat soak into the cockpit, On Simons Old GTR I also lagged the rear bulkhead to keep the heat out.....

You could also try sealing the side pods so that the heat can't come in from the rad pipes under the dash...... But you have to be careful because as Stig says the cooling is already marginal and so you need to deflect heat away without actually stopping the heat escaping.

But I guess the decision to scrap the heater altogether must be down to use.... there is no way I could have coped without a heater in mine, but then I drove it rain, shine or snow.

[DHGTR]

I'm tending to think along the same lines as guy, being able to connect or disconnect when needed. yep i know - emptying and refilling!!

[Builder]

I have already cut my hose and anchored the heater valve in the left luggage bin per the build manual. But, after thinking about it, wouldn't it make more sense to put the valve somewhere in line behind the bin? The cable could always be extended. Then, hard lines could be used through the bin. Or, the bin could be redesigned to completely exclude the hard lines...just run them with the rad pipes.