Heater Wipers position switch?

[MSumners]

Has anyone successfully switched the positions of the FFR heater and wiper motor? Maybe there’s a clear reason it can’t be done I’m unaware of. Getting some interference and looking for alternatives to the manual recommended positions.
Thanks all!
Mike

[Al_C]

could you elaborate on the interference, perhaps? I have both in the "normal/usual" position and they fit fine.

Here's a photo of their placement in 8650:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=104947&d=1554242566

[phileas_fogg]

I agree with Al; some pictures of the interference would help.


John

[MSumners]

The interference is behind the dash where I have a gauge in a non-standard position. The edge of the heater box would contact the gauge. I’m working on mocking up a mounting bracket to move the whole system to the passenger side and see how much clearance I can gain.

[Norm B]

If I understand correctly, you want to move the heater towards the passenger side. There is very little room for that because the space between the 2x2 cross frame and the body is limited. One possible solution is to move the heater forward. I did this so I could have a functional glove box. I constructed a 2 inch deep box to hold the heater and installed that on the firewall. Don't know if this would allow enough clearance for your gauge but, it gave me room for a 3 inch deep glove box.

HTH

Norm

[Avalanche325]

My heater is in the middle. It took a little bit of fabrication, but nothing a HF metal brake couldn't do. I wanted a heater and a full glove box.
I originally did the whole motor and everything behind the dash (cockpit air for the inlet), which was a lot of work. I turned the fan on and it sounded like a tornado. Plus it made everything unserviceable, so in the trash that version went. I've been happy with V2.0.
136873

[ggunter]

Norm that is an excellent idea for the heater. I have been wrestling with this because I wanted to keep the glove box. How deep is the box you made. Were you able to keep the full glove box depth?

[Norm B]

Norm that is an excellent idea for the heater. I have been wrestling with this because I wanted to keep the glove box. How deep is the box you made. Were you able to keep the full glove box depth?
The box is is 2 inches deep and allowed room for a 3 inch deep glove box. I have no idea if this is big enough for the supplied glove box. This was not an option when I bought my kit and I made my own.

Norm

[Al_C]

The interference is behind the dash where I have a gauge in a non-standard position. The edge of the heater box would contact the gauge. I’m working on mocking up a mounting bracket to move the whole system to the passenger side and see how much clearance I can gain.

I agree with Norm as well.

[MSumners]

If I understand correctly, you want to move the heater towards the passenger side. There is very little room for that because the space between the 2x2 cross frame and the body is limited. One possible solution is to move the heater forward. I did this so I could have a functional glove box. I constructed a 2 inch deep box to hold the heater and installed that on the firewall. Don't know if this would allow enough clearance for your gauge but, it gave me room for a 3 inch deep glove box.

HTH

Norm


Perfect, I think this will work thanks for the ideas!

[JB in NOVA]

Norm that is an excellent idea for the heater. I have been wrestling with this because I wanted to keep the glove box. How deep is the box you made. Were you able to keep the full glove box depth?

ggunter, I recently did this same "bump out box" mod. My box was 9” x 6.5” x 2.5” with 1” rivet flanges. It accommodated the heater and the FFR glove box with no problem. I did find that you need to push the box toward the outside as far as possible to avoid interference with the valve covers. Here's my experience:


This weekend, I mostly completed my heater installation. As a reminder, this includes a “bump out” box to allow the heater to be installed with a full sized FFR glovebox. Here is the Vintage Air heater motor installed on the bump-out box with the supplied 90-degree fittings, the shutoff valve, and the coolant lines:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=136219&d=1602461638

I was definitely nervous about clearance issues after a cautionary comment from a more experienced builder (see post #107) but, luckily, I managed to squeak by. As shown below, I have about ½ inch clearance between the aluminum heater fittings and the PS valve cover:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=136220&d=1602461653

Of course, this was just pure, dumb luck. If anyone else does this particular bump-out mod with a SBF engine, I recommend moving the box at least 1 inch more toward the passenger side to provide better clearance. I should also mention that I had a contingency plan, which was to cut the copper tubes coming out of the heater core and install compression fittings with 90-degree turns. I will continue to monitor my clearance issue after engine start and go-carting to see if I might still need to resort to that plan. But, so far, it looks like I squeaked by.

I routed the supply and return hoses along lower PS frame rail as shown below:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=136229&d=1602462075

Per Blueprint’s instructions, I attached the heater supply line to the port behind the water-temperature (dashboard) sensor, and I attached the return line to the barbed fitting on the water pump:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=136222&d=1602461679 (heater supply line)

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=136223&d=1602461694 (heater return line)

To make these fittings, I used pre-bent 5/8-inch hose segments from my local auto parts store. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to make these connections without kinking the hose.

With the bump-out modification, my FFR glove box abuts the heater core with basically zero clearance:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=136224&d=1602461727

So it looks like the dimensions of my bump-out box (9” x 6.5” x 2.5”) were exactly right. But again, I strongly recommend locating the entire box at least an inch more toward the PS edge of the firewall to avoid any “nervousness” about clearance issues with the PS valve cover, like I experienced.

[Norm B]

I took a different route with the heater hoses and to gain clearance with the valve cover. The supplied heater core attachment fittings were filed in the round storage bin and the associated connections on the heater core were cut off. New 1/2 inch 90 degree fittings were soldered onto the shortened heater core tubing. This method is not for the faint of heart but, neither is building your own car.

Good Luck

Norm

[phileas_fogg]

Like Norm, I discovered that the 90 degree elbow connectors interfered with my valve covers. So I cut them off, but instead of soldering anything I used a flare tool (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A8FTIU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to put a bead around the pipe end for the hose clamp to grab onto.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4316/36123022552_ba9f667f3f_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/X34W6E)IMG_3462 (https://flic.kr/p/X34W6E) by jhsitton (https://www.flickr.com/photos/91016165@N07/), on Flickr

Even though the bead is not as pronounced as I would have liked, it's help up just fine for 4k miles.


John

[Blue Viking]

Like Norm, I discovered that the 90 degree elbow connectors interfered with my valve covers. So I cut them off, but instead of soldering anything I used a flare tool (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A8FTIU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to put a bead around the pipe end for the hose clamp to grab onto.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4316/36123022552_ba9f667f3f_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/X34W6E)IMG_3462 (https://flic.kr/p/X34W6E) by jhsitton (https://www.flickr.com/photos/91016165@N07/), on Flickr

Even though the bead is not as pronounced as I would have liked, it's help up just fine for 4k miles.


John

I had the same problem. I cut them off and intended to solder the fittings back on. Apparently they were brazed on, so i wasn't able to de-solder the fittings. I had to drill and grind out the old pipe from the fittings and went on to solder the fittings back on the shortened pipes. I filled the register with water and put a wet towel over the pipes near the heater box. Managed to solder the fittings back up without issues with the plastic heater box, seems to be holding up fine so far.