Heater/Defrost Only?

[j33ptj]

Has anyone installled a heater/defrost only and not the A/C (cooling)?

What did you do? Did you use the provided Vintage Air system (I believe it is the Gen iV)? or did you replace it with a Gen II?

Thanks
Robert

[RoadRacer]

Yes, I bought the very simple Vintage Air Gen-II Heaters 506101 (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VTA-506101) from Summit and used that.

[TxMike64]

I'm probably going to go the route of Heat/Defrost only without A/C. I'm considering three different units:

The same VA unit RoadRacer chose: Vintage Air Gen-II Heaters 506101 (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VTA-506101) - it's the most complete kit (Summit has the best price)
A very basic Summit-branded unit: Summit Racing Automotive Heaters SUM-991102 (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-991102-1)
And a unit from Old Air Products : IP-166HDE - Compact Heater (https://www.oldairproducts.com/product/heater-wdefrost-ip-166hde)

[RoadRacer]

I'm probably going to go the route of Heat/Defrost only without A/C. I'm considering three different units:

The same VA unit RoadRacer chose: Vintage Air Gen-II Heaters 506101 (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VTA-506101) - it's the most complete kit (Summit has the best price)
A very basic Summit-branded unit: Summit Racing Automotive Heaters SUM-991102 (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-991102-1)
And a unit from Old Air Products : IP-166HDE - Compact Heater (https://www.oldairproducts.com/product/heater-wdefrost-ip-166hde)

I looked at that summit one and I don't think it includes a servo to shut off hot water coming into the cabin. I wanted one (I'm guessing it's hot enough in the cab in TX!) which I mounted outside the firewall. It also doesn't have a cabin heat option, only defrost. The one I bought has a flap at bottom that opens to heat feet, as well as defrost.

[33fromSD]

This is great input guys, for me I'm in a different school of thought. Living in SoDak we really only have April (sometimes May) through Sept (sometimes Oct) of really "good" weather.

I nixed the hard top option and windows and went with Ragtops soft top / zip in windows so I nixed the HVAC option immediately, thinking I could, like you guys are doing, put an heat/defrost only unit in.

After thinking about it more, I have four convertibles already (2 modern and 2 classics) and I haven't used the Air once in the modern ones in the 10 years we've owned them and I think I can count on one hand the total times I used the heaters / defroster in any of them and that was because my wife was with me.

I'm hearing Gen1s are known for heat through the floor board and Gen2 while they have better floor insulation they still get warm so I am guessing I will have more than enough heat at any one given point in time.

I'm unfortunately one of these nuts where I don't mind if it's in the 30s or in the 100s, if I have the convertible out unless I get caught in the rain, the windows and top will be down.

There is an outside chance I could change my mind with the heat / defrost once I get this thing on the road so I'm going to monitor this thread and soak up all your thoughts / ideas in case I need them down the road.

[TxMike64]

Jim, I'm much like you. I rarely use A/C in my daily driver, don't think I'd use it much in a cruiser. I'll be building as a roadster eventually getting the soft top. I consider this to be more of a motorcycle than a car: open to elements, more visceral. I don't mind the sun or 100 degrees, the humidity doesn't bug me too much, but as it starts to drop below even 75 degrees I start getting cold. Them bones, they hurt... So that's why I'm considering Heat/Defrost.

Now that I think of it, I need to go look at the AVM; TxDot requires wipers and may also require defrost...

[33fromSD]

Jim, I'm much like you. I rarely use A/C in my daily driver, don't think I'd use it much in a cruiser. I'll be building as a roadster eventually getting the soft top. I consider this to be more of a motorcycle than a car: open to elements, more visceral. I don't mind the sun or 100 degrees, the humidity doesn't bug me too much, but as it starts to drop below even 75 degrees I start getting cold. Them bones, they hurt... So that's why I'm considering Heat/Defrost.

Now that I think of it, I need to go look at the AVM; TxDot requires wipers and may also require defrost...

Hey Mike.... yeah, this getting old stuff stinks....I too get lots of aches so I hear ya. You bring up a good point about state requirements, I should verify SoDak requirements (although they are pretty lenient from what I've read/researched and talk to people about so far).

[j33ptj]

I def need a defroster!! and windshield wipers/washer and a rear fog light and reversing lights,.... all mandatory.... and from 2030 no more new petrol/diesel cars....

[RoadRacer]

I def need a defroster!! and windshield wipers/washer and a rear fog light and reversing lights,.... all mandatory.... and from 2030 no more new petrol/diesel cars....

Luckily we're building cars using 1933 rules :D Well, at least in Texas we are!

[JimLev]

I def need a defroster!! and windshield wipers/washer and a rear fog light and reversing lights,.... all mandatory.... and from 2030 no more new petrol/diesel cars....

Their going to need all that petrol/diesel to generate electricity to charge all those electric vehicles.

[TxMike64]

Their going to need all that petrol/diesel to generate electricity to charge all those electric vehicles.

...all those "clean air" "zero emissions" electric cars....

[33fromSD]

I knew I should haven't read this thread. :)

SoDak has no specific rules, their registration is actually pretty easy and there is no inspection, so no heater, wipers, backup lights etc. are required per say, but then I started thinking.... I don't plan on selling this thing it will go to the kids when I go onto a better life but if they ever try to sell it will they run into issues. My kids are not overly mechanically inclined so rather than them having to spend $$ to have someone else install this stuff or them butchering it while installing this stuff, I figure it is still at a point where the body isn't on it's a whole lot easier to add the heater and back light wiring now rather than later and just be done with it.

Given that, I ordered the vintage air kit, a simple one arm wiper kit, and a back up light kit from Summit Racing late last week and surprisingly it showed up yesterday.

[j33ptj]

...all those "clean air" "zero emissions" electric cars....

A Speedstar without a v8.... :shuddering:

[AJT '33]

Yes, I bought the very simple Vintage Air Gen-II Heaters 506101 (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VTA-506101) from Summit and used that.

Bought and installed the same one. I also used the vents from Vintage but adapted them differently to allow for the look and functionality. My province requires a heater and two wipers.

This is one shot of my vents: 138334

[33fromSD]

Vintage Air GenII heater / defroster from Summit Racing installed, I just tested all the electrical and it works great. I did not test if it actually heated up since I haven't plumbed coolant lines yet, but I know the heater core was still pressurized so I can't see why the core wouldn't heat up, I know it won't leak. I'll plumb it all up and test it before I do put the body on just to be sure.

Disregard the rats nest of wiring on and around the heater unit, this was roughly done for go-karting, I'll clean everything up once I install the body and do the final wiring.

138604

138605

[RoadRacer]

Vintage Air GenII heater / defroster from Summit Racing installed, I just tested all the electrical and it works great. I did not test if it actually heated up since I haven't plumbed coolant lines yet, but I know the heater core was still pressurized so I can't see why the core wouldn't heat up, I know it won't leak. I'll plumb it all up and test it before I do put the body on just to be sure.

Disregard the rats nest of wiring on and around the heater unit, this was roughly done for go-karting, I'll clean everything up once I install the body and do the final wiring.

138604

138605

Where are you putting the solenoid to shut off the hot water?

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?24163-Roadracer-s-997-build&p=318667&viewfull=1#post318667

[33fromSD]

Where are you putting the solenoid to shut off the hot water?

I'm going to build a bracket / housing and put in on the frame in front of the over flow tank .

138607