Got cold today

45 in south calif

Google the Espar gas heater---that will warm the interior of a Speedster as much as you want.

 

Today I finally put my top up---it's been down all summer except for long highway trips.  Putting the top up and changing to Brad Penn 10W40 is my winter prep.  Put 30-40 miles on the Speedster today mostly around town and the Espar made it toasty in there.  It was 44 degrees today and the heater was at only  10% of capacity.  Great investment.

Glad to see you drive year round Jack.  When it snows here the stuff stays around long and the roads get over salted.   My car is officially asleep now.   

Jack,

could I see a few pics of how your heater is installed?

JB Lewis

JB--the installation is almost invisible being up in the nose of the car --I'd have to get it on a lift to take a picture. It's in it's waterproof housing and away from where stones or road debris could damage it. There is a vent was cut to the left of my left shin in the front of the car for where the warm air enters and another on the right side for drawing and recirculating warmed air. Neat job with rotating cover that disburses the air and can be rotated to aim it 360 degrees.  The control is just a pentiometer above my left knee.  Simple; turn clockwise for heat.  I have never had to turn it as much as 20% of it's range.  There's a light on the control that comes on when the unit is operating.  The main heater unit's size is about 3 1/2 stacked cigar boxes; quite small.

 

A "Y" fitting was used to take gas from the line out of the tank.  It's always amazing that there is a total lack of any gasoline smell--ever.  It was a spooky thought to heat the Speedster using gasoline for fuel but it has been done for decades in Europe and in the USA VW busses commonly used such a heater.  In the 40a, the Chrystler company used a lot of gas heaters in their cars. The Espar uses some exotic built insafety features so I'm comfortable with it's safety.

 

Espar sells a manually operated distribution set up so you can direct the air for defrosting but I didn't get it.  I learned that the heat itself acts like a defroster , I guess because the car is so small and I haven't needed separate defrosting.

 

A lot of guys obtain the old Eberspacher gas heatwer units and refurbish them for cars and this might be a good cost -saving   approach if you know what you're doing.

 

Many over the road trucks use Espar diesel heaters to warm the cab while the driver is taking a break ---saves fuel rather than running the truck's engine heater.  This is by far the biggest part of Espar's business these days.

 

Jake Raby did my installation--super clean and uber safe---he's done them for his own cars-The Espar company has a list of dealers all over the country that can do an install.  My Type IV had no heater boxes so there was no heat available at all. Something about the headers used in converting the engine for use in a Speedster.  ( Can anyone add to this?)  But I didn't even have the semi-worthless heat that VWs I have owner had.

 

My feeling is that the Espar heater  makes my Speedster more than a toy and fun to use year round.  Not cheap, but a great investment.  The dealer I got mine from was in MI and was super helpful organizing all the parts needed to do the install.  He was a car nut too so he took extra care to supply just what I needed.

 

Are there any more Espar heater users in the SOC bunch out there?

Yup. I'm using an old late-60s Eberspacher BN-2 in my Spyder. Works great, off and on only. It does get quite warm sometimes, then I unzip the side curtains to let some cool air in.

 

There is a guy named Doug with the same heater in his Speedster that lives in Maine or NH.

 

Jack's heater is modern and safer than the older ones. The old ones are safe if maintained, but all the safeties are mechanical, not solid state like Jack's.

 

One of these days I will figure out how to turn mine down, but that is not the way they came......

Since my BN2 was gifted to me, I've been slowly doing research on them and there seems to have been a number of different versions, even just within the BN2 model and depending on the year of release.  Different fans, different fuel pumps (pulsed off of the fan versus continuous) different fuel regulators and different control logic circuitry.  

 

The BIG user-comfort difference was when they offered a thermostatic switch, like I think Jack has.  It has it's own thermostat inside and a rotatable dash knob to both turn it on and to regulate heat output.  Before that there was a simple pull-push dash switch.  Pull out to turn it on and push it in when the heat drove you out, but that was it for cab heat adjustment and sounds like what Danny has.  

 

Jack, what you describe as your heater unit sounds about 1/4'th the size of my BN2. Mine is about 5" in diameter and 16" long and looks like a small back-pack rocket engine.  I'll post some pictures later this afternoon.  

 

As an aside, the BN2 was sourced for the VW type 3 squareback and notchback cars, both of which are somewhat larger in cockpit area than a Speedster, so even though this was the smaller of the Eberspacher line, it is still way overkill in something as small as a Speedster (as both Jack and Dan P have found out).  

 

The combustion chamber is separated from the cockpit air chamber and has it's own air intake and exhaust gas manifold so you should never smell gas - if you do, there's a BIG problem!  It starts on a glo-plug (think a small light bulb with the filament exposed) and once it has been running for about a minute the glo plug extinguishes and it continues to run on it's own heat until you (our your thermostat) turns it off, thereby turning off the fuel pump and starving it for fuel.  That's why it takes a minute or so for it to come to life when turned on.  All of this is controlled by some pretty simple relay logic which is easy to re-create If you can't find the module.  Even harder to find is replacement glo-plugs  or fuel regulator...

 

The achilles heal of the older units is the fuel regulator because they have not been manufactured in decades and it is impossible to get direct-replacement rubber diaphragms for them (2 per) when they petrify due to age and/or use and stop working.  I have not been following the threads lately, but the closest replacement was a fuel pump diaphragm for an outboard marine motor, but I'm not sure....Research continues on that, nor have I been able to discover the fuel pressure to the glo-plug spritzer.  All it does is partially atomize the fuel stream and spray it onto the glo-plug, but it has to be the right pressure and volume to provide the right burn mix - just like a car engine....14.7 to 1 or thereabouts.  I'll get it eventually.

 

Speaking of that, JACK!  Please shoot me an email with your Eberspacher contact.  The only one I have is in Toronto and he's only semi-useful so far.

 

Thanks, gn

 

My local VW wrecking yard has a stack of the espar gas heaters their older ones from buses and bugs from back in the day but they can be used or rebuild but he says it can be kind of dangerous

You are right Gordon, there is an early and a late BN2. I have the early, which has an on/off diaphragm fuel pump and pressure regulator. I am pretty sure there isn't a whole lot of pressure, more like a drip drip drip kind of thing. The later one has a point timed on-off pump. So if the fan is running(heater on) the pump is pulsing. The pump on the later one is a solenoid thing so the on-off thing makes sense.

 

Jack's is a modern day Espar, they are compact and NEW. The older Eberspachers are long like a Salamander space heater.

A flaming 16 degrees at my place but thankfully it feels like 5! Think I'll put the top down.

We hit 81 yesterday and at least 80 today.  Gonna keep driving the car a bit longer, I think.

Ride on brother!  Jealous, but happy for you :-)

IT SNOWED IN TORRANCE LAST NIGHT. VINCE WAS OUT EXERCISING IN IT.

Looks like the exercise has done him some good, but he's lost a lot of hair...

 

 

 

Damn!  That makes you cold just looking at it!

 

Anyway, here's a photo of a button'd up BN2 with a couple of fuel pumps:

 

 

 

And here's the same unit with the protective cover off, showing the fuel regulator:

 

 

 

This one seems relatively un-used, since the exhaust pipe (on the bottom) shows no carbon or rust.

Gordon do you know of a book that goes into how to rebuild one of these this guy just has stacks and stacks some together some not I would like to rebuild a good one and use it in my speedy but wanted to be as safe as possible thanks. When I get off the road I will Google it may be there is a website or somebody has posted details on these thank you

Left pump is a later one, middle is a fuel filter, the right is a Hardi fuel pump that goes with the early BN-2 with regulator as shown in the picture.

Speedbucket, take it apart, clean it up and put it back together. There are manuals available on line.

Thanks Danny I will look online ,I just have to get one complete one . there are many that are disassembled partially if I can identify all the parts I can get a complete one.
Greg

Let me know if I can be of help. I ran mine on a test stand for hours before I installed it in my car. I recommend that highly......

GORDON I LOVE THAT MOBIL GAS SIGN. U EVER WATCH AMERICAN PICKERS?

 

For all my SOC buddies who are snowbound and have put their cars in storage for the Winter, here's a short video I put together to help you through to next Spring...

 

NOTE: When the video starts, click the 'Gear' icon and adjust to 720HD for better video quality...

 

You've outdone yourself again, Jim, like I said on the facebook page.  Thankfully I can still drive mine.  It's been 80 or above for the last three days.  I gotta get a GoPro and take some lessons from you.

Nice Jim. Thank you for that. Makes me want to go out and drive. Lots of shots of my ride, sweet! I don't put mine away, it is always ready to go. I do drive it on nice dry days in the winter.

 

But last night we got a inch of ice/slush so not today!

Very cool video Jim.  If it wasn't wet here in NVA I'd be riding as it's only 36 going to 41 not bad. Maybe I'll go out if things dry out

 

Pete

Great job, Jim and I can see you're having fun making these shows.

 

Ahhh...I see that the "technical bar" has just been raised for us Non-SoCal videographers.

 

I shall have to speak with my technical consultant (#1 daughter) and start recording a LOT more action shots in 2014.  

 

I can see a "Green Screen" effect in my future!

 

Gerd:  I've seen "American Pickers" a couple of times, but that's about it.  I grew up in a circa 1730's farmhouse "museum" and that kinda cooled me on doing the antique thing.  That particular sign is a reproduction, but I have a bunch of real ones I've gotten along the way, usually through my Mom who was an antique dealer after she retired.  I also have outdoor thermometers ("Frostie Root Beer"), antique glass quart oil bottles used in gas stations, a bunch of antique automotive tools and a blacksmith's anvil from the 1800's - handy to pound on when making stuff (but too heavy to move).

 

VW exhausts (and the heater boxes) are very restrictive, helping to keep the motor a lower rpm (4,000-4400 tops) reliable package. This is why, when looking for a serious power increase (especially when the motor is substantially bigger than it was originally), a larger tube header is used (in concert with more carburetion, bigger valves and porting work) so the motor will breathe better, hitting higher rpm's and making more power. Al

 

And Jim- As always, well done! 

Thanks, Alb.

 

Jimbo---always a treat to see an El;Guapo vid!  Thank you.

AWESOME JIMMY

Very awesome! Making me have withdrawals over the sale of my Speedster. When I get my next one, I've got to hook up with some of you guys for these cruises!

Thanks, Jim! 

 

Probably not going to drive the Speedster today since it's -2 f at the moment.   

 

I suppose I should look at it as a nudge to get into the spirit of the season, or maybe some other spirit.

 

"I'm like a chocoholic, except for booze!"

Ok, I took the Speedster out today here in NVA temps in the low 40's did a 15 mile ride to get some fuel additives after talking to fellow Speedster and SOC'er Syl M.

 

Had a blast and got some stuff done too.  To show Westies, Cali guys that we're sorta cool too

Yeah, but were you wearing shorts and a Tee-shirt like MUSBJIM?

Totally didn't know that guy had a twin. 

I'm thinkin' a little video wizardry was involved.

Another beautiful day for a drive in Florida.   Odometer crossed 2000 miles today.  Although this may not sound like much...the car has been drivable for only about 4 months due to the nasty consecutive clutch failures. 

Tom, you car looks REALLY good.  Sandy and me are planing a few days in FL after the Holidays.  Either in Jan or Feburay.  ObamaCare has me working night and day so we cant go anytime soon.  Who does not like FL when its frezzing up North?  Lets do dinner on the intercostal and some cocktaills. 

 

My buddy and I drove his Honda Magna Fort Lauderdale to Chicago.  We partied at FSU on the way home. being 21 was lots of fun .   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marty--Alice and I will be in Miami Jan 3-7.  Maybe we can hook up with Nolan and Jan.

Marty - book it,  just let us know when......BTW, both my daughters went to FSU so we are big fans by default

 

Jack - same....drop us a note when you get close...