@Gordon Nichols, I am just at the "wondering about it" stage right now. I hadn't thought about running the output from the heater boxes through the Espar. Espar of Michigan is pretty close to me.
To get any heat I need to solve the problem of the lever on the left heater box hits my kafer bar.
I've got an Espar heater Henry installed with the build in '05. It pulls air from under the dash, and blows it down at my feet.
I'd strongly recommend not doing it like that.
What happens is that all the heat gets trapped under the dash, and sucked into the heater. There are sensors upon sensors which use any and all data to shut the unit down if it perceives there's any reason whatsoever to do so. Warm/hot return air (supplied to the heater) is enough to shut the burner down. Just about the time it get's crankin', down she goes.
I'd suspect it'd be the same thing if you did it the old-school way with the heater boxes. An old heater would be fine, but a new solid-state controlled Espar won't like it.
Sorry.
Heat? Heater? Heater boxes? What sort of voodoo are you guys talking about?
The gaz heater was a neat gadget 
but you'll need a metal manifold of sorts to direct the heat as Stan mentioned otherwise it will shut down. Seat heaters and engine heat can work fairly well or I recently found a radiant heat source was being used in some cars as well but I am not sure how that would work in our cars.
A subie produces nice heat with a Vintage air set up you get both worlds ... just saying.
Heat? Seat heaters?! What's next? Some fancy custom 5 speed?
You guys are a bad influence.
Yes, there are several "safety controls" on gas/diesel heaters - that's a good thing. Typically, they have an overheat sensor on the output side that has a set range (mine is around 300º). If you go above that upper limit it will either stop fuel flow or stop the heater completely, depending on model. My overheat sensor shorts to ground and blows a 2-amp fuse, stopping everything til I change the fuse. Do that once and you'll make sure you know why it blew!
In Stan's case, if you were to use a duct (clothes dryer vent hose is fine, if it fits) to move the input to somewhere else (like input from the frunk or farther away from the outlet vents) I think it would be fine, or maybe duct the output to farther away. I'm pulling in from the the area right behind the driver's horn grill and outputting under the dash with a couple of aim-able outlets (2-1/2" 45º PVC fittings) that are roughly aimed at one's knees. It might be interesting to know where @Jack Crosby has his heater inlet and outlet in his car. His heater is in the nose, similar to mine, but his is a recirculating system more like Stan's, so it has to deal with long ducts on both sides, too.
On my heater and measuring with an IR thermometer, with 38º at the inlet and after a good warm-up, I'm getting about 180º at the outlet - probably cooler than your heater, Stan, but I'm running it on "low" since I didn't want to deal with things being too hot. I may bump it up a bit before the season is over.....I'm still playing with it.
Maybe I misunderstood what Jack told me about his heater location. I thought it was in the open space in front of the frunk.
Mike--my Espar heater is not inside the trunk but is tucked up under the nose of the car. Safe from road debris there and fairly easy to access although I haven't even looked at it in 3 years. A great, reliable and effective heater. I would have gone Gordon's route if I had his skills---which I don't.
The warm air comes into the cabin by an adjustable vent to the left of the clutch pedal and a bit higher. The duct for air leaving the cabin is on the passenger side to the right of the passenger's knee.
The rheostat that controls the heat level is above and to the right of the driver's left knee. This control can turn 360 degrees from the lowest to the highest setting. The most I have ever turned it was about 10 degrees , any more is just too hot. I went with the rheostat rather than the thermostat. Felt it was more reliable and I wanted to manually adjust it as needed.
The Espar makes the car a 12 month vehicle so I can drive year round in any temp. Some years I used to freeze in the mountains on the way to Carlisle, and on the trip to Morro Bay, CA for the Western gathering, we were in 20 degree temps and snow at Flagstaff, AZ Brrrr! Alice bailed out of the Speedster and got into Dusty and Sharon's Escalade and I didn't blame her a bit!
"I'm still playing with it." ... and on and on it goes
"Alice bailed out of the Speedster and got into Dusty and Sharon's Escalade and I didn't blame her a bit!" Well at least you did not send Alice goes to the moon
TRP posted:Heat? Seat heaters?! What's next? Some fancy custom 5 speed?
You guys are a bad influence.
You're just figuring that out now?
I'm sorry, Stan.....
I wrote my last post, then went outside to do yard work and realized that you've probably forgotten more about this stuff than I'll ever know, just from your daily work. You already know how to make it better without me!
Didn't mean to sound snooty....... There's been a little "Trial" and a lot of "Error" in my getting this thing going. I'm just happy I had a local Eberspaecher/Espar technician who was willing to give me some time and a lot of tips. He was amazed that I got it running, too! 
Also just found the user/service for the Espar Airtronic D2/D4 online, here:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/ar...2%20D3%20D4%20B4.pdf
And page 25 outlines values for the flame sensor and overtemp sensor, if you''re curious to see if it is in spec or overly sensitive. BOY! Those things can put out a lot of heat! Upper limit (max fuel input) is 392F !!
No problem, @Gordon Nichols.
My problem is one of where the heater is mounted, and how. The problem is that it's beautifully tucked up under the dash, with a really neat access panel for the glow-plug and unfortunately very close on the inlet air side to the pocket Henry puts in his bodies for the trunk hinge (so there's nothing to seal off).
Simply put, there's not much room to duct the supply air to the outside (which is what is needed), or anywhere else for that matter. I could pull the heater and start over, but what I've got is soooo nice, that I hate to start dorking with it. It heats adequately, just not the "run you out" heat that the unit is capable of.
It's on the list, but pretty far down there...
Up a ways, there was a recommendation against running the output from the heater boxes through the Espar heater.
What about this scheme?
Ted, 2 pics up, is that an oil filler? If so where did you obtain this?
Happy New Year
Art
Art posted:Ted, 2 pics up, is that an oil filler? If so where did you obtain this?
Happy New Year
Art
If I may, it looks like the one from Vintage Speed.
they are made by vintage speed. I have them in stock
thanks, too rich for my blood. HNY
it would make a killer bong
barncobob posted:it would make a killer bong
WOULD??? 
@barncobob
What's the big deal?
Looks just like my garage floor when I pull an engine or tranny.
The sad part is when you clean the floor up while they're out, just to make the area look nice for the garage visitors, then you forget where the hell things are and spend hours looking for stuff.
Boy....Those 5-speed cases are pretty big, huh?
The case is only about 3" longer. I am running heavy duty side plates and stiffeners. It just looks big because it's silver. Black is slimming.
TRP posted:I bet Al, Stan, Anthony, and Gordon all gasped when they saw how messy the floor is.
You're kidding, right? I've got stuff everywhere when I pull the engine. Your floor looks like you could eat off it.
My home shop got so bad at times I had to stop working, clean up the shop to find the 10 & 13mm sockets.
....... Need the extra weight to keep the wheels from spinning when trying to pull those nuts off. .......... If this is the case you can use a crow bar with the hook end around a wheel stud and the flat spade and on the garage floor. The hook secure the drum / rotor from turning.
Oh lord, Alan a day(s) late Christmas gift!! My wife just exclaimed "oh $hit" and damn.
We were in that very conundrum a few weeks back.
Happy New Years.
Stan Galat posted:TRP posted:I bet Al, Stan, Anthony, and Gordon all gasped when they saw how messy the floor is.
You're kidding, right? I've got stuff everywhere when I pull the engine. Your floor looks like you could eat off it.
I did! I sat down and ate a sandwich before attempting to stab that trans in. Im still in shock that it went in so smoothly. Im convinced i did it wrong.
Alexis is having guests over tonight or I would keep at it.
More to tomorrow.
What made you decide to put the tranny without the axles? I've always put them together on the floor, then into place as one piece, ( I've only done a few, one several times!). You'll have to let us know if that is easier.
What Stan and Gordon said- you still look fairly organized!
And I think I understand why you're trying it that way (you don't want to undo the kafer bar supports- am I right?), but it might be hard to keep the spade ends in place as you put in the be C clips, and how are you going to know when you've got the right amount of tension on the plastic petals (and the right # of gaskets under the side covers)? As Chris said, I've always done it with the axles and tubes on first. I'll be waiting patiently to hear how it goes...
For too many times I forgot to leave the wheels on and then later needed to remove the hub nuts. Finally, I bought a piece of steel stock at Home Depot, 1/4” thick, 2” wide and 4 feet long. Something under $20 bucks. Drilled a hole in one end to fit a wheel stud, then figured out where to put another hole to fit the next adjacent wheel stud. Assemble to the hub/drum with a couple of nuts so that the long end acts as a lever to oppose the loosening of the nut and position that end on the shop floor. 36mm socket on the nut, 5 foot piece of pipe on the socket bat handle and just ease it right off. Flip it around to re-tighten the nut. WAY better than trying to rely on the e-brake to hold the hub.
If you want to be really cool, drill another hole on the opposite end of the steel bar to fit a clutch bolt on the flywheel, then another hole for the next adjacent clutch plate bolt. Instant flywheel/crankshaft tool for removing/installing the flywheel gland nut. Easily good for 400 - 500+ ft. Lbs. and safe for the mechanic.
Hang it up somewhere in the shop by the hole at one end. Paint it your favorite team colors or Black, Red and Gold for the German/Porsche flag.
sherco_chris posted:What made you decide to put the tranny without the axles? I've always put them together on the floor, then into place as one piece, ( I've only done a few, one several times!). You'll have to let us know if that is easier.
It's easier to manuver in and out for cutting and fitting the 5 speed. Now that it's in, I will pull it out and install the axels and whatnot.
Now, had I known I only needed to take it in and out just the one time, I may have installed them frist!
I dread those c clips...
I would go nuts if my garage/shop floor is a mess. Maybe I'm OCD, but after a tool is used it goes back to its home. Yes, I do have to go back a forth sometimes... but everything is in it place...
Years gone by, I could put a tool down and go back later (sometimes weeks or months later) and just remember where it was and pick it out. No more. Now it seems like I forget where the heck things are within minutes. Gets pretty frustrating, sometimes, so I find myself doing the same thing - use something and put it back so I'll know where it is.
I also have a small, handled tool tray that I put near where I'm working and just put tools I need and am using in there. At least I then only have a couple of places to look! After everything is done I can move the tray to the bench, clean everything off and replace it all back in the chests.
Life is good. 
TRP posted:The case is only about 3" longer. I am running heavy duty side plates and stiffeners. It just looks big because it's silver. Black is slimming.
Just out of curiosity, how do you accommodate the extra 3”? Does the coupler change? Does the engine move to the rear? Are the mounts moved?
Like I said, just curious about how it all bolts back up.
Now that we're back to the 5-speed and if any of you folks are considering making the leap to a 5-speed and want a used one from a front-corner-crashed 912, @Matt Berry has a front-shift 901 available from Carl's stash. You can PM him on here for more info.
You just lengthen the back of the car...
The 3" comment was sort of hyperbole. The 5 speed isn't longer but it's bigger up front. The additional bulk is taken up from the midmount forward and is concentrated up in the nosecone. Which is why you have to make room up by torsion tube.
The above example is an IRS box, but the swing axle is fundamentally identical from the side plates forward. The 5 speed is on the right with the silver parts being part of the Berg kit.
The shape of the 5 speed nosecone necessitates a new front mount, mid-mount, and bracket which you buy from Berg. You also need a new shifter.
