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Time To Start Thinking About Heat for Those Winter Drives

Troy SloanTroy Sloan Supporting Member
After beautiful cloudless skies on Saturday in Tahoe, the clouds came in on Sunday morning and it got a little chilly as we left for home. I'm pretty stubborn and it takes a lot to get me to put the top up, so off we went with the cold wind in our hair.
After a little bit I opened the heater vents and turned it up full blast. After about 30 minutes of top down driving, Thuan said something you almost never hear in a Speedster "it's too hot!", which gets me to the point of this posting.

Last April in Morro Bay, Dwayne, the new owner of Billy's mist green Vintage super wide body, showed us a heater improvement he had done to his car by FiberSteel. What they did was to replace and reroute the heater tubes from the heat exchangers.

The stock way that these tubes are routed is into the metal frame of the body. Both sides go into the frame, which is only about a 1.5" square tube, and then there is an outlet on each side of the car that is connected to the corrigated tube running along the sides of the body to the front heater vents. The problem with this setup is that the volume of air coming from both of the heat exchangers is being restricted by the 1.5" tube and results in very little air flowing from the vents.

The fix that FiberSteel is selling is a flexible heat resistent tube and coupler that bypasses the square tube and goes straight from the heat exchangers, up and over the spring plates, down to the corrigated tube. The results are amazing! It feels like a blow dryer coming out of the vents and IT"S HOT AIR!!! It took me less than an hour to install. I got a deal on mine, but I believe they are selling the kit for around $100.
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Troy SloanTroy Sloan Supporting Member
After beautiful cloudless skies on Saturday in Tahoe, the clouds came in on Sunday morning and it got a little chilly as we left for home. I'm pretty stubborn and it takes a lot to get me to put the top up, so off we went with the cold wind in our hair.
After a little bit I opened the heater vents and turned it up full blast. After about 30 minutes of top down driving, Thuan said something you almost never hear in a Speedster "it's too hot!", which gets me to the point of this posting.

Last April in Morro Bay, Dwayne, the new owner of Billy's mist green Vintage super wide body, showed us a heater improvement he had done to his car by FiberSteel. What they did was to replace and reroute the heater tubes from the heat exchangers.

The stock way that these tubes are routed is into the metal frame of the body. Both sides go into the frame, which is only about a 1.5" square tube, and then there is an outlet on each side of the car that is connected to the corrigated tube running along the sides of the body to the front heater vents. The problem with this setup is that the volume of air coming from both of the heat exchangers is being restricted by the 1.5" tube and results in very little air flowing from the vents.

The fix that FiberSteel is selling is a flexible heat resistent tube and coupler that bypasses the square tube and goes straight from the heat exchangers, up and over the spring plates, down to the corrigated tube. The results are amazing! It feels like a blow dryer coming out of the vents and IT"S HOT AIR!!! It took me less than an hour to install. I got a deal on mine, but I believe they are selling the kit for around $100.
FM Former Member
Troy, I'm glad to see that post. It doesn't help me any, but this part of the country is prone to long, chilly mornings and long, chilly evenings in the spring and fall, when otherwise seasonal-looking weather makes for great driving scenery.
There are probably half a dozen owners here in the Baltimore to New York corridor who will benefit from that FiberSteel tip. That means more people to cruise with, if they can stay warmer longer!
Thanks!

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Ron ORon O1984/2010 IM, B.C. Canada
Troy, do you have any photos of your heater set-up? I have 1 5/8" heater boxes and I'm having Henry put in seat heaters, but more heat is always desirable (in my part of the world). I often do late Fall and early Spring drives into the mountains, where the temperature can drop down to near freezing.

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Troy SloanTroy Sloan Supporting Member
I don't have any pictures, but Bob Eiland, a local JPS owner, also bought the kit and I am going to help him install it this weekend. I will take some pictures and post them.

I'm not surprised they are not on the FiberSteel web site. The reason that Bob and I got ours at a discounted price was because they were still in the prototype phase. Just call FiberSteel and ask for Alex he is the one who developed them.

Jim.
I'm pretty sure you were one of the group in Morro Bay that I called over to Derek's car to show how much air it was pumping out. Everyone thought he had installed a blower motor or something.
Troy
Troy SloanTroy Sloan Supporting Member
I think Alan's solution of using the tunnel is probably the best solution and would provide even more heat, but it does require a small amount of work, cutting some holes, etc.. This, on the other hand, is a simple 30 minute bolt on upgrade, but it has not been tested in below freezing weather. However, I'm here to tell you there was an amazing amount of heat and air coming out of my vents even with the top down. I had to laugh when Thuan said "It's too hot!"
I'll be interested to see what the verdict is when one of you northerners have a chance to test it out.
Troy
Ron ORon O1984/2010 IM, B.C. Canada
Michael, been there. Even while driving my Miata, with a decent heater, I've been so damn cold I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering. We're talking thermal underwear, multiple sweaters, winter jacket, ski gloves, and the proverbial Canadian winter toque (with ear flaps).
If you guys haven't tried driving top down, in near freezing conditions, you should give it a try. Very invigorating!
Must be a Canadian thing :-)
SpeedBucketSpeedBucket
Hey I'm Canadian (North Van) and its supposed to be 82F tomorrow I guess Mum and Dad made the right choice in relocating (arguably)...but I mostly need defrosters installed to get the fog not frost off of the inside of my windscreen. Stupidly I didn't cut the necessary hole out before re-installing windscreen and on Cool nights I have to use rain-x or something, when diving I use toothpaste in my mask, I wonder if it will work?
Troy SloanTroy Sloan Supporting Member
I just returned from helping Bob install the heater upgrade on his JPS Speedster and here are the pictures that I promised. Two of the black tubes with a reducer in one end is what comes in the kit. The tubes are supposedly used to transfer hot exhaust in furnace applications and are supposed to be very heat resistent.

The non-reduced end fits over the heat exchanger outlet as seen in the first photo below. The second photo shows the tube snaking it
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