Heating system update

Just for 411 and 412 stuff.
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adi #2
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Joined: 19th May 2009 - 11:08pm
Location: Dorset, UK

Heating system update

Post by adi #2 » 12th December 2009 - 1:42am

Well, determined to get the Eber powered heating system back up together and working, iv been making some progress.

Unfortunatly, it seems the last owner of my car decided that ratlook=broken car (i guess thats a common misconception). There was nothing particularly bad, just lots of little things have been neglected. One of them being the heating system.

I had to do alot of reconstruction to the heater channel front corners, where someone obviously totally neglected the fact that that once was a heating system. But thats all finished now. It took a long time for me to do it, but at least now its all done properly. We all know that the biggest killer of VW heating systems is leaks, so iv made sure i didnt cut corners and its all leak proof.

The plastic Y sections in the door pillars (which take air from the channels and distribute it between the small 20mm side vent and the big 50mm main vent) were covered with some kind of soggy mess of insulation when i pulled them out, so i assume they are supposed to be coated with insulation ( never did understand why VW made heating components with holes wrapped by insulation. Noise silencing perhaps?), so i wrapped them with insulation again held on with galvanized wire. Its all looking pretty good at the moment.

Today i finally had a go at the coolest bit, the Eber itself. Iv done alot of checks on it, and it seems the only component that doesnt work is the fuel pump breaker in the blower motor. Everything else works now, after repairing some wiring and cleaning some connectors, and having to unstick the blower motor.

The two warm-air hoses from the eber to the heater channels were both damaged internally, and didnt look very air tight. So what i did was get some 50mm aluminium flexi-duct, and push it through the original flexi hoses, kind of like, re-lining them in a way i guess. Now it still retains the insulation of the original hoses, only now doesn't leak.

All other hoses were missing completely, and the Ebers exhaust was missing. I havnt made a new exhaust for it yet, but i will, just as soon as i figure out what the original exhaust looks like and where it exits.

The heat exchangers are pretty bad, and im thinking maybe i should fit some type 2 or T25 heat exchangers, since 1) they are more effective and 2) these ones are very rotten. Also, one exhaust stud is completely missing. That would explain the strange noise...

Everything else works it seems. The heating system fires up, the fuel pump works (but doesnt work in situ because the breaker for it doesnt work). I didnt have a 1.5mm allen key, and it was like half past midnight, so i gave up and went home. Tomorrow ill take apart the motor, and see whats up with the fuel pump breaker. I bet one of the gears is stripped...or its something like that thats not easily fixable.

However, even if its the case, all will no be lost, since the fuel pump is operated every 33revs of the motor, and there alredy is a set of points that closes every rev, if the fuel pump points are completely shafted, i can just build a little circuit to divide the ignitions point's pulses by 33, and operate the pump through a big transistor. That will work too...

Well, by the looks of it the car will be back together quiet soon.
Death to FF!

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shawn71
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Post by shawn71 » 12th December 2009 - 11:01am

The Type 2 heat exchangers are definitely worth fitting. If possible try to get hold of a pair of original ones as they are reported to be better than many aftermarket ones.

Good luck on getting it working, sounds like a mission so far, but if like me you feel the cold worth persevering with.

The orinal exhaust for the Eber exits via the rear O/S corner, just forward of the engine exhaust. If it will help I'll try and stick the camera under mine for you, if it ever dries up out there...

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adi #2
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Joined: 19th May 2009 - 11:08pm
Location: Dorset, UK

Post by adi #2 » 12th December 2009 - 6:38pm

Yes please, it would be very interesting to see what its supposed to look like. I wander if i should make it from stainless steel?

By the way, does your eber system work? Whats it like? I think its fuel consumption, at about 0.6 liters an hour, is almost negligible (after all, doing 70mph, you will probably consume about 10 liters in an hour, so an extra 0.6 will not make much difference).

Today i tool apart the heater combustion motor, and found the pump points to just be covered in some kind of sticky grease. I cleaned them, sanded them and then adjusted the clearance, and it seems to work now.

Due to space constraints (the 411 is a biiiig car and i only have a small garage) iv had to do all the work on the fan on the roof of the car! Its just under the big 300w floodlight on the ceiling, and since the rear of the car is currently high up on axle stands, and im small, i have to stand on the shop wac to reach the roof.

Sorry about the crappy phone pictures, my camera died again.

Fan motor disassembled and connected to an old hotrod rear lamp cluster for testing the points
Image

The wierd fuel pump points themselves
Image

Reassembling, screws sealed with paint, as they were on the original.
Image

Im now going back down there and will put it all back together and see if the fuel pump now works.
Death to FF!

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adi #2
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Joined: 19th May 2009 - 11:08pm
Location: Dorset, UK

Post by adi #2 » 13th December 2009 - 10:52pm

Wooo...the Eber works.

I was just measuring the fuel dosing (it was 20cc/min, running on a partially flat battery, which i suppose is not too far out). It doesnt have an exhaust pipe, and the cold air blower isnt connected, but i thought, hmm...maybe i should just give it a couple of little blasts to see if it fires up or not.

I was feeding it from a small bottle full of crappy old contaminated petrol, hence the smoke, but...it works. Yay.

Unfortuntly i could only run it for like a second since it had no exhaust and i didnt want to burn anything.

It wont let me embed the video, so you have to click it to play.

Image

Yay!
Death to FF!

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macksimus
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Post by macksimus » 15th December 2009 - 11:26pm

if you're after an eber tailpipe - feel free to make an offer on mine - it's the only bit of the heating system left when i got the car!

cheers
mack

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Editor
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Post by Editor » 16th December 2009 - 10:57am

I was just replying about the tailpipe - got a photo from the Type 4 parts book to e-mail, adi.
Dave.

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