delete the heater

[alfacupp]

The fan hasn't worked in years I live in souther cal. and the car only get driven on the track. It's time to pull the heater. Can I just cut the hoses and plug them or will this screw up the cooling of the head or block. Is there a cleaner way to do this then just cutting them sticking something in and hoseclamping it down.

[alfa_chan]

I am thinking about just hook up the outlet to heater from the pump to the inlet on the intake manifold and keep the heater in there for now.
Would that work? Any idea? Thx

Going to put in the coolant on Monday.

Quote:

Originally posted by alfacupp The fan hasn't worked in years I live in souther cal. and the car only get driven on the track. It's time to pull the heater. Can I just cut the hoses and plug them or will this screw up the cooling of the head or block. Is there a cleaner way to do this then just cutting them sticking something in and hoseclamping it down.

[Sniady]

I have a leaking heater valve in my GTV, so I had to disconnect the hose going to the heater and connect it into the intake manifold. The hose that is orginally connected to the intake manifold comes out the other side of the heater.

So two hose's are in the heater, a In and Out. Take the in and connect it to the manifold.

You use you're spider for track use only, then I would yank it all out. But my GTV is my daily driver, and I wish my heater valve didnt leak. I need to fix it.

[papajam]

The hot coolant from the engine exits the intake manifold, goes thru the heater valve to the heater core and returns to the water pump. Since there's no flow thru the circuit when the heater is off, both the manifold and waterpump ports can get plugged. OTOH, connecting the two ports together, in theory, will allow more coolant flow and in effect bypass the bypass.
I'm with Sniady on trashing the heater; the weight savings is probably worth a half second a lap!

[alfacupp]

The plan for ditchin the heater is to save wieght. The heater is about the last thing I can still pull. The windshield is still in but that would move me up a class. It sounds like there may be advantages to just routing the hose from the head to the waterpump but both can be blocked off. Thanks guys

[alfacupp]

The heater is out so is the dash. I can't decide if I will put the dash back in or make an insturment panel out of sheet matel. Anyone know a good place to get aluminum sheet stock. The car sure looks fun and empty.

[Donny]

I just got back from lunch and noticed coolant on the drivers side floor. It appears to be dripping from the heater core. I have never been able to get the heater fan to work (light goes on, but no blowing). I can get heat from the defrost vents. My question is how hard is it to "bypass" the heater core? Do I have to remove the console? Someday it might be worth it to get in there and replace the fan and now the heater core too, but for now I would just like to stop the leak, put the top down, and drive. Any suggestions.

Thanks,

[papajam]

Bypassing the heater core all takes place under the hood.

With a cool/cold engine, drain about a gallon of coolant from the cooling system.
Remove the heater hose from the top rear of the intake manifold.
Remove the heater return hose from the waterpump.
Install a length of hose to connect the intake manifold and waterpump fittings together.
Replenish and bleed the cooling system.

I'd suspect the heater control valve though before the heater core.

[Donny]

Jim,
I think you are right about it being the heater control valve. I was thinking about it this afternoon and I recalled that I noticed the leak just after I had moved the heater/defrost control. So when I just drove home from work I pushed both controls up (hot and full defrost) and I didn't get any leak. When I got back home, just to check, I pulled the right control down and did not notice a change so I put it back up. Then I pulled the left control (hot/cold) down and imediately noticed a significant flood of coolant (not just a leak). Hmmmm.