I have had my 1971 lhd Westy for 2 years and have recently sorted my heating out. Last year I had a recon engine from the VW engine company fitted ( very pleased) I also bought some of the better quality heat exchangers and having filled in the numerous holes that these come with ( with JD weld ) I fitted these. I knew that the cables were not attached and left it at that. After driving through France last December ...freezing I knew it was time.
I have read all sorts of articles many contradicting each other as to the efficiency of the original system. Having never been in a T2 with a properly working system I was not sure what to expect.
Having picked up a cracking pair of old but very substantial ramps I was happy to go underneath.I pulled the old cables out ( one was bit difficult) I couldn't get the new ones to pass through the ducting so simpli followed the duct route, attached the cables to the flapper lever and when adjusted simply used cable ties along the route to secure. I would have preferred to use the duct but the result was neat safe and worked well.
I then got to work on the piping. The central round pipe was encased in the original insulated cover ( asbestos ? ) I removed this and could see that at each end there were some pretty big holes I decided to cut the pipe out ( it's about 4 feet long) I replaced this with a length of 60 mm ( int dia ) Propex pipe cost about £18. This propex pipe is 65 mm ext dia so fits very snuggly in to the existing pipe. Before fixing back in place I insulated this with 50 mm width pipe insulation tape from Screwfix 7.5 m roll under £4. Having encased the propex in this overlapping so it had a double thickness I then covered this with aluminium tape fro Screwfix .about £7 for about 20m. The existing insulated cover was then used, secured with cable ties and then the whole thing was secured in place with ties ( very easy as there is a substantial pipe running above to secure to.
I then insulated all of the remaining pipes including the two "Y " pipes and the strange flattened section with the 50 mm silver screwfix tape. This was a slow but easy process working along an sticking it in place with the aluminium tape.
Finally I took out the kick boards, bought a heating cylinder insulating jacket ( yes ..Screwfix £11 ) I cut this in to strips about 10 inches wide and basically insulated the whole of the front area. This jacket is ideal as it has a good plastic cover which will keep the fibreglass dry. It is necessary to seal the cut open ends but the aluminium tape makes this easy.
Finally today got the van off the ramps after less than 5 min warm up the heat coming out of the demister and, when the redirection lever was lifted out of the vents either side of the totem was AMAZING! Today was only 6 degrees but the cab got uncomfortably hot.
I know this subject has been raised before but I can now say unequivocally that the original system plus insulation works brilliantly.
I have read all sorts of articles many contradicting each other as to the efficiency of the original system. Having never been in a T2 with a properly working system I was not sure what to expect.
Having picked up a cracking pair of old but very substantial ramps I was happy to go underneath.I pulled the old cables out ( one was bit difficult) I couldn't get the new ones to pass through the ducting so simpli followed the duct route, attached the cables to the flapper lever and when adjusted simply used cable ties along the route to secure. I would have preferred to use the duct but the result was neat safe and worked well.
I then got to work on the piping. The central round pipe was encased in the original insulated cover ( asbestos ? ) I removed this and could see that at each end there were some pretty big holes I decided to cut the pipe out ( it's about 4 feet long) I replaced this with a length of 60 mm ( int dia ) Propex pipe cost about £18. This propex pipe is 65 mm ext dia so fits very snuggly in to the existing pipe. Before fixing back in place I insulated this with 50 mm width pipe insulation tape from Screwfix 7.5 m roll under £4. Having encased the propex in this overlapping so it had a double thickness I then covered this with aluminium tape fro Screwfix .about £7 for about 20m. The existing insulated cover was then used, secured with cable ties and then the whole thing was secured in place with ties ( very easy as there is a substantial pipe running above to secure to.
I then insulated all of the remaining pipes including the two "Y " pipes and the strange flattened section with the 50 mm silver screwfix tape. This was a slow but easy process working along an sticking it in place with the aluminium tape.
Finally I took out the kick boards, bought a heating cylinder insulating jacket ( yes ..Screwfix £11 ) I cut this in to strips about 10 inches wide and basically insulated the whole of the front area. This jacket is ideal as it has a good plastic cover which will keep the fibreglass dry. It is necessary to seal the cut open ends but the aluminium tape makes this easy.
Finally today got the van off the ramps after less than 5 min warm up the heat coming out of the demister and, when the redirection lever was lifted out of the vents either side of the totem was AMAZING! Today was only 6 degrees but the cab got uncomfortably hot.
I know this subject has been raised before but I can now say unequivocally that the original system plus insulation works brilliantly.
