Fresh air in the cockpit

[Lin]

This is a question soliciting ideas and opinions as there cannot be any "right" answer. I have purchased and will be installing the "modern" heater sold by Cape International. It is very compact and appears to be well assembled, but I have not wired it up yet to see how it works. It has a two speed fan. The consequence of all that is that I will no longer have the heater blower located on the right wheel well. I want to use this opportunity to get some fresh air into the passenger side of the car - LHD.

I have purchased an extra fresh air intake assembly and I am planning to install it on the right front of the car where the air hose opening to the heater fan is. I also purchased a control cable and knob that will allow me to open and close the fresh air access just as we do now on the driver's (LHD) side. The control cable will run along the bottom of he hose instead of the top since you must invert the assembly.

This is where I need ideas -

One option, and probably the easiest, is to run a 4" duct hose straight from the air intake assembly to the 3" hole in the firewall where the reduced size hose from the heater used to go. I have another mounting ring like the one on the driver's side that could be trimmed down and made to work to secure the hose to the wall. This brings the air in high and up and behind the fascia.

A second option might be make an adapter plate for the air intake assembly to reduce the size of the exit pipe to the 3" hose or even to one or two of the small demist size hoses to run to the firewall. The 3" hose could go to the 3" hole in the firewall (still high) or the hose or hoses could be directed to the passenger footbox where the blanking plate is for the master cylinders for a RHD car.

I am sure that there are other good options to consider and now is the time to do this while the car is completely disassembled.

I should have mentioned that the new heater uses the original fascia control plate and knobs. The temperature is controlled by the slide/switch at the center. The blower is turned on by pushing/pulling the little knob and the water flow is controlled like the original by sliding the knob from left to right.

That means that the right hand knob is now available to attach a longer cable and go to the right air intake assembly control.

Any ideas? I am open to possibilities short of leaving as original or going all the way to air conditioning!

Thanks

Lin Rose
1960 BT7 in restoration
1959 Bugeye

 

[Dave Russell]

Hi Lin,

I think you would get the very best fresh air flow to the passenger side by leaving the existing blower & ducts in place. A 4" to 3" duct isn't going to flow much air without the blower.
D

 

[Cottontop]

Lin,

Since most of the V8 modified cars run "warm", I anticipated that my car would need some "foot cooling".

I rounded up a second of the butterfly valved air duct horn that is mounted to the passenger side of the radiator and mounted it upside down on the drivers side of the radiator.

I ran push-pull control cables to the lower corners of my dash.

I also made 4" holes in the outboard top of the foot boxes and screwed on two hose mounting flanges.

Finally, I added lengths of 4" dryer hoses between the two mountings, using large hose clamps to secure them in place.

I first got a pretty good ram-air flow that varies with the forward car speed. The next modification was to make and mount conical air horns from the front side of the butterfly air valves down and directly into the air stream at the outside corners of the grille.

Now at 30-60 MPH, without fans or blowers, the ram-airflow is VERY good and can be throttled back or shut off in cool weather.

Here are some pictures of my installation.

Other tips that will help out your cockpit cooling are to make sure that all of the holes in the firewall are sealed tight and to make sure that you have a good seal between the top of the firewall and the shroud.

Most of my cockpit heat woes are NOT from radiant heat, but from hot engine compartment air flowing into the cockpit.

Feel free to write me with any questions.

Tim

.....

 

[Johnny]

You might try making a reduction fitting to replace the blower motor altogether. There may be a pvc fitting available from one of the big box hardware stores. Then all you need to do is disconnect the hose at the heater end inside the cockpit.

 

[Henri]

Lin:

The only fresh air I get is when the top is down...which is always...otherwise..my BJ8 just supplies me with lots of warm heated air...lots of it...good luck...

 

[fordhealey]

good timing. i also replaced my heater with the Cape Sport
unit, and removed the blower and associated junk.just ordered
the ducting from Moss to convert both sides for fresh air.
looks like i picked a good time to do it. some really good
tips. thanks
gregg