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has anyone mounted their heater in the upper trunk space?

2K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  jammin1 
#1 ·
for those with gloveboxes, seems that you could run a few long lines via the trans tunnel and put the heater in the trunk behind the seats, and offer some other ways to pipe in heat?
 
#4 ·
While you could mount the core and blower at the back I think you would find it would become rather complex and use up a fair amount of critical space getting coolant from the engine to the trunk and then bringing warm air back to the front to the foot box area where it’s really needed.

Jeff
 
#9 ·
I posted on the other forum (reposted below) but also came across this pic (not my car), now I can’t find the thread.




Here’s my post:
Somewhat similar thought, I’m thinking about mounting the fan under the top of the foot box, then moving the heater core further forward on the firewall. Connect the two with some flex hose. I don’t think putting the fan in this location would be intrusive, but I have to so some more measurements.

This would help in two ways: draw air from the cockpit rather than the engine bay, and give more room behind the dash.
 
#10 ·
My Way...

I mounted my "Southern Air" A/C / Heater unit in the top of the passenger foot box. I cut a hole in the top and positioned the unit so the "cores" are below the level and the blower is above. I made a filter enclosure (using a standard K&N cone filter) and mounted it in the passenger front fender area and made some ducting to connect the fresh air to the filter, the filtered air to the blower and the air from the cores to the dash vents, foot box vents and defroster vents. That left me with ample room for the glove box which goes all the way to the firewall.

The main thing I don't like is that the blower is a little anemic on high speed, when you really want the extra volume. I also have seat heaters which help on very cold mornings. I plan on replacing the supplied blower fan with the fan from the Mustang donor. At the same time I will re-work a couple of my ducts to make the system work a little better, just one of those things that I picked up on with experience of how I initially set it up.

One nice thing I did is that I installed a heater water control/bypass valve, out of a Ranger pickup ('94 I think). It diverts the hot water to the passenger side head when heat is not needed. On my system the two cores are stacked so that the A/C unit had to over come the heated air from the heater core before the cockpit felt any effect. That meant that the A/C had to be operating on a much higher level than necessary to get any benefit.

Regards, Rick.
 
#13 ·
Yes and with heated seats

One person did mount the heater in the front of the trunk plumbed his air ducts into the cavity of the fiberglass vintage race seats. He cut outlet holes at the bottom front of the seats to exit the air into the low middle area of the cockpit. Pretty ingenious but those seats are relatively rare.
Question: Who has ever had their feet get too cold in a roadster?
 
#14 ·
One person did mount the heater in the front of the trunk plumbed his air ducts into the cavity of the fiberglass vintage race seats. He cut outlet holes at the bottom front of the seats to exit the air into the low middle area of the cockpit. Pretty ingenious but those seats are relatively rare.
Question: Who has ever had their feet get too cold in a roadster?
My first long-range road trip was 400+ miles in late October. The temp started at 45*, an hour later, mid 30's. Had layered my upper body, but the cold air was blowing in the cockpit and finding it's way up my pants legs. So yes my feet and ankles where freezing. Stopped at a gas station and got some rubber bands and wrapped around the bottoms of my pants, helped some. So count me as a person who's had cold feet in a roadster, but then I've driven in a hail storm too. :surprise:
 
#18 ·
Even though I have already stated my opinion about seat heaters, one other option that I will mention is the FFMetal firewall forward piece.

I think that it moves the firewall about 1.5 inches forward, but there might be other ways to get even move movement. At this time, I see no downside to doing this, and I would encourage you to get as much space behind the dash as possible. I would do it no matter what choices you will make for the heater.

The added benefit of moving from a .040 to a .090 thickness is also a good thing.

Derald.
 
#20 ·
Even though I have already stated my opinion about seat heaters, one other option that I will mention is the FFMetal firewall forward piece.



I think that it moves the firewall about 1.5 inches forward, but there might be other ways to get even move movement. At this time, I see no downside to doing this, and I would encourage you to get as much space behind the dash as possible. I would do it no matter what choices you will make for the heater.



The added benefit of moving from a .040 to a .090 thickness is also a good thing.



Derald.


Yes I guess I'd have to powder coat it black to match the 25th anniversary engine bay aluminum


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#21 ·
I did!!! 2 separate heater cores in back in boxes that I made. Air is piped in and passes through hollow seat (coupe seats) and exits bottom of seat. Seat gets nice and warm and warm air passes up through your legs. There is a valve up by motor to bypass hot water so during summer I can blow cold air. Very nice setup
 
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