Skip to main content

Reply to "More Heat for comfortable winter driving"

I take it your car is aircooled? Something you can do right now- take off the piece of sheet metal that covers the exhaust- you'll get more heat and a faster warm up too. Put the piece (with the screws and screwdriver) behind the seats or in the frunk so it's right there when the weather warms up.

A friend of mine (the only guy I know that still drives a Beetle as his only transportation year-round) takes the over the exhaust piece off late October/early November and puts it back on when it warms up in spring (late March or early April) and the car runs way better in colder weather, reaching operating temps (and heating the interior of the car) that much faster.

The problem with an electric heater is it takes a lot of amps (in 12 volts) to make enough heat to feel it in an area as big as the passenger area in a Speedster- you'll need a pretty high performing alternator to make it happen. Gordon has mounted a gas heater in the very bottom of the frunk where the spare tire normally goes and chronicled it here, so maybe see if you can find it via the seach function or go back through his old posts? I think someone else here has done it as well, but who it is escapes me at the moment.

I think seat heaters are a great idea, but haven't looked into what's involved in the install. There are 12 volt electric blankets available- something else to look into?

Hope this helps. Al

Last edited by ALB
×
×
×
×
×