Defender heater modifications - Again!

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This video is produced for entertainment purposes only and Britannica Restorations nor Michael Wesson and/or guests featured in this video shall not, in any way or measure, be held accountable or responsible for any damages related to attempted repairs as pictured in this video.
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[@greebo7857]

One other thing. It's best to wait until the engine has some heat in it BEFORE turning on the heater blower. After all, the heater matrix is just another radiator. Thanks Mike, you've given me some ideas for my other project.

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Thanks for the info

[@iceman9678]

I wound up putting the blower on a rheostat for more range of control. I like the recirculation idea. Thank you for the project!

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Glad to help

[@nickboylen6873]

I put a Defender heater into my 109 hard top. It isn’t modified, just stripped and cleaned out, and the same for the dash. It heats the interior really well and within five minutes at -5oC was too hot to keep on the high flow, just like yours. Even when we had that week-long -17 snap in 2012 or so, it only needed a few minutes to warm the whole 109 interior and occasional boost on the high fan speed for a minute or two. The trick is to make sure the matrix and its pipes and hoses are clean of rust and scale and that you don’t have air leaks from the heater casing or the lower dash trunking, and make sure that the baffle plate that blocks the cold air route inside the housing is adjusted correctly. Setting the vent control flap adjustment and making sure the flaps themselves have a decent seal pad on them to close against the inside of the dash trunking makes the demisters much better too. The standard system is pretty capable if in good condition, its biggest problem being the Tdis cooling down too much to provide hot fluid to the matrix if idling while parked for significant times.

[@Peter-xm6ve]

Spot on young man, your talent is needed in the uk, rust buckets a plenty to work on 🙊

[@fire44x]

Got my bulkhead done on petrol 110 after sealing up heater matrix and heating box now have a drivers side heater new fan and resister all good

[@James-r8w5g]

What size resistor ohms and watts please

[@chriswalker4272]

Just love your very British approach, very entertaining and thought provoking 👍 I need to put new foam in my seats, ant was thinking of fitting sear heating elements in at the same time. But my 300 TDI pick-up's heater is a massive improvement on my 1974 Series 3 🙂

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@BrianM0OAB]

I've got them Chinese diesel heaters, good for defrosting and warming up the interior without having to go outside ( got upgraded remotes with display ) but they don't warm up the engine coolant ( yet ) and in the full tilt series 2 it's brilliant because the Smiths heater it's got is useless.

[@jamescaron6465]

That’s quite a bit of engineering and fabrication you’ve done that’s an excellent layout. Very ingenious. No, the recirculated air wouldn’t fog up because the outside cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air and when that cold air warms up, it becomes much drier.

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Also, I forgot to mention there are so many badly sealed joints in the body, fresh air is always entering!

[@BritannicaRestorations]

This modification allowed me to hear something never heard in the Land Rover world Can you turn the heater down please?

[@jamescaron6465]

@@BritannicaRestorationshahahaha. Yea I’ve never heard that either.

[@jamescaron6465]

@@BritannicaRestorationsthat’s not a defect that’s a feature!!

[@jameskerr5756]

The V8 gets hot quickly so even with the heater off (cold) it seems to get boiling inside. If and when I get it back on the road, the keep fit air con will be in operation in the summer months. Great idea with the re-circulation.

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Diesel - good for economy - low on heat output You should see them here in Canada - I could hold the exhaust manifold after an hour and not get burnt in winter - try that with a V8!

[@jimnicholson5889]

Note; we use the air con to omit condensation from the windshield in Australia, it works really fast although a little uncomfortable in winter for a short time.

[@BritannicaRestorations]

The Disco 2 had a bottom on the heater control for demist. Being a petrol engine it warmed up fast and switched the heater and A/C on at the same time when activated. Condensation vanished in seconds!

[@jimnicholson5889]

I have the opposite issue living in Australia whereby the warm air leaks into the cab even though the selector arm is on cool with fan speed off. I have had to isolate the coolant water flow from the heater box during the summer months using an old 70`s Holden car valve. The LR Defender air conditioner is less than adequate without having to also work against warm air from the heater box. Note the upside with the TD5 is its a very overcooled engine set up which suits our climate.

[@GregPalmer2]

Great idea but because you are sucking the inside you are also drawing in dust and fumes through any holes or gapes in the body, where sucking outside pressures the cabin stopping dust and fumes. 😮

[@BritannicaRestorations]

That is one of the reason the blower is poor in a regular 110 - there are no vents in the body to allow air flow - on some they fitted 2 x vents on top of the rear door, but generally allowed air to escape though all the body gap - you may recall I put a smoke machine in a 110 to find the leaks

[@deanh3741]

Think I need to replace my blower unit (sometime) it never blew that well and now doesn’t seem to blow at all. Not sure any owner can worry about reintroducing condensation by recirculating the air, the gaps around the vehicles allow enough fresh air in 😂

[@BritannicaRestorations]

When I set up for this video the motor hardly turned - I squirted a bit of Krown rust proofing in the motor, and it worked its way into the bushings - the bushings have a common problem of drying out - well they are over 25 years old! As you can see, it worked great!

[@PeterMenzies-t4r]

I wonder if it’s possible to add a recirc flap to a stanadard heater. I’d like to keep the fresh airflow but add even partial re circulation pipe controlled by a valve, flap or maybe even a separate fan, just an idea?

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Would be complicated

[@davidforbes6250]

Goodness gracious you.

[@royblackburn1163]

Oh no, you've planted a seed in my head, think I will try and control my blower with a room thermostat ha ha.

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Go for it!

[@royblackburn1163]

@BritannicaRestorations yes cheers, going to buy a 12vdc digital thermostat for the dash and stick a relay in series with the existing switch, instead of running the blower constantly and adjusting the temperature flap the stat can turn it off , reduce its run time and maybe even extend it's lifespan.

[@James-r8w5g]

@@royblackburn1163how did this work out for you?

[@royblackburn1163]

@James-r8w5g Really well for me, my fan had to run almost constantly which I was not happy about, what I have done is bought a 12v digital thermostat with a built in 20amp relay for £6 from ebay, and I connected it in series between the fuse and motor, I've also connected a switch in parallel with the thermostat so it can be bypassed and run as normal, my air intake is on the top of the left hand wing and I've changed for one that's a bit like a spout so at speed I don't need to use the fan at all. Having more options is better for me.

[@James-r8w5g]

@@royblackburn1163do you know what resistor is needed as mine has blown and needed new an original is £££ so was hoping to opt for the lower speed to be abit more powerful on low seen it’s just a case of getting a resistor but what omhs and watts would be best

[@James-r8w5g]

Can I just say by swapping the wires around are u speeding the fan up as this is what I am getting from the video or am I wrong?

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Swapping the wires round make the motor run backwards - it will not speed up the motor - BUT if you have the wrong squirrel cage fan on, the force of the fan will be considerably lower

[@James-r8w5g]

@@BritannicaRestorationsWould a higher 6ohms 100watt resistor give you a better lower fan speed? And sorry what are the wires to test to see if I am getting power to the fan unit itself from the fuse board thanks.

[@simonilett998]

Now, if you were to wrap those long lengths of copper pipe in the engine bay with that plumbing pipe foam tube stuff, you'll lose less heat before the coolant gets to your heater matrix. Imagine that, you'll then be able to roast a chicken in the cab and have a hot chicken lunch while you're out on the road🤣👍

[@BritannicaRestorations]

Lol! That's why I didn't insulate...