superbuick Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I found a nice art deco looking heater that I want to put in my 1931 50 series convertible coupe. Looking under the hood and don't see a good place to "tap in" for hot water feed and return.Any one have on their car that they can show or describe would be great. Thanks, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 You must tap into the high and low pressure sides of the pump to obtain flow through the heater core. The most convenient places to tap into the cooling system is on each side of the water pump. You can mount saddle type tap into the hose between the pump and the oil cooler/heater and maybe weld or braze a fitting onto the bottom return pipe from the radiator or use another saddle tap on the hose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbuick Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Mark, Thanks for the input. We thought the same thing looking at the cooling system. It doesn't seem to be the most efficient way to get hot water and run it back, but seemed to be the only place. Again thanks for the input. As always helps to know it will work and not be one of several tries. BTW- great progress on the 1912. It is fun to see the build thread and continuing progress. If I would have known all the effort we put into the 31 I would have done the same thing. We have solved a lot of issues and have had the re- engineer a few items that are made of unattainable. Cant wait to see the 1912 and the road for it's 100th.Steve Fisher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 On my 1929 Cadillac, the feed is from the bung where the temperature gauge fits, with a T fitting so the gauge is still operational. I could not find a return line location, like you, so it is not connected, but I suspect that I'll need one of those that tap into the return hose between the engine and the radiator. You can see the feed hose (pink) and the return, which has been cut off just hanging out of the firewall in the photo I've attached. That's how I found the car, and subsequently removed the upper hose just so it doesn't look so hokey, but I'd like to get the heater working, too.Your Buick should have a similar location where the temperature gauge bulb is fitted that you could use.Hope this helps, keep us posted on what you do to get it all connected! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I have also seen a heater hose connected at a tee at the front of the engine near the bottom of the top radiator hose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George K. Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Here's 2 pictures of my car.George. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 George, Your photos are very similar to what I described in my last post. And, the water is much hotter coming out of the head, but I think the shorter connection near the pump discharge should be plenty warm enough to heat the passenger compartment.My $0.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Harington Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Hi Steve here are some picks of heater connections between 27 and 30's on unrestored cars,hope it helps Roland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest soldier Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Superbuick, I have a 1931 Buick series 50 club coupe(Southern Calif. car), and installed a heater. I welded a pipe nipple on the engine water outlet pipe at the top of the radiator, and another on the extension pipe at the bottom of the radiator(suction side of the water pump). I then ran a 5/8" ID heater hose from the top connection on the of the heater to the upper nipple, and another from the bottom of the heater to the nipple at the bottom. Circulation is fine, and the heater works great. In fact when I turn the blower fan on it will quickly drive you out of that litlle coupe. I am now looking for a fan motor speed control switch(rheostat). Any one have one for sale? Soldier, Jerry Saunders, iowahawkeyes32@peoplepc.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Soldier, You might just put a valve on one of the hoses to adjust how much flow goes through the heater core to reduce the heat flow... Or, if you think the temperature of the coolant coming out of the bottom of the radiator is warm enough to do the job, just move the high pressure hose to the discharge side of the water pump. I think this looks better with the shorter hose anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest soldier Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Mark, I did put shut off valves on both lines to stop flow through the heater in the summer, but have not tried restricting the flow. When the blower fan is turned off there is not a problem, so I am still looking for a voltage control switch(rheostat) to vary the fan speed. I can remember having those switches on our cars years ago. Soldier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Soldier, I see them often on Ebay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Soldier, your local parts store can probably order one. They show up in the catalougs at mine. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbuick Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share Posted March 26, 2012 Well thanks to everyone for the reply's and pictures, it was all a great help. I decided that a heater in a covertible would work better with the hotist coolant possible. So I make an addapter to go in the upper radiater hose and bent the pick up pipe to help scoop the hot coolant and add to the flow. I am not concerned with a little blockage of flow as this car has no thermosat and realy needs to slow the flow in oder to improve the cooling on a hot day. I did install a new bellow thermastat and the shutters are working well now. For the return I tapped into the steel coolant feed pipe before the water pump. I used extra care will locating the heater on the fire wall has not to intrude or drill a hole into the build plate.I Rebuilt the fan motor, cleaned the core, painted and polshed the housing on an old art deco era heater I picked up at the spring swap meet. Installed a NOS vintage fan switch and it works great. So now I should have more top down driving with my sweetheart in the car. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Wow, very nice work! You've given me some ideas for getting the Cadillac up and working properly instead of the cobbled-together setup it currently uses. I'll put it on the list.Great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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