MTFCA Forum

Anyone have pictures of all the variations of heater options?

This is what kept drivers warm in the winter

Exhaust manifold heaters ducted to the floorboards were the most common.

Long underwear. Sweaters, Overcoats, Wool hats. scarves.
The heaters usually were connected to the exhaust manifolds. You needed to be sure to have some ventilation in the car when using a heater, because of possibility of exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide coming in if you have a leak.
Norm

I've never used an exhaust manifold heater in a Model T, but if it's anything like the one in a beetle it's less than wonderful. In my 1968 VW when driving in freezing weather you would start to get comfortable after an hour or so, even with the J.C. Whitney blower installed. It always struck me as ironic that a country that gets as cold as Germany would come up with such a miserable excuse for a heater.

I haven't tried this, but I've read that an effective way of getting heat in a T is to drive with the top floorboard removed to let air warmed by the radiator and the engine into the car. The radiator is just a larger version of the core used in most car heaters.

A Model T era holdover from horse & buggy days is the foot warmer with a drawer to hold burning charcoal. This isn't as rare as you might think. I see them occasionally at estate sales and farm auctions.

Another option was installing a water pump and a heater inside the cab and a insulated hood and radiator cover. A thermostat was a useful addition in the upper radiator hose just above the connection for the cab heater.
A electric heater installed at the bottom of the windshield helped visibility for the driver.
I have seriously considered installing all this on a closed cab “pickup”(coupe with the trunk chopped out to install a useful size box) project vehicle. I now have a Scur-Lok in a Ruckstell with hydraulic drum brakes. Maybe install the front brake front axle I have and could have a year round vehicle!!

Steve
Up here almost every old VW had a gas heater installed. I actually have one and it would be another option for a T as it is 6 volts

I use shop skates. Put the truck up on them, push it sideways into the back corner
of the shop, and there is sits from November to whenever I feel like getting it out
again when the weather gets nice again. I use the Swedish approach to the car hobby:
do all the heavy repairs and upgrades while the snow blows outside, have it ready to
go when the birds return to sing.

60 years ago we referred to it as an "armstrong" heater. It required your best gal sitting close beside you. It works better when you are young and full of energy and stamina!!!!!

I've had this on the '19 Centerdoor for many years - works great and the floor "kick" register is on the wife's side so she can can control the cabin
temperature !

We were glad to have the heater this morning. It got down to below zero last night.

I found a floor grate with a flapper door that I liked on eBay, so I installed it on the passenger side floor board and used some of the wrapped aluminum manifold heat tubing available at most auto parts stores. I slit the tubing part way and wrapped it around a section of exhaust pipe to send the heated air into the body of the floor grate. I used some aluminum duct tape to help seal things up. The ductwork doesn't interfere with the factory carb air pipe.

Works better than nothing and looks neat (to me)!

When winter is over I remove the factory carb air pipe and install my air filter. I also remove the heater tape and ductwork, but leave the grate in the floor for an extra fresh air vent.

I have a couple manifold heaters, one will go in my Coupe. They throw a lot of heat compared to nothing.

I'll try to post a photo of two.

Here are some previous heater stories:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1426809741
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/331880/386580.html
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/33 ... 1376327904
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1127&p=8422&hilit=Heater#p8250
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=264&p=1620&hilit=Heater#p1575
Some great photos and good info.
Rich

Remove the top floorboard. Let's in a surprising amount of heat.

You fellows need to convert to RHD. Plenty of heat coming through the pedal slots in the floor!

Allan from down under.

I only know about our 14 but i removed the piece of tin covering the lower dash! Bud.

FYI. Goggle car heaters for sale. a number of small low profile hot water operated heaters for sale. small enough to be mounted under the dash or under the seat out of sight in most model Ts and As some have a cable operated defrost damper. in a touring or a a sedan could be mounted under the front seat with flex air tubes providing warm air to both the front and rear seat passengers. would require a T with a water pump or a small electric high temp in line water pump just for the heater. they all are 12 volt. but fans are small computer type fans that could be swapped out for 6volt.

I have a two grate heater on my 26 touring and a one grate on my 27 cpe. Both work from heat coming from the exhaust pipe and have a fresh air intake funnel behind the radiator. The touring has a piece of flex pipe surrounding the exh pipe with a alum. split housing at the head of it and the rear that has a opening for the floor grates. The cpe. unit is made up of a split sheet metal housing bolted over the exh. pipe with a outlet for the floor grate and an inlet for the fresh air. Both of my units are period accessories and somewhere I have the original instructions for the touring version. Since these units attach well behind the exhaust nut and are fed by fresh air there is little danger of fumes coming in.