Beware of Thermex brand front heater core

[brassworks]

Dave -

Rest assured Charlie and Mary are all over it.

[shagginwagon83]

My friend across the pond

" just checked on my usual shop and they have front heater core, from AkS, I don’t think OEM do exist anymore... but the one they sell have a larger input at the hoses, not like other aftermarket heater core, who do have small space at the input, which doesn’t make the core warm enough"

Translated website description

"Our sold heat exchangers, in contrast to many others on the market, are not too thin inside diameter of the connections. Thus, the bus is also warm."

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&s...rev=search
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[loki475]

AKS? Another contender enters the ring.

https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/aks-dasis-1719873.html

Anyone have a picture of one of these? I would prefer to have plastic tanks with aluminum tubes/fins. Also known as a "mechanical" heater core. And it looks like this one is just that.

[dschaftlein]

Has anyone used the heater core burley sells?

https://burleymotorsports.net/product/heater-core/

I just ordered one... I’ll report back when it arrives

[loki475]

[Brickwerks]

[djkeev]

[Brickwerks]

No idea what go westy sell, the cores we sell are far from terrible and we don't sell Prasco parts.
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[Brickwerks]

The "terrible" heater core.
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[djkeev]

It isn't the outside appearance that folk are upset about, it is how they function.

What brand is yours?

Do you have real life user feedback about them?

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[djkeev]

IMHO ........ if one cannot make a truly divided core as VW clearly did, it would be a better solution to NOT have in and out tubes from the same end tank.
Make the core less tall and run the return pipe across the core from the far tank.
This would encourage the hot coolant to actually enter and flow through the core.
Yes, less surface area to dump heat but at least you would have heat to dump!

I cannot fathom how the one width divided tubes with a baffle down the center of the center portion of the tube in the end tank actually creates heat.
The baffle isn't touching the core stopping water flow......
The water will detour and exit almost immediately...... the path of least resistance.

To make it simple, divide the heater core in an upper and lower half as VW did with the radiator......
Yes, a little "creative" piping would be involved to maintain the pipe locations yet have a divided end tank..........

[loki475]

I managed to make out a product number on the packaging and that's the only name of a heater manufacturer that comes up in the search. "VW6128" pulls up websites from: Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Latvia.

Please tell us the source. I prefer to only put genuine vw parts on my volkswagens unless a part is proven to be at or over OE quality. If I have to replace the heater 10 times to get the same heat I had from my oe heater, so be it. It's -18 celsius here next week, -25 at night. And I hate driving other vehicles, my syncro is my favourite... I put a genuine VW syncro manual steering rack in it, so fun.

[Brickwerks]

Prasco as far as I am aware is just a brand that buys other people's parts and puts them in their Prasco branded boxes.
We do reuse a lot of packaging, we're a cardboard dumping ground for lots of local businesses including a workshop.
Going by the packaging that we supplied it in is not going to tell you much, it could be a wishbone for a Ford mondeo as much as it could be a box of coffee, nappies or Guinness.
I'm not at work and stock on that item was low, if there is one left when I remember next week I'll take a deeper look.
As I said in our returns process conversion the cores are sourced in mainland Europe and we've had no issues including fitting them in our workshop.
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[ZsZ]

[djkeev]

Good info! ^^^^^

A link....... though the years seem a bit skewed with 80 being aircooled. Maybe Europe had water pumpers in 80? I don't know 100% if they did.


http://www.vehicleheaters.co.uk/Heater%20Matrix%20...20587.html
_________________
Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[T3messie]

Diesel

[ZsZ]

[drj434343]

This discussion is pretty broad so I'll throw in my recent experience.

I recently installed the GW all metal core, and after working through some purging issues, it seems to put out the same heat as the OEM core. This is despite my concerns that the fin density on the GW unit was 50% lower than the OEM core.

So, fin density and water flow investigations aside, the GW unit seems to work just fine for me.

[dschaftlein]

I bought a heater core from Burley and so far I’m impressed with what I see. All aluminum, no light shining through the baffle and a great price.

[VicVan]

Nice, that'S good news. Keep us posted on the heating test!
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)