rear under seat heat cable tube question

[b15605]

As I was redoing my floor pans, I was totally unaware of the tubes that the cable rides in going to the heater 'y's. Mine did not have these tubes and I have now sourced them used from the classifieds. As I read up on this, it appears they were tack welded down to the floor pan. I really do not want to have to strip a section of paint off the interior and exterior of the car to do this tack weld (plus my welder is out of commission at the moment) and then recoat, etc.

My question is this - since this is a non-critical mechanical item (i.e. not related to safety or general functionality of the car) would JB Weld hold the tubes down adequately at this point in the job?? Any other options to consider that I haven't thought of?

Thanks

[baldessariclan]

Using JB Weld to secure them may or may not hold up over time. There is enough potential for flexing of the tubes and/or the floor there (plus kicking / heel loads from backseat passengers) where the JB Weld could just "pop off" one surface or the other, eventually.

An alternate option to consider might be to source or fabricate some brackets which could be set over those tubes and then screwed or bolted to the floor, to hold them in place.

Ultimately though, this is likely a case where if you want those tubes to work correctly and be reliable in the long run, welding them to the floor (as was done at the factory) is probably your best bet.
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1971 Standard Beetle — fairly stock / driver

baldessariclan -- often in error, never in doubt...

[Tim Donahoe]

I have the tubes, but I don’t even use my rear heat. The flaps inside the Y tubes are fine, too. But I have no use for any heat in the back of the car. If ever I need heat, I want 90% of it to go to my front windshield (and side front windows, since I have a curved dash with side/front vents), for defrost purposes, and the rest to go to the front foot wells.

No one ever rides in the back seat, and if they did, enough warm air will eventually find its way to them. Keeping my front windshield clear, however, then perhaps as the front windows clear nicely, allowing more heat to the front foot vents works for me.

You don’t live in a frigid area of the country. Why fool with the rear heat at all?

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[b15605]

Baldessericlan, I see your point. The best would be to weld it down; however, Tim has a good point - here is South Ga it doesnt get bad cold and it may not be worth it. I am kind of a puridt and wanted things properly stock, but this one doesnt seem worth it. I know I dont want to pop holes in the pane, so it is either JB weld or any other good ideas or nothing. Will think on it some more. Thanks for the thiughts

[calvinater]

3m command strips
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"Albatross"!

[baldessariclan]

Just for some perspective, here's how I find the heater system seems to work in my car (all stock & restored).

1) With the left lever down (all air directed to front foot and windshield vents), I get pretty good defrost performance on the windshield -- and it gets even better if I close off the little flap doors on the front foot vents. However, either way the overall flow of heated air into the cabin seems to be a bit more restricted, and thus takes longer for the entire cabin to heat up.

2) With the left lever up (rear / backseat vents open) there is less air flowing to the windshield defrost vents (although still some coming through), but a lot of hot air is getting dumped into the cabin through those rear vents. And most of it seems to flow right under the front seats and into the front footwell area -- ends up heating more up front than in the back, in my experience. The overall effect, though, is that the whole cabin of the car seems to heat up a lot faster with those rear vents open.

So that's how my heater works and how I use it. It does definitely get colder here in the winter (KS), so nice to have a fully functional system. But in a warmer climate, you probably won't need / appreciate it as much, and so may not actually be worth going to all the effort to weld those tubes. And if the glue or etc. doesn't work out in the long run, you can always go back weld them later if necessary / desired -- it's not all that big an area or hard to get to...
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1971 Standard Beetle — fairly stock / driver

baldessariclan -- often in error, never in doubt...

[Q-Dog]

I would weld them in properly. Right side tube is welded to the battery mount, not to the floor. (You do have the battery mount, right? That is sort of critical to preventing the battery from becoming a projectile in a rollover.) Left side tube is welded to the floor.

There is not enough surface area on a tube to glue it to the floor and expect it to hold. But, you could weld the tube to a metal tab, then use panel adhesive to glue the tab to the floor. I wouldn't glue in the battery mount.

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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[P-Bear]

[baldessariclan]

[P-Bear]

[b15605]

Good feedback here. Q-dog, I hate to admit it, but my car did not come with a battery mount (that whole section was rusted out and a piece of roofing tin was riveted in there by the PO. I properly fixed the pans and they are solid; however, I failed to realize there was a battery mount there. I need to think on this a bit as it appears for a proper repair welding would be the only way...

On the other side, I like the idea of welding the tube to a wider footprint plate and then using panel adhesive to hold that down...that may be a good option over there if I decide to fix the tubes in the first place, which I am not sure of.

Thanks for the input.