Closing inlet on fresh air heat exchanger

[khamul02]

If I closed off the inlet on a fresh air heat exchanger wouldn't essentially act like a stale air system?

[mukluk]

No.

The stale air system had a pair of doors that would block off the exits for the air that had passed over the cylinders and heads to cool the engine, while also opening two flaps that would redirect that heated air into the cabin. Blocking off the inlets for a fresh air heater box will simply just stop the air from flowing through them -- no airflow through the heater box means no heat going to the cabin.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[busdaddy]

[khamul02]

Thanks for the replies. Is it possible to put a stale air exhaust on a 70 bug with too much trouble? I was thinking one way or the other would work ok. I'm in the south and really only need heat for a week or two during the winter. I also thought about putting some fans (similar to my 911) in the duct-work somewhere.

[mukluk]

If you currently have serviceable fresh air heater boxes installed, stick with a fresh air exhaust or at least leave the fresh air hoses connected to the boxes in some fashion. It'll make things easier on the rare occasion you do need to use the heater, and as pointed out above by busdaddy, it'll keep you from frying your heater boxes. Installing a true "stale air" exhaust may prove problematic if you have anything other than a 36 or 40 horse engine installed as the associated tinware and muffler are narrower to fit the engines they were intended for -- installing a stock stale air setup on an engine with a 69mm or longer stroke crank will leave gaps near the case and the muffler won't fit.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[khamul02]

I guess I should provide some backstory. This is the engine and it has no fresh air vents nor heat exchangers. So I was going to get a new muffler and exchangers. I was thinking a stale air setup. I would like to keep the engine bay as is and ad AC so not having the hoses for fresh air would make that a bit easier and help keep the engine bay clean given the addition of a compressor. Any advice is appreciated to get a little bit of heat.

[mukluk]

Stale air heating isn't really much of an option honestly for the reasons I gave earlier, not to mention the need to make absolutely certain no combustion gasses will leak from the cylinder/head mating area (stale air engines had copper crush seals specifically for this purpose).

If you aren't willing to install the fan shroud needed for fresh air heating then installing the other components doesn't make much sense either. I'd say your best bet to keep things looking as they are is going to be to dress warmly in the winter or wrap up in an electric blanket plugged into a power inverter.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[bluebus86]

[RichNJohn]

[bluebus86]

[Eric&Barb]

Get a stock fan shroud. Connect up the fresh air tubes. The junk aftermarket shrouds like you have, do not have the proper directional fins inside to get the cooling air in proper amounts where it needs to be blown to.
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