Heater upgrades from std. heater for 'burbs and panels in cold climates???

[Chuck78]

Okay, aside from the fact that I've never had any barn door weatherstripping for my 62 GMC panel, the standard "recirculating" heater just does not seem to be cutting it... When I had the back door stuffed with rags, and a full load of cargo in the back (thus greatly reducing the heated space), I was barely able to keep it comfortable on the Thanskgiving day drive an hour on the freeway.
Not sure if I am missing something, but my standard heater just sucks in one side and blows out the other, or else blows through the defrost ducts. Are there supposed to be other ducts hooked up to this style of heater, and where do the vents go on the deluxe heaters? In the GMC dash, or mounting under the dash attaching to the bottom of the dash?

I don't really like the look of the deluxe heaters at all (under the hood), and am thinking there has to be a better way to go. I read in one thread that there was a dealer installed option for an auxiliary Suburban rear heater. I am thinking i need something more... the heater in my 89 Suburban (a good 20" deeper cargo area) has some serious output, and I want something that heats this large area that well... I have wondered about swapping that in, but that would mean butchering the firewall up for the swap. Then I thought about 67-72 heaters, an maybe hoped the SUburban models might have had something larger.
Maybe I should just swap the brand new 180 degree stat for a 190 degree stat????
At any rate, I think I'd like a ducted heater, and my only other thoughts were to maybe get a vintage air system or similar, designed for a retrofit to our trucks, and just use the heater box and not get the A/C compressor/filter/drier/lines. Then I am still left wondering, is this system designed just with the pickup truck cab in mind????? My 7-1/2 foot panel would be the equivalent of 4 pickup cabs worth of space to heat!

I'm sure other northern guys with panels and burbs have had this problem, so I'm hoping for some insight. My 275,000 mile 1989 Suburban is a GREAT solid running truck chassis (original engine, TBI 350's are awesome), but the body and body related electronics are all totally falling apart, driving the 62 GMC most days that there's not snow or salt on the roads.

HELP!

-Chuck in Ohio

[Oregoon]

Here's my plan: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...77&postcount=8

That whole thread has some good stuff in it, too.

[LuckyHenriksen]

The seat heaters are a good idea! But I am also curious about upgrading the heater

[Chuck78]

That seat heater link will come in handy! Wife wants a 2 seater sports car, new or old, I want an old one for her, but she had to have two things - air bags and heated seats. I was worried about a pain in the rear having to swap late model seats in, but that solves it! Now the air bag thing... Fun, fun, fun...

As far as the heater, I currently have an email in to Vintage Air, asking their sales/tech guys if their truck heater kit for our trucks comes in any options for larger cores with more rows or anything, as I explained I MUST have a heater that can heat my panel truck like my 89 Suburban heats. I'll post my results. My concern was that they are just mainly designed around a small pickup truck cab, and that their design would limit the effectiveness for a panel/burb.

As for the standard vs deluxe heaters, can anyone confirm that the deluxe heater has a larger heater core coil area or more rows of tubes???? I wonder if there's any way to swap in the deluxe into a standard heater, if so?
and maybe I can get all the ducts and vents off of a deluxe setup (or aftermarket vents) and possibly run ducts off of my standard heater???
If I go this route, I would definitely want to upgrade to a 190 degree stat to get some extra output. If this is the case (I could get a larger/better core), then I might be able to get off easy!
Otherwise, the vintage air or old air or whatever retrofit AC kit (minus the condenser/compressor/drier/etc - just using the heat parts) might be the ticket, as it is designed to fit into the same spot on the firewall and interface with our controls. IF I can get any larger coil, again! Might look into the coil size on my 89 Suburban and see if I could in any way make that work in my 62, even if I had to get out some copper and braze/solder new stubs out at different angles (I do hvac, so brazing on coils is a daily thing for me).

[Chuck78]

"recirculating heater" core (the standard unit), to the right the "fresh air intake" (deluxe heater) heater core:




std. recirc. specs:
* Dimensions: 6 1/8 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2
* Inlet: 3/4
* Outlet: 5/8
deluxe fresh air specs:
* Dimensions: 9 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2
* Inlet: 5/8
* Outlet: 3/4

and here's an 89 Suburban heater core:

Specifications:
* Dimensions: 7 1/8 x 2 x 2
* Inlet: 5/8
* Outlet: 3/4

definitely a bit of size difference there. I'd be willing to do some cutting and reworking of those lines (or digging through a parts store's stock of heater cores to find one more suitable) and also cutting and mig welding/sheetmetal fabrication to my standard heater case in order to get a larger core like that to fit. Then I really could make up a box that attaches to the single outlet on the heater at the floor, and ad two floor vents and then maybe three to five round taps for heater hoses... This would take a little time to do all this, but at least I would be able to do it cheap and not have to hack up my firewall, just the heater case itself! and then I could get away from the deluxe heater look under the hood!

If I need fresh outside air to aid in defrost, the only solution would be to slightly open the right kick panel vent a little until defrosted. I wonder if I would really continually need to have fresh outside air in the mix to keep the windows from fogging up????? any idea? aren't most vehicles' these days just all recirculating defrosters???? I don't know that I recall ever seeing one that sucked in outside air, unless it was under the dash and going to the cowl vents.

[Chuck78]

66-72 suburbans use a heater core that's 9 1/4 x 2 x 2. Looks like (despite the deceiving pictures), that the best core to try and retrofit if reworking the standard case would be for the 61-63 fresh air heater unit...
...when I get the time!

Have to take into consideration the blower wheel size and fan rpm as well. I wonder if the deluxe heater's fan cage is much larger? That might factor in whether or not this would be worth it, vs. just going with a vintage air unit if it's larger.

EDIT - looks like there is only one blower motor for the two different heaters. Now if I only knew if the blower cage wheels were the same size between the two! Anybody got lots of parts lying around to compare??? I'm thinking maybe this case modification to fit the deluxe fresh air core might be the ticket, and then duct the single outlet to some dash vents that I'd have to add on.

[Oregoon]

What about plumbing in an auxillary unit?

Sounds like you could run one of these units under your seat.

Here's one that just wires up. Not exactly period-correct, but probably pretty effective.