Me too. My first bus chasing the heating was T4 engine like yours. risers, control pods, concertina, heat exchangers all were missing or u/s. I finished it, started her up and within a few miles the new hx's got oil in them from the many leaks and smoke came out of the dash. I was past the point of no return so next it was push-rod tube seals. When finished there was indeed a weedy flow of warmish air. Waste of time as the door seals were knackered and the doors didn't fit properly anyway. If I had nothing I'd go straight for the propex option. Might as well keep the heat exchangers though as they fill the gap in the tinware better than J-tubes even if they're beyond heat exchanging.
All true, but my heatx's cost over £400 new, I suppose the best option would have been second hand non leaky units and still have plenty of cash towards the Propex unit. Hindsight is very expensive! Like you I have passed a certain point and will push forwards towards a fully original setup, I have a reasonable amount of heat already but no cables in place or the concertinas, so I'm not far off it now.
fully original can be improved upon with a few choice modifications...as Zed mentioned, if the door seals are carp, most of the heat will dissipate...
http://www.agriemach.com/c7/heat-and-sound-insulation/ exhaust wrapping the headers makes one hell of a difference (some people don't recommend wrap....)
Thanks for all the comments/suggestions, think I will try the rubber seals and if they don't work go the exhaust bandage route.
measure the aperture on the housing that you have.....the HXs are 60mm OD, which will be the same for all models.....the rubber seals aren't necessary on the newer concertinas but by the sounds of it yours are original....ask @Alex VW Heritage if he knows the OD for the rubbers good luck with it
has any one else had trouble fitting repro concerina tubes? my original went on with a bit of effort .....but I struggled for days to get the new one to squeeze into place...and I'm still not happy with the fit
Vanorak what do you mean when you say exhaust wrap the headers , what are the headers ? I've got that flexy exhaust pipe in my garage ,is that better than the new consertina pipe .
Yet to do this, and still thinking about it, but this guy recommends it..... I'm loathe to recommend one thing over another, but if you've got some good quality exhaust flex in 60mm ID, and you were about to replace the concertinas anyway, then I'd definitely try the flexi first....as mentioned, the very latest concertinas are supposed to be better quality than those available until recently....it's possible that there was a bad batch, maybe they've changed the plastic? Either way, ....unless they've gone back to using expanded metal mesh, and good quality glass wool, I won't be spending £60 on a new pair, when you can improve what you have very easily, with some stainless mesh and quality glass wool....(or replace them with flexi for less)
The reason i brought the question up is i have just managed to get two original HE one of them practically new , so thinking concertina melt down.
Unscrew the plastic outer housing and remove contents: buy two A4 sized (approx) sheets of the above from here Wrap this round it: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item336f27d983 Followed by this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/rockwool-...199?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cdccbfa6f hotter, quieter, unmeltable....
They certainly look like the same material. If you're concerned about the "stuff" in OG heat exchangers consider this. 22 million beetles and 3.5 million busses were made with these heat exchangers. Presumably someone would have spotted a link between these and health issues by now if there were any. I'm more concerned about the health impacts of melting plastics in the ones we have to buy now.
