Hi, Asad and Volks, Unfortunately, my part of the globe (Tennessee) needs heat in the winter, and cooling in the summer. Spring and autumn are beautiful, but too short for a VW enthusiast's hobby. The VW heating system can be marginally adequate in winter if it's in good repair, well sealed, and the engine is running at proper temperature. Unfortunately, it's dependent on engine speed, which is unreliable in urban commuting traffic.
My local experienced VW shadetree mechanic assures me that a ring of RTV silicone sealant around the bakelite pipe flange will create a good, heat-resistant seal on the flange where the heat tube enters the body. I'm not convinced, so I will probably attempt to cut a pair of seals from something else. Your red rubber gaskets might be some kind of high-temperature silicone rubber. I'll ask around. The good news is that I found a couple of VW carcasses with the short underseat warm-air tube insulation intact, and used them as models for my recreations. I cut new covers from scraps of vinyl-coated canvas from a local sign shop: it's the stuff they use for banner signs and it has a texture and apparent strength identical to the factory material. An upholstery shop gave me some pieces of jute insulation (about 15mm or 5/8" thick and colored grey) that matches the original almost perfectly. I found two of the flaps that fit inside the pipes to open the rear footwell outlets, and they cleaned up very nicely. I bent new control wires from a scrap heater cable. I'll report back when it's all together. Salaam, Bert Knupp -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of asad ishaque Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:52 AM To: vw mailing list Subject: Re: [vintagvw] Gasket material Bert et all, Sorry but Im a bit grey in this area due to the fact that this part of the world is quite warm and VW heaters are almost always disabled in my city at least. In fact I have yet to see a bug with working heaters. Thanks to irresponsible mechs who throw out heater parts everytime the engine is taken off or the car goes for any work. I did not know there were bakelite parts down there. Is it the short tube which clears thru the body under the rear seat?? Will try to knock on the ones in my 68 next time I pop the rear seat butt rest up. I thought they were metal. I have seen rubber gaskets at the boneyard. I thought they went where the big accordion pipes joined with the body with the mentioned bakelite (?) pipes. Could this be what you are referring to?? They are bright orangish red. I think I have seen these advertised on websites. Could this be the crumbled material you found?? Ironically Ive always noted these to be in very good shape, even with 40 odd years of abuse in our tropical weather and no love. Best wishes and regards, Asad Karachi, Pakistan. > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]> Date: Sat, > 22 Nov 2008 19:30:06 -0600> Subject: Re: [vintagvw] Gasket material > > Volks, > Mike and Gerald, > Thanks for the ideas. Yes, these are the seals used where the heater box > outlet pipe goes through the steel body panel above the torsion bar housing. > When I hold a couple of the crumbled fragments up to light, it shows that > they are translucent -- probably not asbestos. But also not very durable > over time, obviously. And both of my bakelite flange-and-tube assemblies > were also badly granulated when I unscrewed the flanges -- they fell apart > into multiple pieces. > > The insulated heater tubes under the rear seat are wrapped with "blankets" > that feel like old-fashioned jute carpet padding, wrapped with a vinyl > jacket, and held together by 15" cable ties. But the insulating material is > noncombustable: it won't light with a match. I'll look around. > > Thanks, > > Bert Knupp in > Music City USA _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
