Defender heater blower upgrade

[exmod110]

Has any one found a better heater motor or squire cage for the defender heater matrix??? I have herd that a tempo blower motor slightly modified works.... Any one have any info on this, I have mine apart at the moment and would like some more air flow!!!!


Don

[tony]

Hi Don, I had modified a tempo motor but a lot of luck was most likely involved since you will need to make the shaft longer without getting a wobble in it. You will also have to figure out a way of holding it in just the right spot since the motor mounts are not in the right place. But once you have done all of that you will get a lot of CFM out of the heater. Give me a call if you like 1-604-794-3143.

[red90]

Sounds like a good project for an enterprising aftermarket company....

The heater really need a better quality matrix though, first. I'm not sure a lot of extra air will help. If someone would sell a matrix for a reasonable price, it would sell well here. The currently available upgraded ones are crazy expensive.

[tony]

My heater matrix keeps up very nicely with the fan on high, I even have to turn down the heat, but then I have a truck cab.

[red90]

My truck stays warm in the coldest temperatures, but at -40 C, I cannot see the matrix having enough output to match a lot more air movement. Part of my work is designing heat exchangers, so I do understand the limitations and design constraints.

http://members.shaw.ca/red90/Myheaterworks.jpg

[LandyAndy]

If you have the fan box out then cut the square hole in the bulkhead to the same size as the one in the box. MY RHD one is quite alot smaller & does restrict airflow, it's on my list of jobs to do :(

Andy

[red90]

I've heard that before, but I'm skeptical. When I had mine apart, the hole size did not look restrictive compared to the matrix open area, fan discharge size or the interior vents. I could be wrong as I did not measure things up, but normally that would stand out in my mind.

Certainly the stock interior vents are restrictive and should be opened up.

I guess I should add, that I have no way of knowing if my heater and bulkhead hole are stock as the PO may have modified things.

[tony]

Be sceptical Red 90, I opend mine up and now I think its too free flowing, for some reason cold air comes out at the passenger side and hot comes out at the driver side. I think that I will have to install some sort of hyclone type idea at the bulkhead (inside the lower dash) to mix the hot and cold air. I think that opening the interior vents would be the best place to start, something I havent gotten around to yet either, I only did the bulkhead since I was already in there.

[red90]

Make sure the hot/cold flap seals very well and there are no leaks around the heater core. The way it is designed, it is easy to leak cold air around the core. I suspect that this causes a lots of this cold/hot problem.