Living in Central Minnesota limits the amount of time we're able to drive our cars. Most times it's too cold to drive them comfortably in May or October. Adding a heater to the inside of the truck though messy would extend our season. It seems installation of one of these southwind heaters might be a little less involved than a hot water heater. I keep finding them at swap meets for $10.00 to $15.00. What are your opinions?
I have one still in the box, and that's where it will stay! Water is safer than fire, man. Southwinds were okay in their day, but that was a long time ago.
hell no. I had two of them in an old 60 vw and there is no way in hell I would have even thought about fireing them up... would you still use one of those old blow torches that hold the fuel in a canister under the nozzle? yea me either... well maybe I would use one of those heaters if I hated the car and it was well insured. just make sure grundy will cover that
That's interesting. Now I remember driving a 60 VW to work and back in Dec of '68 that had a gas heater in it. It was my uncles car and he told me to never pull that knob and ignite that heater or I'd be sorry. One morning at about 10 below I pulled the knob. Booooooom, he was right. Please disregard my original question.
The other side of the coin...it really couldn't be much easier to install a basic water style heater. Shit, it's only 2 hoses, maybe a wire for a switch if you have a fan. Pete
I've never heard of one of these things blowing up or causeing a car to burn up............I guess its possible but probably only if incorrectly installed or having missing or defective internal parts. http://www.bramclassauto.com/SouthWind.php
I had a Corvair Greenbriar van with a factory equipped gas fueled heater. I loved it. Heat was defrosting the W/S before the tubes in the radio could warm up enough to hear the music. That was when gas was 33 cents a gallon and the truck was only 7 or 8 years old. The heater didn't bother Ralph Nader! I don't believe if properly maintained that they are a true "hazzard" but with the price of gas, you will be happier with a conventional hot water heater. I'd be afraid of a 20$ flea market Southwind. I'd probably try to hook up an NOS one in the box with the proper instructions just because it would be so different and you would not be following some idiots possible alterations. There are some great looking art deco after market hot wat heaters that actually look very cool in the truck cab. Almost as cool looking as a Southwind.
Heres an I idea man - why dont yua add a hot water core to the gutted insidesx of a Southwind heater. They are a crazy lookin heater - but not what id call safe. Doing it this way will give u the HEAT and the LOOK ya want. Make a nice ittle project and would be unique !! Just a thought? Rat
I believe there are better options out there for your heat. If the standard water heater to difficult you always have the option to go electrical. I installed a 1500 watt electrical several years ago and it still going strong and the price was $49.95. Its a fast install and will keep the cold to a minium.
I had a factory gas heater in my VW too... man that thing ruled. I dunno... people are scared of a lot of things that are cool. Just for the record I never had any problems with mine... it sounded like a lil rocket heater and boy did it heat that car up nice n toasty...
You know fellas, there is a massive number of airplanes flying in the sky every day using Southwind gas fired heaters. They are quite safe. You don't think the FAA would let tens of thousands of planes fly with them if they were unsafe do you ? Clean it, service it, and use it.
There is one in my '40 Ford (I've never tried to use it) but I've never heard of anyone having a problem with them "back then". I would like to hear more from guys that have had actual experience with them back then.
my dad had a 37 plym with a south wind when i was a kid (yes i,m a old fart) it grave instant heat it was so good that he put it in a 48 chevy when he junked the plym then about 10 years ago me chop olds and afew other guy,s found a truck load of them in a garage in elizabeth nj
Found this old Hemmings article. It has a pretty good line drawing of the functional pieces. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/...you-when-war-broke-out-and-southwind-heaters/
Well I got a lot of good answers with this one and I appreciate them all. As I said earlier my main objective is heat. However I want safe heat. I remember Dad's logging trucks and Mom's old '37 Ford had gas heaters in them and I remember the instant heat too. However I also remember the experience I had in that VW. Gas mileage isn't a deal breaker but always a consideration. The units look simple and that's what drew me to them. However other then the additional plumbing necessary to hook into the radiator hoses on my flathead and the crappy looks under the hood of a Ford with heater hoses the hot water heaters aren't that difficult and I may end up having to go that way. At any rate I'm listening and I'm still concerned with the insurance deal. Aaannnddd for the hell of it I may take a look at the electric heat idea.
Minnesota gets a lot COLDER and for LONGER than it does here in Okie land. I'm thinking, some kind of heater, gas or water powered, is a must! And here is Idea #1; I went a step furthur and installed two heated seat kits in the roadster. From Speedway at about $85. each. Slipped right under the seat covers of our chopped S-10 bench seat. Never had a car with heated seats but have ridden in a few and the COLDER it gets outside the better they FEEL! Toasty seats and an under dash heater is the plan.
The original Soth Winds is properly okay when in order.... got a nice one in my 50 Chev, found out testing it, and well.......this seamed to be some dangerous.....gas leaked into the floor.... But, its a nice accessories , and if it could be safed, then it should be great. Earlyer i did have a VW with gasheater, and this was another styled german one, who functioned really well on the cold days.
It's pretty easy to find the interior Southwind units at swap meets but they never seem to have the vacuum tube and pieces needed to hook them up to the manifold. I searched online one time about them and I think there's a guy in Canada who restores them and has access to replacement parts. Can't remember his name now, but with a little research you can find out a lot more about them. Thousands of them were used for many years and like anything else, if properly installed and maintained, I think they are pretty safe. Still kind of a scary concept though.
I'm a newbie to this site. Doing research on Southwind gas heaters... the military version. I've used 6V and 12V Southwind heaters in my VW bugs and buses for many years. VW's are not kown for their stock forced air heating systems. The one in my bus was fired up every morning in winter. This without starting the engine. Drink a cup of coffed and have a smoke, read the paper. Drive to work in a toasty warm VW bus. How sweet is that? Don't know what all the fuss is about on this forum. Heard horror stories but never talked to ANY VW owner that had a problem. I have several of them now but no VW's. I would not hesitate to hook one up again. Maybe the "problem" is mostly just imagined or urban ledgend. I have a Southwind manual (reprint) that I could copy for you if you need. Jerry Bubolz Gilbert, AZ. 480-497-9722
I'm a newbie to this site. Doing research on Southwind gas heaters... the military version. I've used 6V and 12V Southwind heaters in my VW bugs and buses for many years. VW's are not kown for their stock forced air heating systems. The one in my bus was fired up every morning in winter. This without starting the engine. Drink a cup of coffed and have a smoke, read the paper. Drive to work in a toasty warm VW bus. How sweet is that? Don't know what all the fuss is about on this forum. Heard horror stories but never talked to ANY VW owner that had a problem. I have several of them now but no VW's. I would not hesitate to hook one up again. Maybe the "problem" is mostly just imagined or urban ledgend. I have a Southwind manual (reprint) that I could copy for you if you need. Jerry Bubolz Gilbert, AZ. 480-497-9722
They were apparently used in some small aircraft as well as VWs and Corvairs. I guess they were safe enough to use when in flight, but the whole idea just seems a little scary to me. Anyone ever hear any horror stories about 'em?
We had gas heaters in some of the trucks in the service, course we didn't really care if they caught on fire or not.
I just scored this on ebay the other day for $30, i plan on gutting the internals and putting in a heater core, but instead of using rubber hoses i was hoping i could knock up something using copper lines and polish them up so it has a bit of an old look to it.
I wanted to use a South Wind heater in my old traditional style '32 hot rod. Ran across a real small NOS water heater core unit for an old old GM truck (I think). Got it to fit in the SW unit with a minimum of hassle. Now I have the South Wind look with the hot water safety.
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