I have had this old heater for quite a while. It is pretty cool, has a neat deco plastic grill on the front, and a very neat under dash controller for the heat selection. I decided to take it apart, clean it, get it working and paint it up to install in my 41 Ford. HOWEVER, once I took the cover off I realized there is WAY more to it then I thought. It has a ton of wiring, some sort of points system and a weird valve with some small lines going to the core. I am not even 100% sure it is even a water heater. It says "combustion heater" so I am ***uming gas?? Has anyone ever seen one of these? Have any info on how they work or how to get them working?
****, I was affraid of that. It is such a *****in heater...too bad I don't wanna mess with a gas unit!
the best way to get that working is to take it all apart, clean all the cool outside, and replace the inside with an appropriate sized water heater and fan.
I know youre a "purist", Chris, but that would make a prime candidate for a retrofit to a regular heater core
Friend back in the day dad had one in 1947 Pontiac. Scary having burning gas inside of your car. Also had some thing like that in our U S army Jeeps in Germany in the 60's
Gas heaters are supposed to kick ***, especially in those cold E-WA winters, i have a southwind with NOS install kit i'm gunna throw in one of my rigs
They sold gasoline heaters in the aftermarket for VW bugs. It tapped into the regular fuel system. They were supposed to be pretty good and were really needed because the stock VW heater ****ed big time. Don Here is your exact heater. And here is a service manual on Ebay for it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1947-Motoro...678735?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories
Convert it to a water heater and you could probly cut a few inches out of the thickness of that big *** can too. It's cool heater don't give up on it! JH
You guys are too paranoid about gas heaters. I'm 70 years old and I've never seen one start a fire. (Of course, I am in California.) Every bad story I've heard is from "a guy who knew a guy who heard about a fire from a man he used to work with .... " There's a guy in Canada who sells restored, functioning South Wind gas heaters who has a lot of information on the South Winds .... but I don't know anything about your Motorola.
What 49ratfink said. Just get one of the small aftermarket ones and use the Motorola as a cover. You could probably even make the motorola controls work too. Isn't it funny how some companys change big time. I am pretty sure that your Motorola is the same Motorola that is making phones now.
Yes it is. The Motorola name comes from their first successful project the Car Radio. Moto for motor and rola as in Victrola. The gas heater not so successful because even back in the day burning gasoline inside the car scared people. Motorola moved more the electronics direction. They where a major OEM supplier to the American car manufactures till recently. Rich
I would keep the Motorola as a historical artifact, unmodified. If you don't want to use it set it aside and buy a regular heater, there are millions of aftermarket heaters around. You can buy them at swap meets for a few $$$ bucks, easier and cheaper than messing up the old Motorola. I don't like gas heaters myself, having experience of trying to fix them in old VW's. A hot water heater is way more reliable and cheaper to run.
Thanks!! i have a lot of paper info on mine, even a nib instal kit, but it's good to have someone to contact for questions
Chris, You have to run it. It says right in the ad "smart distinctive styling" That would be enough for me. Seriously. That thing is huge. Find a different unit.
It's not as big as it looks, I held it under the dash of the 41 and it looks *****in! Remember a big tubby 41 Ford is a lot larger under the dash then an earlier Ford
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