Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
Forum Discussion
Webasto heater install continued:
So I weld back onto the muffler a piece that I had previously cut off. That was my mistake #1 from the previous post. I should have seen that ahead of time.
With the flexible hose fitted onto a new insert on the end of the curved tube section.....
....check the positioning of the outlet end of the conduit.
I'm going to use the other 180 degree curved section of curved tubing on the outlet end of the exhaust conduit.
Shorten the end of the conduit. Cut the 180 in half so I have two 90 degrees. Rotate one section 90 degrees in relation to the other piece and weld together. Then weld onto the end of the conduit.
Pretty up the welds with the angle grinder.
Here's the completed exhaust system.
I'm laying under the van doing some test fittings when I look at all the snow piling up on my coat and realize a blizzard has rolled in. Call it a night.
Different day. Back under the van figuring out how best to attach the exhaust.
In this picture you can see a structure above and to the right of my gloved hand. This structure lines up with the vertical support that runs along the inside right edge of the side door. I have no idea what the official name is but I know the "A pillar" is what the vertical edge of the windshield is attached and the "B Pillar" is the vertical support just behind the front seats where the seat belt assembly is attached. So I'm going to call this the bottom of the "C Pillar".
I'll fabricate a simple bracket that attaches to the side of the C pillar and holds the exhaust system in place. The pillar is 4" wide. Cut a piece of 1" wide flat stock the same length.
I'll use screw clamps to hold the conduit part of the exhaust system against this bracket. Screw clamps work best when used on round objects. You can see the amount of overhang on each side of the conduit with the 1" wide flat stock. If I didn't reduce this overhang then the screw clamps would deform as they were tightened.
Reduce the width of the 4" long piece of stock that will run along the edge of the exhaust conduit. Cut off another short piece of 1" wide stock.
Weld the two pieces together then drill a hole for a 1/4" bolt.
Drill a hole into the right side of the C pillar. In this photo you can see some of the rust repairs I was working on this past fall until the weather got too cold. You can tell I'm not finished since it's not silver colored yet. I ground off all the rust and rustproofed it then reinforced the area with fiberglass matting. The only advantage to the rust damage is that I can now reach into the bottom of the C pillar to insert a bolt through the hole and hold the head with a wrench when needed.
Bolt the new bracket into place then use a couple screw clamps to hold the exhaust system on the bracket.
Hook up to the heater exhaust.
How it looks from the outside.
If you look at the bottom of the previous picture you get a good look at the padding I've been using when working under the van. You can see it in other pictures too. It started out as a package of interlocking foam floor pads for use on in the van. I changed my mind about using them on the van floor so they ended up in my garage pile of van flotsam and jetsam waiting to be taken back to the store. One day while lying on the cement under the van in the cold weather it suddenly hit me I could use the pads to lay on. I could kick myself for not having thought of this before. They are perfect for this. The padding is easier on the back and it keeps me off the cold and damp and doesn't absorb moisture like cardboard or old rugs (two things I've used before). There's a term for not being able to think of a new use for an object. Functional fixedness.
continued -
So I weld back onto the muffler a piece that I had previously cut off. That was my mistake #1 from the previous post. I should have seen that ahead of time.
With the flexible hose fitted onto a new insert on the end of the curved tube section.....
....check the positioning of the outlet end of the conduit.
I'm going to use the other 180 degree curved section of curved tubing on the outlet end of the exhaust conduit.
Shorten the end of the conduit. Cut the 180 in half so I have two 90 degrees. Rotate one section 90 degrees in relation to the other piece and weld together. Then weld onto the end of the conduit.
Pretty up the welds with the angle grinder.
Here's the completed exhaust system.
I'm laying under the van doing some test fittings when I look at all the snow piling up on my coat and realize a blizzard has rolled in. Call it a night.
Different day. Back under the van figuring out how best to attach the exhaust.
In this picture you can see a structure above and to the right of my gloved hand. This structure lines up with the vertical support that runs along the inside right edge of the side door. I have no idea what the official name is but I know the "A pillar" is what the vertical edge of the windshield is attached and the "B Pillar" is the vertical support just behind the front seats where the seat belt assembly is attached. So I'm going to call this the bottom of the "C Pillar".
I'll fabricate a simple bracket that attaches to the side of the C pillar and holds the exhaust system in place. The pillar is 4" wide. Cut a piece of 1" wide flat stock the same length.
I'll use screw clamps to hold the conduit part of the exhaust system against this bracket. Screw clamps work best when used on round objects. You can see the amount of overhang on each side of the conduit with the 1" wide flat stock. If I didn't reduce this overhang then the screw clamps would deform as they were tightened.
Reduce the width of the 4" long piece of stock that will run along the edge of the exhaust conduit. Cut off another short piece of 1" wide stock.
Weld the two pieces together then drill a hole for a 1/4" bolt.
Drill a hole into the right side of the C pillar. In this photo you can see some of the rust repairs I was working on this past fall until the weather got too cold. You can tell I'm not finished since it's not silver colored yet. I ground off all the rust and rustproofed it then reinforced the area with fiberglass matting. The only advantage to the rust damage is that I can now reach into the bottom of the C pillar to insert a bolt through the hole and hold the head with a wrench when needed.
Bolt the new bracket into place then use a couple screw clamps to hold the exhaust system on the bracket.
Hook up to the heater exhaust.
How it looks from the outside.
If you look at the bottom of the previous picture you get a good look at the padding I've been using when working under the van. You can see it in other pictures too. It started out as a package of interlocking foam floor pads for use on in the van. I changed my mind about using them on the van floor so they ended up in my garage pile of van flotsam and jetsam waiting to be taken back to the store. One day while lying on the cement under the van in the cold weather it suddenly hit me I could use the pads to lay on. I could kick myself for not having thought of this before. They are perfect for this. The padding is easier on the back and it keeps me off the cold and damp and doesn't absorb moisture like cardboard or old rugs (two things I've used before). There's a term for not being able to think of a new use for an object. Functional fixedness.
continued -
