Re: radiator blinds

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

>Right now the 800 has the entire grill blocked and no heat (or indication
>of heat on the gauge in spite of a new 180 thermostat) unless you get some
>sustained driving of 50-60 mph for 15-20 minutes. I may go to an aux
>electric heater.

Terry,

Have you *tried* one of those electric heaters yet?  My heater core was
plugged up last winter, and before I got around to having it flushed, I
attempted to use a 300watt "Back Seat Heat" electric heater... (I got tired
of Julie complaining about not feeling her toes and such... ;) 

We were on our way to Missoula one morning when I bought the heater.. we
weren't on the road very long when it blew the Lighter Socket fuse (d'oh)

Got to Missoula and I pulled out the extra wire, and put a new O-attachment
crimp-on connector onto the battery terminal, and ran some 10 gauge wire
into the cab and to the Back Seat Heat.  

Wired direct to the battery, it worked much better.  I'm NOT saying it
worked WELL, but it worked much better (vs. a blown fuse!)

It took a good 5 minutes or so to start blowing air through it that was
warmer when it came out vs. when it came in.  If you held your hand directly
in front of the heater, it was warm.. otherwise, you couldn't tell any
difference.

I had it mounted under the dash, near the ash tray.

After driving around for an hour or so, the cab was noticeably warmer.. not
warm, but warmer (than the 0 degrees outside).  I'm not sure if that's due
to the 4 persons in the cab, the heater, or both.

On the trip home I used it, and it kept the frost off our noses (just the
two of us).

All in all, I think it was a worthless $100 that I spent.  I paid $50 to
have the heater core flushed, and that made a world of difference (of
course, a week or two later the blower motor died.. but after putting $115
or so into the heating system, it works GREAT)

I still have the 12V heater.. I'm trying to figure out where to mount it in
the back.. not because I think it'll make any marked improvement in the
heat, but if it does ANYTHING, I'll put it in.. I paid way too much $$$ on
this piece of junk to let it just sit in the garage.

Oh.. and it also showed me my alternator belts weren't tight enough.. I
would kick on the Back Seat Heat, and my 90amp alternator would start
squealing when I'd hit the gas too hard.. not to mention deflecing the stock
ammeter gauge pretty far to the CHARGE side.  (Running my 2 100watt KC
Daylighters, Hi Beam headlights, and my $20 Blazer 55watt fog lights doesn't
chew up the juice like that Back Seat Heat did)

In other words, Terry.. fix the problem, don't band-aid it.. IMHO, anyhow..
it wasn't worth it.  (unless of course there is some reason why the 800 just
WON'T make heat)

Make sure you get the heater working before you send it north!  At -20, it
really sucks to not have heat.. when my blower motor was out, I carried a
can of Windshield De-Icer with me.. FOR THE INSIDE.  (whew, got a bit of a
rush from that too.. had to keep the windows down.. argh).

That's also when I drove off the road at the local ski hill and plowed a
nice trail in a Scout-hood-deep snow field.. I went 20 or 30 feet before I
ceased forward motion.. couldn't open the passenger door.  Embarrassingly, a
Mini-van tried to pull me out but failed.. it was a Toyota 4-Runner that
ultimately drug me the rest of the way out of the snow bank.

(This was before my 1/2 mile winch-out in a different snow field.. the '72
now runs around with a 48" Hi-Lift, and 4 tires chains for the 31x10.50s..)

My $0.02

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/antics
'72 and '77 Scout IIs