[TR] Aftermarket TR3 Heater Install

[William Brewer]

     Several people have inquired about my TR3 aftermarket heater install, so
here it is.     I bought the heater
from http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/12-volt-maradyne-cab-heater-12-500-btu.h
tml for $139.95.     To install, I had to shorten the tubes out the back. I
shortened them to be about even with the outside case. I also had to move my
OD relay from the behind the back of the battery box to the side to get
clearance. You have to reduce the 1/2" copper outlets to match the diameter of
the TR3 heater hoses. Use a 1/2" to 3/8" copper reducers (I got mine at
Lowe's) and either use a 3/8 copper pipe or a 1/2" by
 .014 brass tube like I
bought at a True Value hardware store. I put in 90 degree elbows immediately
behind the heater, then a short length of 1/2" copper pipe and then reduced
it down after the edge of the sides to allow access to the hoses. I made sheet
metal 90 degree brackets to bolt it all to the dash braces.     The thing
blows like a blast furnace and I love it. I had had it with monkeying around
with the original pathetic fog stirrer heater. BTW, HVDA has the same heater
in his TR3, if that tells you something.     I am still making fittings for
the defroster hoses. There are precut and blanked off holes on each side. I
have to reduce them to the defroster hose size.     Instead of soldering
everything, if I were to do it again I think that I would use marine epoxy
that you can buy at an ACE hardware or marine supply. I used it for high temp
fittings in a vegetable oil fuel system in my Mercedes and it never failed me.
Soldering close to the heater core and metal case is questionable and nerve
wracking.     Other things I like (besides being warm) are that with the
heater low like it is I can easily get
 behind the
 dash if I need to get to gauges or light bulbs and things. My car
has a black interior and the black heater just sort of blends in with the
carpet.     I had
 to mount it low, below the dash to clear the choke cable. I
could have mounted it high, above the cable, but then it would have been hard
to open the vents. It would have fit and been out of sight.     The original
rheostat works with the new heater.     Total cost of the conversion was
probably about $150. I reused the original heater hoses.     Bring on the
cold.
     Bill in Tehachapi