Re: winterizing(heater box tubes)

[stans4@ix.netcom.com (Stan Schaefer)]

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>On the subject of winterizing, one area that I would highly recommend
>triple checking three times is your heat exchangers.  Make sure that
>everything is tightly connected, especially the old flimsy tubes that go
>from the exchangers into the underside of the back seat.  I have replaced
>these with two that I took off of a late model Beetle.  These are flexible
>plastic and do require some modifying to fit.  On most Type III's that I
>have seen, these tubes are either falling off, or are in such bad condition
>that they are not providing much warm air flow into the car.  Another
>important item to check is the heater control cables and heat exchangers
>flaps.  Making sure that these are functioning correctly will ensure that
>you have some heat (assuming that your exchangers are not rusted out to
>death).  If all is well with these areas, your driving pleasure will be
>multiplied several times over.
>
>Just my $0.02 worth (at today's exchange rate).
>
>Patrick
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What I just recently used was some 2 3/8" ID stainless flex tubing
>from J.C Whitney.  Was made for exhaust tubing, but works fine  for
heater box to body connections.  My only complaint is that it's pretty
stiff out of the box, kind of hard to get it in there initially.  I
found the best way to cut it(comes in 6' lengths) was to use my angle
grinder with an abrasive disk.  I had some originals off a wreck
before, the cotton cord they used for packing the spiral joints rotted
out, had gaps and was losing a lot of air.  Just had to turn on the
heater this morning, nice and toasty.  Anyone have any suggestions
what to replace the original insulation blankets with around the
tubes?  I didn't have any on the car when I got it.