can i use stale air heater boxes on my 1600DP?

[hlwimmer]

i'm "reconstructing" my engine and just upgraded to dual kads and an abarth muffler -- the later makes the fresh-air heater tough to use -- plus the larger shroud really cramps the engine compartment...

can i use the 63 stale air heater boxes on my 63 ragtop (came stock with fresh air -- one of the first) with a 1600 dual port? i need heat, but only once in a while, so heat efficiency isnt that big of a deal...

is the tube diameter, length and placement the same on the late-stale air boxes (as on the later fresh air boxes)?

[Joekäfer]

I'd say no...but anything is possible. why doesnt the Abarth hook up to the heater boxes? they should go together but if you have my luck anything can happen to slow you down. Have you called Mooneyes and asked them if it will work with heater boxes? worth a shot for some info. I would stick to the fresh air system if at all possible. stale air boxes leave a greasy sheen on the windows and can get pretty smelly at times.

[TomB]

I have a 62, and stale air heater boxes and parts are VERY different from later years. (Also VERY hard to find!) The stale air 1200 also had special copper seals on the cylinder heads since leakage between the head and cyl could go directly to the passenger compartment. Not a good idea to use a later engine without these seals on stale air boxes.

[hlwimmer]

some abarths have the "tumors" around the front exhaust pipes to allow the paper tubes to connect from the top and the HBs to connect from the bottom... mine just has the exhaust tubes (which block any paper-tube to HB connection -- no way round it). rather than reconstruct the thing or frankenstein it with another muffler (the design is nice + clean already), i thought i might kill 2 birds with one stone -- gain space in the bay by the elimination of fresh-air tubes and the non-modification of the muffler (just a swap of HBs...)... i really neve need the heat except to knock the chill off the evening air at times... here in cali, we never get below 50deg.

[Joey B]

50 degrees! just bring a blanket and your girlfriend.
anyway, you are saying that you cannot route the fresh air from the shroud to the heater box?

[Marc]

Assuming you can find some `61/`62 nonfresh assemblies, you'll need to replace the short 32mm j-tubes with longer 35mm ones, and since a 1200 is a narrower engine they probably won't fit all that well between the case & heads; by the time you got them butchered up to fit they'd be of no use to someone trying to restore an old car....
I like the concept, though. I'd like to see a nonfresh setup made that would work in conjunction with a competition exhaust system - just something sufficient to satisfy my state's legal requirement of a functional defroster. As for the copper seals, they were a Band-Aid intended to reduce combution gasses getting into the car if the head-to-cylinder seal failed; if you don't have leaky heads you don't need them.

[hlwimmer]

thanks fellas: marc's measurements are exactly what i need to know -- seems the J-tubes themselves are incompatable and it will be easier to add "tumor" from a stock muffler to the abarth than butcher the HBs... unfortunately, the abarth i have does not have them -- i've seen some that do. mooneyes no longer stocks abarths -- apparantly, supply is limited and might have evaporated altogether. without the tumors to bridge the area, the exhaust pipe from the head completely blocks the route from the shroud to the HBs... on the heat side, i find it a pain to drive a car with non-functioning systems...

yeah, too bad someone hasnt come up with a larger diameter J-tube with a housing that allows for heat -- wouldnt be too hard to engineer. that'll be my second million after importing judson and okrasa repros from japan...

in the end, i might revert to the stock muffler. havent yet run the abarth and might hate the sound -- but might love it, too. dunno.

[ELMO]

I have exactly that type of heater/ exhaust system on my 68 bug. It is a 1-5/8 merged system that I purchased from GBE in 1988. It had the #1, #3 pipes moved outto the proper location to use heater boxes. I used some nos 40hp heater boxes, disassembled them, removed the pipes, installed the j-pipes from the header, and then widened the sheetmetal deflectors and used lead to finish the joints. The heater boxes really look awesome and throw out a huge amount of heat extremely quickly!