Heater Recommendation For Our '70 Cj5?

Nice looking Jeeps! I just ordered a Bestop Supertop for the '70. Our '63 Tux had a Koenig full cab on it when we bought it. Sold it, wish I'd kept it. Jack

 

How about some pic of the install procedure when you get it?

 

Down here in the sunny South where we have a lot more hot weather than cold, the fresh air feature of the stock "heater" is more important than how much heat the unit puts out. We typically have very mild Winters, but do get frost on the windshield and a defroster is a big plus. I replaced the motor on my stock heater with one I think was out of a Ford Bronco, and it seems to blow harder but that may be because the original was on its last legs when I got the Jeep, as it was pretty weak.

 

Having both hard tops and Bestop Supertops, I like the look of the hard top but the Supertops are much more versitile and easier to live with year round.

 

Not really in a flat fender unless one's definition of cold is 32 F or above. That and no defrost in the 2A/3A's can make life pretty miserable. Back in the mid 50's, my father bought one of those stick-on electric windshield heater grids for the 47 2A we had. That sort of worked enough that the interior ice scraper use was significantly reduced. I think that is still in the shed where he kept that Willys. Not all old vehicles suffered from this malady. My father's 46 Chevy 1.5 ton had a heater that would cook you out of there as did his 41 Nash 600. The Nash heater was maybe before it's time with thermostat control and twin blowers.

 

Would you consider heated seats?

 

Just finished the top install the other day. Sorry, didn't take any pictures of the install. The instructions are pretty good. Follow them exactly. Two issues that still need to be resolved. The first is that the top material is really tight. Ideally this top would be installed on hot day in July, outside, so that you can get a good stretch on the material. I did mine in December in a heated garage. I haven't been able to get the side curtain retainers to fit underneath the side rails. I'm not going to try to force them because I don't want to tear fabric or break a zipper, so that'll have to wait until a nice hot day next summer to get resolved. The second is the fit of the doors. The removable top sections don't fit well into the lower sections and the door frames don't fit tightly against the top. I'm still working on bending and shaping those two items to get them to fit well.

This top has some great features designed into it. But the poor fit on those items above make some of those features unusable. Overall, so far, I'd give this top a 7 out of 10.

 

I hadn't considered that, but I know my wife would love it!

 

I like the look of the hard tops too, especially the half cabs. I just finished the install on the Supertop. Still working on getting the material stretched out and the doors to fit properly.

 

I just took a look at that one. Looks like a nice heater. Thanks for posting this!

 

Had a friend that mounted a PVC pipe across the bottom of his 2A windshield. He cut slots into it and hooked the end to the heater box with a flextube. The mashup worked surprisingly well and was simple and cheap to boot.

 

In my experience, I know this sounds like a good idea, as I have done it. But the reality is then you can't get the top on unless it's a hot day in July. A safer choice, if I had to do it again, would be a cool 60 degree day, but with some sun, then you have a chance of installing it in the fall.

 

I like your ingenuity!!!! How do you get your engine temp to 180 degrees in Montana when it's really cold out? I have trouble getting mine up to 150 when it's cold out in Wyoming.

 

Get a chunk of cardboard, tear up a beer box, whatever, zip-tie it to the front of the radiator to block some of the airflow. That's the poor man's way to do it.

 

The heater circuit should be running at thermostat temp. If it never gets to that temp, it's not closing all the way or someone drilled too big a bypass hole in it. Or you just didn't wait long enough. 10 minutes should probably suffice to get you up to temp with a good thermostat but I suppose that depends on which engine and a lot of other stuff. The cardboard does work if you don't want to mess with the rest.

 

I made an auxiliary heater with the core, fan, and motor for a 1985 chevy truck w/ HD heat.

20210403_115953 by Joe with a jeep, on Flickr

I started modeling a plastic housing to be printed. Never finished since a 15A motor with recirculating baffle in the stock heater is doing just fine.

K10_heater_housing by Joe with a jeep, on Flickr

20180308_154845 by Joe with a jeep, on Flickr

 

This is what we do with out diesel in winter. There was a perfect slot down the front of the radiator on the old OBS for a piece of cardboard. Made a big difference.
Back "in the day" you could get a grill muffler for your CJ. It looked like a bug guard made out of canvass and snapped to the outside of the grill, blocking all the cold air. I've been scouring the internet and can't seem to find even a picture of one.....

 

I have the Vintage Air gen ll heater. I installed it as per the instructions. Running a 225 V6. If I put cardboard in front of the radiator I can get it to over 180 degrees. I just wish I could get it to 180 degrees without the cardboard.