Is it worth getting a car with heat?

[Mulv]

Originally Posted by steven566

I drove the car to work a couple of days this week, and it wasn't too bad in the morning, nothing a jacket couldn't take care of.

Well done!
Thank goodness you didn't listen to the old ladies!
Wait until August.. you will want to sit in an ice chest to drive..

[BOURRET]

No heater for me. Even in winter, adequate clothes and a fur helmet are really sufficient. I drive hundred of miles in winter without feeling chilled. My feet are always warm!!!The only time I had a small inconvenience was driving in freezing fog: my windshield was obscured by ice and I had to remove the frost periodically from my windshield with one hand (I have no top on my Cobra).

[tamanaco]

Originally Posted by ROUSHAC

Got the Bug,

No, I did them myself, but I did have to remove the seats to get the pad into the seat backs.

My battery is in the trunk, so I ran the wiring down low through the rear bulkhead and placed the switches on the rear bulkhead on either side of the battery cut-off switch.

A lot depends on how easy it is to get the pads into the seats and then get your seats back together. On my BDR it was easy. On an others like an SPF, I'm not sure how easy doing a neat job on the seats will be.

Cheers!
Dave

Dave,

Can you provide more details on what is required to install the heating pad in the BRB seat? Any special tools required? I've got one and thinking about heated seat.

Thanks in advance for your feebback.

[Art Burtt]

It comes in handy on crisp fall nights to keep the windshield from fogging up
and you get some heat but without a top it's not exactly toasty!

[JBCOBRA]

Heat is really nice to have here in the North East.
Crank up the heat and don my "Elmer Fudd" hat and HIT IT!!!

[ROUSHAC]

Originally Posted by tamanaco

Dave,

Can you provide more details on what is required to install the heating pad in the BRB seat? Any special tools required? I've got one and thinking about heated seat.

Thanks in advance for your feebback.

tamanaco,

The seat bottom is a snap. Take the cushion out. Remove the staples at the rear of the seat and push the pad in with you hand to make sure it lays flat under the foam. Replace with new staples.

The back is a bit tougher. The leather is glued in place for about 3" along the bottom. I was able to loosen a part of the glued area with a very flat fish filleting knife by carefully working between the glue and the fiberglass molded seat - this took longer than everything else combined. I created a hole big enough to get my hand and arm into the seat back behind the foam. Unfortunately, unless you are double jointed, you then have to remove the seats from the car to be able to insert the pad into the seat back and put it in place and get it laying flat under the foam pad. Once that is done, reglue the area you loosened with Gorilla Glue.

On each seat, drill a hole in the bottom of the seat at the angle made betwwn the bottom and back through the fiberglass and another low down through the rear bulkhead to run the wires to the controller and to the battery in the trunk.

I drilled the holes for the controllers through the rear bulkhead a couple of inches to each side of the battery cutoff switch.

Set the seats back in the car and run the wiring through the holes to the trunk. Install the controllers in their holes. Bolt the seat back down. Hook up to the battery. You are done.

I have been thinking about how to rewire it so that when I turn the car off the seats won't continue to warm the car and drain the battery, if I forget to turn the battery kill switch off. I just know that I will forget sooner or later, if I don't do that, but it's too cold to work on the car for a while yet.

Not a bad job at all. The instruction sheets that came with the seat heaters were pretty well done.



Hope this helps!

Cheers!
Dave

[ROUSHAC]

JBCOBRA,

Thanks for the idea of the Elmer Fudd hat!

I got one after seeing the post of you in one. It works like a charm for the one place the seat heaters don't help.

See you at the Zippo Vintage Races next Fall at the Glen again hopefully. Maybe the policeman won't wave me onto the wrong road again on the way back to town from the track. I don't want to have to worry about all those crazy folks in their MG's trying to keep up this year. That was funny.

Did I leave enough tire smoke as you requested when I left the B&B to head home?

Cheers!
Dave

[427SnakeSC]

I live in the snowy north, my Classic Roadster does have a heater. I have yet to use it. If it's that cold out, I'm not interested! Go ahead, call me a wussy!

[RNT]

Go to www.gerbing.com and get a 12v heated vest that plugs in to 12v system. This is what motorcyclists wear. Will keep you plenty warm.

[JBCOBRA]

Did I leave enough tire smoke as you requested when I left the B&B to head home?

Cheers!
Dave

YES, that was great! Nothing like the smell of burning rubber in the morning!!! LOL. Watkins Glen is the BEST.

I will drive my car without the top (and the heat cranking) to about 38 degrees. That is cold enough for me and the car. The engine can't even get warm enough below that (even with the oil cooler disconnected) and I start praying for Red traffic lights to warm up a little.
JB

[ezplans]

NO. Immediate reaction without reading this thread.

[JBCOBRA]

ez, and your point would be?

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by RNT

Go to www.gerbing.com and get a 12v heated vest that plugs in to 12v system. This is what motorcyclists wear. Will keep you plenty warm.

GOD BLESS YOU! This is the best idea on this thread yet! Cheaper and lots less hassle than ripping out the seats and having warmers installed. Thank you!

-Dean