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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / South Wind heater

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Posted By Discussion Topic: South Wind heater -- page: 1 2     thirtysixford 05-22-2011 @ 9:05 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 210 Joined: Oct 2009 I have a Stewart Warner Southwind gas heater. I found the installation and operating instructions online, but what I need is a service/repair manual that has exploded pictures, part numbers or such and info on how to troubleshoot. Anyone still making parts for these? Mike joe b 05-23-2011 @ 6:17 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 389 Joined: Oct 2010 You might try Larry Caplan in Northridge, Ca. He has lots of heater stuff,tools and can repair. lccaplan@aol.com thirtysixford 05-23-2011 @ 2:38 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 210 Joined: Oct 2009 Thanks Joe, but the address seems to be dead. I see a service manual on ebay that someone scanned, wants $25 for it plus $5 shipping. $30 seems a little high for what is probably a copyrighted manual he most likely doesn't own the rights to. Mike joe b 05-23-2011 @ 3:23 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 389 Joined: Oct 2010 Here is Larrys phone number from his business card. 818 366 9178 Stroker 05-23-2011 @ 3:29 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1460 Joined: Oct 2009 thirtysixford: I also have a Southwind that came out of my 38. It served the family well for the first 50 years, although given its' location in the center of the firewall in order to clear the battery box,and radio chassis; I had to re-start it whenever I shifted in to second gear, as the shift lever would push the start switch in. I learned to "skip-shift" in the wintertime! I'd love to hear what you find out, as I would like to re-install it at some point, but I'm sure the heater and fuel metering system needs a thorough going-through before I try that. We share a common dilemma, in that the OEM exhaust heater is not being reproduced, and probably shouldn't be anyway. Hot water heaters work, but certainly are not "period correct". I live in the upper Midwest, so unless I want to limit driving to a few months a year, a heater is quite useful. If you find any "support information", you can PM me, or simply email me at kalbach@wildbluepella.org. Thanks, Dan thirtysixford 05-23-2011 @ 4:15 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 210 Joined: Oct 2009 Just spoke with Larry, he only deals with original equipment heaters and the Southwind is not one of them. He wished me luck. Back to square one. If all else fails I'll buy the service manual on Ebay and share it with the group. Dolman 05-23-2011 @ 4:52 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: Dec 2010 C'mon Stroker. A parka, Sorrels, down mittens and an ice scr*per for the inside of the windshield and you're good to go! Reminds me of a drive I made from Seattle to Anchorage years ago in January 1965 in a '63 Chrysler. Lousy heater. When the temps got down to minus 30 and lower going west from Ft. Nelson, I had to stuff a boot sock in the passenger side defroster vent to keep an 8" wide area clear on the driver's side of the windshield. Sort of like driving a buttoned up tank. When I got to Anchorage, I changed the 165 degree thermostat to a 185 but it didn't help much. Now that I am older, I'm considering a heater for my '34 pickup but it looks like there is only room for a passenger or a heater, not both. Stroker 05-23-2011 @ 7:25 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1460 Joined: Oct 2009 Dolman: Back in the early 70's, I was driving a very rusty 61 VW Beetle. Of course the rocker sills were rotted out, so the hot-air bleed from the motor was being vented to the outdoors. I would drive it with an ice scra(censored)per in my left mittened paw, so I could shift with my right paw, whilst holding the steering wheel steady with my knee. At the time, I sported a full beard. I had a date in Des Moines one cold -20 degree night, which was a 70 mile trek. I found that if I covered my nose with the left paw, it would cut down upon the amount of frost buildup on the inside of the windshield. When I got to the nice ladies home, she remarked upon meeting me at the front door: "And just who in the Hell are you; Admiral Bird?" Her vestibule mirror revealed that I had ice sickles hanging from my mustache. At least she had a sense of humor. Dolman 05-24-2011 @ 11:39 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: Dec 2010 Another cold weather story: On the morning of January 13 this year on a trip from Kenai to Florida, I stepped out of a motel in Watson Lake, Yukon and was slapped by 63 below with no wind. I had plugged in the block heater for the truck (09 GMC 3/4))so it started just fine. But when I put it in reverse after a 20 minute warm up, it was sluggish in responding. The power steering took all of the power I could muster. Drove a few blocks to a restaurant for breakfast and left the truck running. About 25 miles east of Watson Lake I noticed that the engine temperature had risen to about 245 degrees and the oil pressure was low. Drove slowly back to Watson Lake and put the truck in a shop there. Opened the hood and found that the dipstick had blown out and of course there was oil all over that side of the engine and firewall. Diagnosis: Dexcool coolant turns to gel below -34 and won't circulate in the radiator. Crankcase vent had also frozen shut. It took 4 hours for a Herman Nelson heater to warm the truck enough to clear the vent. Remedy: The mechanic installed what he called a North Dakota thermostat which is a big piece of cardboard wired to the grill. It worked well and I left in on until I saw temperatures above -30 which happened in southern Wisconsin if I remember correctly. wmsteed 05-25-2011 @ 8:37 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 613 Joined: Oct 2009 In the dark dim past, the automobiles were not quite up to the level they are now, people had to rely on themselves in lieu of Triple A and jumper cables. It was very common for the average driver to carry a "winter front", to cover the grille, in the car, especially if the car was driven on rural roads in the dead of winter. I still have a winter front for my '36 Ford which I have owned since 1952. On the subject of South Wind heaters; I know that hot water heaters are not correct for Fords prior to '39, however, there were lots of after-market hot water heaters that were sold by Western Auto, Sears and Montgumery Wards. The plumbing into the carb seemed to always cause problems with the South Winds.. My '36 has a '39 Ford heater in it which was there when I bought the car. Since the car is native to Eastern Idaho, I wonder what they did for heat during the three year prior to Ford coming out with the '39 heater.? I guess the driver and passenger just bundled up. I know that's what we did in my dads '34 Ford prior to WWII. Bill 36 5 win delx cpe

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