Heater set up/plumbing

[dgrinnan]

I am adding a heater to my 47 WC 1/2 ton.  It appears it never had one.  The engine is not the original.  It is 218 from a 53 Plymouth.  Same engine as the 47 but not the original.  It has some weird set up for the heater hoses. It has an extra cast spacer under the goose neck from the engine to radiator that has a heater hose nipple. Circled in RED.  It has the standard heater hose nipple on the top of the water pump. I temporarily stuck the hose loop on there to close the system.  The top of the engine at the rear has a pipe plug where you would normally have the heater hose return line.  (I have ordered a 90 degree nipple to replace the plug).  I can't remove the extra piece and drop the goose neck down to the top of the engine because then the hose feed into the front of the goose neck won't line up.  The yellow arrow.  I guess I could try to source a new goose neck that doesn't have that extra nipple.  Right now my plan is to cap off the one nipple and run the hoses in a typical configuration.  I didn't know if anyone had any insight as to what is going on here.  The other problem is the two nipples are larger than the standard 5/8 heater hose that fits the heater lines and nipple at the rear of the engine.  I will have to come up with a reducer I can put in the line leaving the front nipple and connecting to the heater intake.

[Ivan_B]

Not sure if they had several different setups, etc., but here is what my 201 looks like.

[Los_Control]

Same as Ivan here also. I do not understand the spacers ... what there purpose is?

 

 

 

 

 

I have my heater out right now, so just looping back to the block from the T-stat housing. ... I also added a flushing T in the heater hose ... convenient place to have one.

I threw in a gate valve which is very ugly ... but it works until I can find a valve more sexy looking.

 

[dgrinnan]

On both of yours you only have a spacer.  Mine has an extra outlet nipple? Some other set ups I have seen there is no short hose connection between the goose neck and the top of the water pump. They just have a feed to the bottom of the radiator and the heater hose. Without that short hose connection the spacer could be removed because you don't need to worry about the two outlets aligning.

Edited November 19, 2023 by dgrinnan

[Los_Control]

Do you have a spacer also on top of the water pump? Just saying, I have no spacers, The T-stat housing is 1 piece, same with the bypass unit.

 

All you need is to use the extra outlet to add a nipple & run it to the heater .... then a valve on the back of the block for the other side of the heater.

 

[kencombs]

Your pic seems to show 2 spacers, one under the 'stat housing and 1 on top of the water pump?   If that's the case you can remove both and the bypass hose should line up.

 

Then the rear of the head will get a heater control valve and the return side does to the water pump.

[kencombs]

16 minutes ago, dgrinnan said:

On both of yours you only have a spacer.  Mine has an extra outlet nipple? Some other set ups I have seen there is no short hose connection between the goose neck and the top of the water pump. They just have a feed to the bottom of the radiator and the heater hose. Without that short hose connection the spacer could be removed because you don't need to worry about the two outlets aligning.

That configuration is used on those engines that have an internal bypass.   That one has a little 'bump out' on the front of the head that covers a matching hole in the block.

[dgrinnan]

On mine, there is no spacer on top of the water pump. It appears the best solution would be to locate a spacer that fits between the top of the engine and goose neck that does not have the heater hose nipple.  Short of that I will just cap it off with heater bypass cap.

Edited November 20, 2023 by dgrinnan

[Ivan_B]

56 minutes ago, dgrinnan said:

On mine, there is no spacer on top of the water pump.

Isn't that the picture of your car? The water pump spacer is where the hose is coming from. In fact, you have your loop hose connected to both spacers. You can remove these to make a stock heater setup

[dgrinnan]

Now I see it. I had to keep looking at it.  It finally sunk in.  You are talking about adding a connection where there is currently a pipe plug, eliminating both the current nipples. I couldn't figure out how I was suppose to feed the heater hose without the nipple on that spacer.   That would also solve my problem of the existing nipples being larger that my heater connections.   

[Ivan_B]

This is it. It looks like you just need to find a 45-degree pipe with the correct thread to go into the top hole, and a 90-degree heater valve to go into the back of the head

The setup on my car is OEM. Not sure why you have the nipples setup around the thermostat on your engine, right now. The coolant will circulate the same, either way, but it is somewhat strange to have the nipple in a spacer under the goose neck if you have a plug with the "heater" sign next to it at the back of the head. The same goes for the second nipple spacer above the water pump, while there is an unused pipe plug right above it.

 

Maybe some of these heaters were universal, for different engines?

[dgrinnan]

The engine did come out of a 53 Plymouth. Hard telling what the setup was.  

[tanda62]

Here is what I did on my 53 B4C that eliminated the spacer.  Works great and one less place to worry about leaking.

 

 

[dgrinnan]

Now that I have it straight in my head, that is the set up I am going to go with.  Remove both spacers, add a fitting to the top of the water pump and the rear of the engine. 

[Los_Control]

I would think that will work fine for you.

Grandpa had a 1952 Plymouth Suburban that had a extra heater under the drivers seat. I imagine some might have a heater in the rear of a station wagon or a panel van.

I had a 1958 chebby panel with a rear heater.

 

Just wondering if those spacers are part of a rear heater package .... to supply extra lines for a extra heater?

iirc, Grandpa's suburban had T's in the heater hoses ..... looked pretty sloppy.

[Ivan_B]

51 minutes ago, dgrinnan said:

Remove both spacers, add a fitting to the top of the water pump and the rear of the engine.

Here are the parts you need:

 

[dgrinnan]

I just bought two. One for the top of the water pump and one for the back of the engine.  You can shop around and find them cheaper or 3 times as much but they are all the same.

 

You can find it here on Amazon or just google heater hose fitting for a ton of options.  You want the one that is 1/2 inch thread with a 5/8 inch outlet to the heater hose

Heater Hose Fitting

[9 foot box]

   My fittings are 3/8” NPT. 84728-45*, 84775-90*

[kencombs]

Those fittings are available straight, 45 and 90deg, and in brass, which I recommend.   The steel ones will rust and the cheaper ones are way too thin to be long lasting.

 

eBay, Amazon or local parts place should have (or be able to order) them.

[dgrinnan]

I took another look at mine. It is also 3/8 pipe thread to 5/8 heater hose. 

 

Heater hose fitting

[dgrinnan]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.  I was able to get my heater setup.  

[Ivan_B]

Looks right, now. Quick question: why did you decide to install a separate valve (and now have 2 extra joints in your system) when you could just use an OEM valve straight out of the back of the head? I know that this is not an airplane or a space ship, and your setup will work just as good. However, the OEM setup just seems more elegant, without the unnecessary clutter under the hood

Edited November 23, 2023 by Ivan_B

[dgrinnan]

It gave me the option to install a cable control inside the cab for turning heater flow on and off as needed.

[Ivan_B]

Oh, I did not realize this was a cable-operated valve, this makes sense, then. Shouldn't the valve be hard-mounted to something in this case, though, for reliable operation?

[nonstop]

I have the same valve.  It has an integral clamp for the cable.  It works well actually.