Turning up the Heat

After a couple years of lost focus, I'm starting to make progress again. One area that I've been undecided about has been Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). One main decision to make is whether to use the original heater core and A/C evaporator and blower fans or to go with an aftermarket unit. The other is whether to add cabin heat at all. I know I want/need A/C but in Southern California do I really need heat? I didn't add heat to the silver CSE and Alex has been complaining about how cold it gets.

I made a list of pros and cons for and against the stock heater/ac and in the end decided on aftermarket. And heat. I also decided I'd add heat to the silver car, which will further delay my build.

I used the Restomod Air Vapir 2S in the silver car. They've since come out with the Vapir 3S, which has floor heating and better defroster duct design. We're also using that unit in Sam's customer build but Brett said the trans tunnel had to be modified to make it fit so I was hesitant. I borrowed Sam's unit and it turns out that it fits just fine without any major modifications so all three CSEs will have Restomod Air Vapir units now.

The Vapir 3S unit fits just perfectly under the dash and above the trans tunnel

I got a couple used EV heaters from some Coda EVs. Never heard of them? Me either. They were ugly little cars, sold in 2013. Only 117 units were sold and I have three of their heaters. But the heaters are fairly small and easy to control. They use a 12v pulse-width-modulated signal for controlling the heat level and 400v DC power from the Tesla pack to do the actual heating. They don't heat the air -- they heat water -- so I got a couple Bosch water pumps that are also PWM speed controlled. I still need a fill tank, along with hoses connected to the heater core in the Vapir unit.

Coda heaters and Bosch water pumps for cabin heating

The good news is, the blend door in the Vapir will allow fine-grained control over the cabin temperature and humidity by blending air over the heater core and/or the A/C evaporator, according the temperature slider on the stock heater control panel.

Now I need to solve a whole new set of problems:

Defroster ducts
Center dash ducts
Control integration
Heater and pump location
Heater water fill tank and location
Glovebox modification
PWM control for heater element and water pump

I've already got 3D models for the dash ducts from the silver car.

3D printed adapter for dash vents to Vapir dash ducts

I've started modeling the defroster ducts in cardboard and then CAD. But I might just cut up my original ducts. I can't decide. The rest will come....