Hi all, I made an appt to take the car in have oil fumes inside car when pull heater knob. The porsche mechanic said probably have oil dripping on the 3-4 foot long heat exchangers and inside for years built up. He said on VWs they usually replace them are they available for 914s. If not available he said he may be able to bring them to a radiator shop and have them cleaned out. I need some guidance, opinions and suggestions on this project.

It is not uncommon for oil to pool in the heat exchangers and then when the exchangers get hot the fumes can blow into the cabin when the heater is turned on.

I am sure you can find good condition heat exchangers in the Classifieds here if your exchangers were in bad shape. Or if not bad, having them boiled out by a radiator shop seems like a good way to approach the problem. After almost 46 years, boiling them out seems very reasonable. I would also check to make sure your heater flappers are functioning properly as well as having all of the blower hoses connected in the system.

To make life easier for either you or the shop, I would start spraying the heat exchanger fasteners, all of them, with some form of penetrating oil for a good week before you take the car into the shop or attempt to remove them yourself. Spray them daily for the week and then hope they come loose easily and with no drama.

Good luck and above all have fun and enjoy your car.

He is probably correct. Pull all the heat tin and have it cleaned. If it is really bad it may have blown all the way to the flapper boxes and flex tubes.

if no leaks from the header pipes to HE box, just clean them. Used HE usually range between $250 to $350.

And 74 1.8 heat exchangers are unique. They have larger tubes than 1.7. Hard to find any solid heat exchangers. Oily ones usually have less rust.
I do have a clean refinished set of them and refinished tin. See what they want to dip all of the parts.

Where are you finding HE for that price ? Auto Atlanta and Others $850 each side $1700 !
Should have said "Stainless Steel" but why would you replace them without going Stainless ?

Thanks for that information............yes am enjoying, just can't use heater later when the cold gets here. Right now have the top off all the time and use my car cover to cover the inside when not in use, am driving it top off to and from work 3 times a week.

I totally agree with top off driving. I really think it makes the car so much more enjoyable. Of course here in CA it's easy to pull that off.

This time of year I can keep it off for one/two months. We have a carport at work I pull under for the 5 hours I am there from 5 am to 10 am. We get very cold mornings in Dec, Jan, feb, march to unless I wear a thick coat will travel with top on. I MIGHT just do the thick coat, will try that. Made an appt to take the car in Nov 2 but will have to drive one hour to get it there

I used to drive mine to work and back with the top always off. Then I got older and colder...

I helped install a set of new Dansk heat exchangers recently and was not impressed. The openings for the warm air elbows are too small and we had to modify the elbows to fit.

The tubes do not seal as well to the heads because of the thinner tubes.

local member’s list on craigslist

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/d/f...7172902488.html

Bruce are these 1.7 or 1.8 HE on Craigslist? Looks like small pipes?

1.7/1.8 the same
seller member here and lives in Orange county

I have a set of 74 1.8 heat exchangers, that have been ceramic coated, if you need them, I would be willing to let the go at a reasonable price.
The ceramic coating itself costs 20.00

PM if you are interested