Hi everyone, I've done a bit of research about installing a parking heater under the pass seat like everyone's doing with our NCV3 sister ships, but I haven't seen any dedicated write-ups about doing it. Some people argue that it's not possible because of the frame bar that passes under that area, or because of exhaust clearance restrictions.
I thought I would share my experience with this so far. I have managed to mount a parking heater under my passenger seat, and will keep updating this thread as my experience continues.
If you take off the passenger seat, and remove the rubberized mat that may be in place, you'll see a drainage depression in place under your seat. In this depression is a plugged drain hole. I opened this hole and shined a light through it. I measured a couple inches forward and to the right of this hole as my approximate location for the penetrations for my heater. I climbed under with a light shining through the hole to look for the light.
What I found was that there is a heat shield in place which makes accessing this area difficult, but with the removal of one torx screw, it can be bent out of the way. The area above the shield is directly inboard of one of the frame supports and directly aft of another. I measured out where my clearance was from the drain hole with light coming through it, and applied my template from above.
https://i.postimg.cc/gkMP4BDt/Template.jpg
Then I drilled some pilot holes with a stepper bit, and used a metal cutting tip on a dremel to widen the holes, making sure that I wasn't about to grind or drill through the frame members. It ended up being close, but I had some space.
https://i.postimg.cc/15RQGZpN/Holes.jpg
The heater went in to place with a little wiggling and convincing.
https://i.postimg.cc/J0xCfTWn/Heater-in-Place.jpg
Then I crawled under again, and sealed and secured the intake hose, bolts, and exhaust. The fuel line is currently capped, and will be routed to a new standpipe in the fuel tank, once I've run my fuel low enough to safely lower the tank. I then bent the heat shield back and bolted it down.
https://i.postimg.cc/qBxr67CT/Underneath.jpg
What I will say, is while all of this is possible with that heat shield bent out of the way, it is really tight in there. Working with larger hands will make it tough, and you'll want lots of extensions for your ratchet. The fuel and combustion air intake lines in my installation run over the heat shield and exhaust, and i'm wrapping them in reflective coating just to be sure they wont melt on me.
I'll keep this thread updated as I continue work. Next to come will be the installation of a fuel pickup in the main tank, wiring, and testing everything over the course of its use.
I thought I would share my experience with this so far. I have managed to mount a parking heater under my passenger seat, and will keep updating this thread as my experience continues.
If you take off the passenger seat, and remove the rubberized mat that may be in place, you'll see a drainage depression in place under your seat. In this depression is a plugged drain hole. I opened this hole and shined a light through it. I measured a couple inches forward and to the right of this hole as my approximate location for the penetrations for my heater. I climbed under with a light shining through the hole to look for the light.
What I found was that there is a heat shield in place which makes accessing this area difficult, but with the removal of one torx screw, it can be bent out of the way. The area above the shield is directly inboard of one of the frame supports and directly aft of another. I measured out where my clearance was from the drain hole with light coming through it, and applied my template from above.
https://i.postimg.cc/gkMP4BDt/Template.jpg
Then I drilled some pilot holes with a stepper bit, and used a metal cutting tip on a dremel to widen the holes, making sure that I wasn't about to grind or drill through the frame members. It ended up being close, but I had some space.
https://i.postimg.cc/15RQGZpN/Holes.jpg
The heater went in to place with a little wiggling and convincing.
https://i.postimg.cc/J0xCfTWn/Heater-in-Place.jpg
Then I crawled under again, and sealed and secured the intake hose, bolts, and exhaust. The fuel line is currently capped, and will be routed to a new standpipe in the fuel tank, once I've run my fuel low enough to safely lower the tank. I then bent the heat shield back and bolted it down.
https://i.postimg.cc/qBxr67CT/Underneath.jpg
What I will say, is while all of this is possible with that heat shield bent out of the way, it is really tight in there. Working with larger hands will make it tough, and you'll want lots of extensions for your ratchet. The fuel and combustion air intake lines in my installation run over the heat shield and exhaust, and i'm wrapping them in reflective coating just to be sure they wont melt on me.
I'll keep this thread updated as I continue work. Next to come will be the installation of a fuel pickup in the main tank, wiring, and testing everything over the course of its use.
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