Keeping your car warm in the winter

[LukeZ]

hey everybody,

I am looking for an efficient way to keep my car warm in the winter. My 86 Elco is a daily driver to school and work. I live in Delaware, and in January and February, it can get down to like 8 degrees. During the night, I keep my car in the garage with the heat on, because my dog sleeps in there too, so my car starts up and warms up pretty good in the mornings. My deal is that I hate sitting in a block of ice for 10 minutes while both my enigne and cab heat up after the car has been sitting in the parking lot for 8 or more hours.

I want to know if anyone has this set up, or thinks it's a good idea.

I was thinking of buying a sunshade for my car, except that it has cheap solar panels built into it. These panels would power a small 6 volt heater or something for the duration of time that my car is in the parking lot. Anyone have something like this, and if you do, could you tell me what items you bought and where you bought them? Thanks

 

[pontiacgp]

Buy a warm coat

 

[jeremyandthemonte]

Buy a warm coat

Oh we got a joker here 😛 your best bet is what pontiacgp said with a few blankets in there or get one of those plug in car heaters and plug it in while you sit.

 

[pontiacgp]

I live in a colder climate than what you have and I don't have anything to keep the Jeep warm while it sits. When I was real young I drove an MGB in the winter and that had almost no heater in it....then there was my Volks 411 that only gave me heat once, when it caught fire

 

[ssn696]

Bun warmer. You have to take the upholstery off the driver's seat, but there are aftermarket seat heater kits. Sheepskins work great, too.
Can't do anything about the steering wheel. Block heater, if you have a free plugin at work - fire up the heater and the car is warm right away.

Keep in mind that the razz was from Canada. That's INDUSTRIAL cold up there.

 

[565bbchevy]

I have installed a few of the seat warmers and they work well and will even heat up leather seats, the ones I have used cost around a $100 and have 2 heat elements and a 3 way switch you do have to pull the upholstery back and some basic wiring but well worth the effort
As already stated you could also get a ceramic 12 volt heater that plugs in that will heat up right away.

 

[pontiacgp]

do you have the choke, heat riser and efe set up in your car?

 

[Blake442]

8* sounds warm for January! lol

If you start driving instead of just sitting there, the car warms up faster.
Both El Camino's I had I would fire up, let run long enough for the idle speed to drop, and go.
A mile down the road I'd have to crack the window because it'd be so warm.

They also sell cheapo heated slip-on seat covers that plug into your lighter for like $20.

 

[LukeZ]

Thanks for the opinions guys. And while I'm thinking about it, my dash vents don't work for my heater (or AC, for that matter). I know this is info for another thread, but does anyone know how to fix this? Air only comes out underneath the dash and from the defrost vents. That's it. If it's a vacuum line, where would I find it at?

 

[Pontiac455]

Make sure yer heater hoses are hooked to the water pump and the intake instead of going to the rad. Ya get the warm coolant from the engine circulating through the core.