Installed a Diesel Parking Heater in my M813 and it works...so far.
I went with an 8KW Voyocht, 12 Volt for a few reasons. First it's all metal construction, most of these are made of plastic. Second, the kit came with parts I would have had to purchase separately and finally it had fewer negative comments than the others I was considering.
Installed it in the driver's side Tool box, which I had to remove from the truck as it's winter here and all I have for shelter is a tent. Bolted a shelf in the box so the unit would sit about an inch from the top.
The construction part of the manual was less instructive and more intuitive, just a picture. But to their credit there was no way to mess up the wiring harness, each component had a unique plug. Rigged the power directly to my 12V , 30 amp inverter. The unit comes with a 20 amp inline fuse. The control LCD will be velcroid to the dash between the throttle and ignition, over that pesky alarm sign warning of low brake pressure.
Attached the 5 liter tank to the front face of the bed opposite the cab, this is a temporary installation as the kit comes with a main tank fuel pick up penetrator that I'll install when I replace the old tank sometime this year. Ran the fuel line and wiring harness through remnant of airhose to protect them from chaffing where they run through metal surfaces. Eventually the cabin air will be recirculated through the unit, have all the holes drilled, just need to run the ducting. Drilled the holes with a bi-metal keyhole saw, snapped three HSS bits.
The heated air ducting penetrates the cab just above the high beam dimmer switch. Had to reorient this to allow for the ducting while not obstructing the clutch pedal. From here the first stop is a T fitting with two valves, one penetrating the firewall and the other to cabin heat and defroster. With the cabin heat valve closed and the engine bay valve open I can preheat the engine bay. Opened the hood to see if it was working and got a blast of hot air. Will still have to rig up an insulated blanket to cover the hood and sides and experiment to see if it's worth the effort.
The cabin heat-box is made up of a T fitting attached to a Y fitting with built in valves on the legs. Mounted it to the lip under the dash so as not to interfere with shifting, yet still have access to the valve knobs.
The defrost valve is controlled by a push-pull rod cobbled together with all thread and a lawn mower throttle linkage...it aint pretty, but it works.
Used too much ducting to the defrost input under the dash, will have to take it in some, only get a little heat on the passenger side. May have to install a variable speed fan here, things to think about.
But, hey the cab heats up fast, even with the ducting uninsulated. Can't take her on the road right now for a test drive, need to caulk some seams and make the door windows tight and get her inspected and rebuild the parking brake and patch a hole in the exhaust and buy 7 new tires and wheels and....
Didn't have the instructions for the first test, but was able to prime the pump and start the unit. Only downside is everything is in Celsius.















