Doors open or closed

Being a career-long direct drive cleaner, being able to close up the van during the winter and in sketchy neighborhoods has been valuable. The question I have is "can you close up a slide-in"?

I realize that many of them are air cooled motors, so they would naturally be operated with an open van, but can they be supplied with air flow externally while the van was closed up? Porsche and VW ran aircooled up until the addition of turbos and never had over-heat issues with proper air scoops, so can it be done with an air-cooled TM.

Then there are the liquid-cooled machines...do they need to run with the vans open? Can't they survive in a closed environment as long some fresh air is being pulled into the space or is it a heat issue?

I guess I am just trying to educate myself on these units and maybe find out if they must be open, has anyone thought about designing a fresh air draw source that would allow full closure or an externally mounted radiator?

I remember driving a customer's Pantera back as a kid and that had the motor in the back seat with external radiator. Besides being ridiculously fast, even to a kid, it handled the heat fine. Maybe I am way off base here??    

no you should not run a slide with with all the doors shut

Is it the heat issue then?

Heat is the issue.

liquid cooled needs to draw cool air thru radiator. If it gets too hot in the van the engine temperature can rise to high.
How do l know this, l have done it.
Luckily a thermo cut out on engine and no damage done. Opened the door started up again and all good.
It was a warm day, l have closed the doors in winter with no problems.

Okay, so it is the heat that is the problem. Couldn't a remote radiator be set up outside the vehicle then? I like that you have closed them up in the winter...that is my main concern, but it would seem possible to relocate the cooling system to make it work in the summer too.

At first, I was thinking that the heat would be damaging for the pump, blower, and belts if closed up, but there are many mounts with kerosene/diesel burners just inches from those parts aren't there? Well, that might be a bad idea as well.

Thanks for the answers gang, I was mostly concerned with winter cleaning, but if it can be closed up on the frigid days then it isn't a problem for me.

My TNT is mounted in the rear with the hose reel next to it, not the side as is normally seen. It would be very difficult to climb over or around with this setup. I know I can't. I can and do keep my side doors locked if I have any concerns about the neighborhood. I haven't had any heat issues with just the back doors open.

Pro Touch wrote:My TNT is mounted in the rear with the hose reel next to it, not the side as is normally seen. It would be very difficult to climb over or around with this setup. I know I can't. I can and do keep my side doors locked if I have any concerns about the neighborhood. I haven't had any heat issues with just the back doors open.

I don't see that very much...any photos of that set-up? Does it place too much weight in the back set-up like that instead of mid-van?

I am actually negotiating on a judson right now, so this mount location is interesting.

The doors need to stay open. Unless, like you said Rob, you rig up some kind of external radiator for cooling, but that sure seems like a lot of work.

I think what I would do if I had a water cooled eng and wanted to keep doors closed, I'd.......

Put a pop-out window in the side door (if the TM was facing out side door lets say), the kind you see in the passenger vans. And then add a fan to front of radiator to help pull in fresh air threw the small window opening. I wouldn't do this with an air-cooled engine tho, although you may be able to get away with it in a cold climate like yours, in the winter months, which it sounds like what you're really after. Obviously because the lower the ambient temp is the lower temp the eng is going to run......but if I tried this with an air-cooled eng, I would closely monitor engine temps until you're sure it's not over-heating.   

I've got a 3/4 ton chevy long wheelbase van and I don't notice the weight. The TNT only weighs around 550 lbs empty. Even with the waste tank filled I haven't seen any sag in the suspension or noticed any difference in the handling. I'll have to go take some pictures for you.

I see your point Davey, I'm just concerned for next winter with using a slide-in and want to think it through before I decide to change machines. I don't think an external radiator would be too tough to rig up, I've installed them beneath vehicles, in the rear of vehicles, and even up on the roof for some rally cars back in the 80's. Like I mentioned, those Panteras didn't have heat issues running a 351 cleaveland with an external radiator, so how much more would a blower and pump really generate? Now the fumes and odors were a different story.

Looking forward to those photos PT, you have me really liking that rear mount idea as I never really liked the side door mount all that much and still prefer to run my hoses out the back on my Butler.

Just took this.

You could set a van with slide in TM to run with doors closed, but it's a lot of work.
1You have the engine exhaust to deal with, you can't breath it and your engine want run on it. So that has to be vented through floor.
2 You have to have fresh air coming in the front of motor air or liquid cooled fresh air for running and cooling.
3 Exhaust air to expel the hot air inside the van.
I know this because I setup a trailer once with a Boxxer 427 inside. Put through the floor kit in. 10 X 12 in vent in the side door 10 in power vent on the other side of the trailer.
Then two power vents camper style in the top. To test it I filled the trailer with smoke using a hot fogger then shut the door it was exchanging all the air every 3 min. Put through the door kits in the side of the van for vac/sol hoses. And the unit ran fine. But as I said a lot of work.

Pro Touch wrote:Just took this.

I like it, there is now way anyone is going crawl through that opening. Where do you run your solution lines or do you not run a live reel?

I don't run a live reel. You can see the line on the left door. 150 ft of Scheiffer and then 75 ft of neptune (it was brand new and I didn't want to throw it out) if needed. I just uncoil the hose, take it in and whatever is left over coil and kick under the back of the van. I know, not very high tech, but I read somewhere else here that I think applies. Stupid Simple.

That does sound like a lot of work ACE, I guess I am inviting too much of a headache with those plans. At least I have the year to think about it before the next winter....if this one ever ends as it is 1 degree out here today.