I live in Thailand and for some reason they do not have a heater in the pickups here.

It gets pretty nippy here in the winter and I have to have the aircon on to keep the windows from fogging up. It is even colder in the mountains where my MIL lives.

Does anyone know where to get aftermarket heaters and how much of a pain it would be to add them?

 

I suspect you could add the factory heating system without much trouble, you would need a heater core and 8-10 feet of 1/2" rubber tubing and possibly a water pump if the one on your truck doesn't have the extra port for it.

 

I forgot to mention this is a diesel.

Will this still work?

 

should work. Diesels have bypass ports which can be used for heat taps. be advised diesels take (relatively) forever to warm up.

 

The old standby JCWhitney/Warshawski used to list aftermarket heaters. Some would mount under the front seat, others on the transmission tunnel underneath the dashboard. They required two things to operate: source & return coolant lines, and power to a blower motor. I have not looked at their current offerings.
If you have the plenum and ducting for ventilation, you may only need to plumb in a heater core. The older models could have the heater core replaced by removing a panel from the assembly that was above and behind the glove box.
You could make up your own heater with a heater core, sheet metal and a blower. I would plumb in a shutoff valve for warmer seasons.
tom

 

J. C. Whitney lists an electric heater (RUGGED RIDGE HEATER) that may do what you want. It looks like installation would be much easier that trying to hook up a water heater. Since you have a diesel that is slow to warm up, an electric heater would give you almost instant heat and probably give you enough heat for your needs. If you encounter below 0 (F) degree temps, this may not meet your needs. By the way, the unit is priced at $99 plus shipping.

JCW also lists HEATER CRAFT HEATER KITS FOR ON-ROAD & OFF-ROAD VEHICLES. This unit is a self contained water "powered" heater that would produce a lot more heat. It is also much more expensive: $300 to $350.

At the other end of the spectrum JCW lists a cig. lighter plug-in model, KOOL VUE UNIVERSAL HEATER for $27 that would probably produce less heat.

Several options to consider.

Good luck

 

Thanks for all the replies guys.

It sounds like the $99 electric version may be the easiest and the quickest to warm up so that is what I am going to try first.

We only need heat a couple of months a year but it sure would be nice for those two months and definetly worth a couple hundred bucks to get.

 

I was in Thailand about 40 years ago, along with several other countries. I would have thought you would have locals that make up 'stuff' for situations like this all the time. Someone in the sheet metal business that can bend some sheet and fit a blower and stuff in a heater core from a Nissan pickup. I have see things fabricated out of tin cans and beer bottle caps, so to speak. There are some inventive souls there.
I would think shipping and duty and 'delay' would make a local product a lot more appealing. What you get from JC Whitney in Chicago would likely have come from almost next door in PRC or perhaps Korea or Taiwan. Go half way round the world, and come right back.
Does your truck have a plenum and vents and blower? Or is it bare of anything? I would have thought it would have had some sort of ventilation system as I remember things getting pretty hot and steamy in the warmer months.
tom

 

My truck has a aircon that has a blower.

I went to several auto repair places to see if i could get a heater from a ford car added to my truck or any other solution. They all just said "can not, can not".

I will check to see if i can import a cab heater from china.