anthony1956 Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 I'm being poached alive like a lobster. ish. I disconnected the heater pipes from the engine area (ie the hot water) BUT there is still hot air coming on to my legs and 5 hours is very unpleasant - which I face tomorrow. I wonder whether (a) it is as daft as switching the heater fan off (desperate thoughts that it might be on) or (b) whether there is some easy way of blocking the hot air flow to the footwell. To provide an idea of the problem: I wore shorts and discovered the blast of hot (too hot to remain still) air onto my ankles. Help please. If there is no reply here by 12 noon GB time I'd appreciate a text message to 0041 795 669 857 if you have a solution - very happy to call you back if it's not a text length solution.. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Locust Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 It sounds like your cable needs adjusting to make sure the valve closes. Work the control to aquiant yourself with which way the lever on th valve is on/off (push in closed/cold pull out open/hot). Then loosen the clamp on the outer part of the cable at the valveand make sure it is fully closed. I adjusted mine so that the lever still sticks out 1/8" when closed - just to make sure the valve is fully shut 😬 Even on a hot day the blower on cold is better than nothing - especially with shorts on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Locust Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Just noticed that you have disconnected the pipes - so where have they gone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 I hate to ask this: what lever? I should have said this is a 1987 1700 BDR De-dion back end and crossflow front end. Cosworth lump. Apparently. (wow! this site is amazing as ever, I posted afew mins ago and there's been your reply and 9 browses.) Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Locust Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 What style of heater is it? Mines '02 fresh air type (plastic) but I could look in the tony weale book if you describe it a bit better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 ah the pipes. I joined them one to the other...so the hot water can go back into the block and stay away from me; for what good it did. I'm trying to imagine where there could be a lever or knob ... the heater has a switch.. but a lever, now THAT is what is missing.. cool air you say? I'd dearly like to know how to get cool air - I've had dreams of drilling holes in the side of the car! Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 the heater is a rectangular black box that sits on the bulkhead shelf just inside the bonnet. About 4" hight 18" long (across the car) and same width as the shelf, 12" say. Has a round device on top and exit and entry points for water pipes (the ones I disconnected). trying to think I MAY have a picture if that would help? anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Locust Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Anthony the late type heater draws air through louvres at the back of the bonnet just under the front of the windscreen. There is a bypass type valve in the hose which means that the hot water can be diverted past the heater core rather than through. Therefore you can set it to blow 'cold' or at least ambient air. Is yours a recirculating type which draws air from in the car, warms it then blows it out again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 no such louvres here.. 1987 vintage (says my v5) I was wondering whether to lift the heater and block whatever holes I find underneath.. with socks or anything I can find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Locust Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Anthony I just had a quick mooch in the tony weale and john tipler caterham/lotus books. On the back of the weale book is a picture of a x/f car with the bonnet off and a heater fitted 😬 It looks like an old style smiths recirculating heater which draws the intake air from the cockpit rather from outside. In which case you are unlikely to get much fresh air in to the footwells unless you drill large holes in the side of the car ❗ I had a similar setup on my Locust. The only thing you could do on that car was fan on/off. There was no heater water valve fitted at all but it didn't matter as it stopped heating with the fan off i.e. no natural airflow without the fan. Sounds a bit like you'll have to fry - sorry can't help. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 my guess, based on knowing the engine bay, is that it reciruclates air from within.. there's nowehere else it can be taking it from or I would have seen it - having cleaned every lil bit in the engine bay and transmission tunnel intimately during its last rebuild. The only area I didn't really nose into (literally) was the feet area of each footwell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 well maybe you did help. if the only control is the fan switch - maybe I've got the b****r switched on... :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_E Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 I'll quote from an old posting I did regarding this kind of problem, it may help. "There's more to this problem than just sticky valves, the heat from the pipes will still get past across to the heater over any reasonable length of time and will heat the cockpit. Closing the plastic bits at the front of the heater doesn't stop all the hot air coming out as well, you need to cover the two venting holes that go into the footwell. I've used some thin ali blanking plates to slip under the heater and cover these holes for the summer time and will remove for the winter. It works a treat, no more bloody hot legs on sunny days and less heat and fumes when the hoods up." The blanking plates take care of the two holes into the footwell that can't be closed and thus keep the heat out over long trips. Hope it helps C7 MLE The Furry Fast Car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 If you have the older type of heater (the flat black box) then the heater control valve is/was an optional extra. it takes the form of a quadrant with a cable coming from it to a push/pull knob somewhere under the dash. many Xflows simply had the pipes running straight to and from it, so on all the time, with only the elctric fan to slow down the amount of heat. One thing you lose if you disconnect the heater is the the facility to cool the engine in traffic by putting on the heater. Its not pleasant on a hot day to have to turn on the heater, but sometimes its a choice of a bit of discomfort or an overheated (and problably stopped) engine and a sit at the side of the road. Heaters on the newer cars draw in fresh air from a separate set of louvres positioned at the back end of the bonnet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 On this earlier type of heater there will always be hot water in the matrix. The valve does shut of the constant flow of water but that does not affect the flow of hot air into the car. The water will eventually cool but I have always experienced some hot air even if the valve is closed maybe due to some back movement of water. The later types have a facility which allows fresh unheated air to flow into the car. The easiest route is to by pass the matrix by joining the two pipes inside the engine compartment but as mentioned earlier this takes away the option of using the heater as a method of cooling. I did this on my x flow for the recent trip to Le Mans where the ambient temp was well above 25C. The engine did not run as cool as before but my legs are not well cooked either. I have a fan over ride switch fitted which means that I dont have to wait until the temp rises to begin cooling. In my opion this facility is a must particularly on an x flow. I often turn on the fan just before arriving in traffic after a reasonable blast. If you have already dis connected the pipes then the only culprit can be radiated heat from the engine. Not much that you can do about that other than cover the exhaust with special bandage but there will still be heat from the engine. Run Baby Run does it really have anything less than full throttle Edited by - John E on 4 Jul 2003 08:43:34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Mupferit Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 I used to have the recirculating type heater with the optional 'Valve'. I say valve in the loosest possible sense of the word as even when fully closed it still allowed a not insubstantial flow of water through it. If you don't believe me take yours off the car and just blow through it with it shut! I eventually fitted a quality ball valve in the circuit which although it meant lifting the bonnet to turn on, at least I still had the facility for additional cooling. I now have the fresh air type with by-pass valve and although the valve does what it is supposed to, there is still hot air blasting into the footwells I would go with Michael E's suggestion and blank off the opening Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 4, 2003 Author Share Posted July 4, 2003 the ally blanking plates sound like the ticket to me. I'm off now. Thanks to everyone - maybe I won't be poached this weekend. Happy blatting - I'm off to St Moritz to meet 57 of us :-) wahay! Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normans_Ghost Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 I had the same problem, cured by insulating bulkhead & transmission tunnel with cooltape, but to do properly it's engine & gearbox out job. norman verona 1989 BDR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old captain slow Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 Best way in my view is take the heater out and blank off the hole! 😬 C7 CDW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1956 Posted July 8, 2003 Author Share Posted July 8, 2003 yes taking blanking the heater hole sounds good to me, though I'll keep the heater in for later (when it's below zero here I have the opposite problem which is why I didn't notice it until the summer came!) I also fancy the bulhead insulation idea - though where I can get cool tape I haven't the feintest.. (that's a cue btw) ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallibut Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 For those of us with pre pedal box cars (1986?), the worst culprit is hot engine air coming through the gaps in the rubber sheeting that the pedals hang through. Anybody thought of a neat way of stopping this flow? I have a rubber sheet blocking off the heater vents in the scuttle but at 70mph the gale is still enough to inflate my trouser legs Martin The Layham Seven Project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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