Woohoo!! Reassembly starts!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MoreCubes

That's because it's downhill on the way home Mark

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Lol!

Cold last Sunday for the Bagshot breakfast meet.
Minus 5 degrees this morning, not entirely the most sensible temps for an overpowered under tyred (on the front) car! :eek:

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...041961b2d9.jpg


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...f463990e59.jpg


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...f373bdcfd5.jpg


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...919b5a3303.jpg


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...dbeff546dc.jpg

We raised nearly £1,000 for the local children's hospital and loads of gifts were donated for them as well.

Heat! or lack of it.

My car has a heater but it's not very effective. It demists the windows fine but is severely lacking in the heat dept.
It's made up of a Mini heater matrix and a Cavaliar MkIII squirrel cage motor. This should work extremely well, but the issue is it's built into the nose of the car and by the time the air has travelled all along the spiral wire tubes and gone round a few corners the airspeed is pretty low and the heat all but gone.

This is the heater housing in the nose;

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...7cca0c6c6b.jpg

Driving it in minus 5C on Sunday focused my mind a little as to whether it might be possible to fit one of the modern compact heaters into the car.

I picked This one as I think it might just squeeze into a place that is not quite big enough for it, lol.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...fb3f0166c3.jpg

It will hopefully fit in here;

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...27187d1fd6.jpg

The washer bottle will need relocating and it's going to be tight near the header, the hoses will unfortunately probably need to enter at the top where they will be more visible.

I made up a foam copy of the housing from the dimensions on the website, the real one will be a little smaller due to the chamfered/radiused edges.

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...b986b624c2.jpg

It's a tight fit but it should just go in there.

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...f0e5aa5f0e.jpg

Not quite as pretty as it would have been if I had designed into the initial build, but hopefully I can strip off the plastic housing and make one in aluminium to blend in better (maybe making it a little smaller at the same time).

The plus side is it's 4.3Kw heating and with the squirrel cage motor right near the screen/feet outlets it should keep the airflow & heat high.

I'll have a chat with the supplier in the morning to see if they will accept it back if it does not fit.

Losing the heater in the nose will free up a lot of space for better rad airflow and also somewhere to mount an oil cooler (which is another job that needs doing).

Ooh a nice delivery man brought me this today;

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...ad63247e2a.jpg

The front panel is removable as there are several different panels available. This shows some very good news - there is almost 20mm of space that can be removed for better fitting.

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...8a5f87cf6d.jpg

Loosely fitted in place here - resting on the exhaust. It will go up around 30mm when fitted but it's going to be very tricky to make an inlet fitting to go around the exhaust so clean air can be pulled in from under the car.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...502b8529b3.jpg

5 minutes later it was in bits, lol. Should be easy to cut the front off at work, not sure as yet how it will be fitted to the bulkhead. It's a retro fit so won't be as tidy as I would really like but I'll do my best to make it look good.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...bdac738854.jpg

Without a doubt seeing your previous work I can see this coming out looking real nice.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you'll get it in there and looking like it's supposed to be there Mark, patience and ingenuity are some of your core build strengths mate. Look forward to the outcome. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my G3121 using NSRA mobile app

You flatter me Tim!

hmmm......think I might have invalidated the warranty https://storage.proboards.com/forum/...ley/tongue.png

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...d76a57ec5c.jpg

18mm chopped off the front, I think I can lose another 4mm, I need to trim off the matrix 'ears'

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...134e25aae5.jpg


It fits better now - propped up on a bit of spiral tube in the photo. The cold air inlet is going to be the biggest issue. Mind you, sitting by the exhaust it gets a bit of free heat which in the cold will be a bonus. I think I'll have to make an aluminium offset tube fitting - it will restrict airflow but it is what it is.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...bd40868d21.jpg

Ha ha, it looks quite at home there Mark.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my G3121 using NSRA mobile app

Heater trimmed back now and bench tested for airflow. Good news is that it does not pull air in from the top and covering the top does not reduce the airflow. I assume the top section is to cool the motor so I'll just leave a small mesh over that area.

I've got a design in my head for an ally cover to go over the whole heater, also for a design for a cold air intake at the base from the inner wing area - which is very close fortunately.

Hopefully I can get a basic cover made at work next week to play with over the Christmas period so I can get a proper one made up next year.

Sounds like a plan Mark.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my G3121 using NSRA mobile app

The first prototype part of the heater cover got made today at work.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...a2c484860c.jpg

Nice bit of fusion welding (not mine - the welder at work) as I wanted no penetration inside as it would get in the way of the heater housing.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...1e9b893f69.jpg

The side that will bolt to the firewall heater channel. The aperture for the matrix is a bit off and will be reduced a little in the final design. 5mm clinch nuts fitted on the inside.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...45451e4e0f.jpg

Mr postman brought me some goodies today, some nice new black silicone hoses;


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...3f2eabb4db.jpg

and some nice clamps for the heater hoses.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...42b0166dc5.jpg

I have blue silicone hoses as originally the engine was blue, but when I built the car I changed my mind and went for a silver/black combo so although the blue looks ok, I've wanted to change to black for ages. If anyone needs some 45 degree 38mm blue silicone hoses, let me know..........


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...da760426de.jpg

I started with some CAD (cardboard aided) design on the cover, the top section will be something like this, it will be welded up but will bolt to the rear box section via some inner support plates.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...8b8590c399.jpg

Wedged roughly in place here;


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...f039ed075a.jpg

My first idea was to build the lower section with a tube exiting roughly where the silicone hose is ( the cardboard section will be about 15mm higher when in aluminium) and will be about 30mm from the exhaust header.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...2a95950a5d.jpg

and it would exit into the rear of the front wing for fresh air. Car needs a good clean!!!


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...d8b063cbf1.jpg

I did a bit of bench testing of the airflow with the inlet restricted by around 50% which is roughly what it would need to be to exit into the wheel arch. It still flowed well ( but was a bit slower) so I thought it better to keep to the same diameter tube (albeit squashed into a different shape) to try to keep the airflow as strong as possible as it will be restricted by the pipes in the dashboard & bulkhead as well.


But I had a bit of a think and luckily my new Chinese Deisel heater had some spare 70mm tubing that fits the fan inlet perfectly. I squashed this into a flat oval that will fit around the exhaust header and it will now exit straight down to draw air from under the chassis. This will be far neater as it will be hidden and also a lot simpler to build.

Roughly in the position (it will need to be a lot nearer the exhaust) it will be with the heater fitted.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...23daea3967.jpg

And mocked up in the rough position it will be when the lower section of the cover is built. It will need squashing oval for about 100mm, not sure if I can use this actual heater hose (its heatproof but will need painting black to waterproof it - I can use some exhaust VHT paint I have) or whether to make something. I like this stuff as its replaceable and weighs only a few grams so will need no support apart from the fiixing to the housing.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...851d8eb2ee.jpg

Close up - it will need flattening more and fitting nearer the the back where it is resting. All good news though as it will fit quite well, though it does clutter up the rear of the engine bay a little, though it will tidy the front of the bay once the current heater is removed.


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...fac914f48c.jpg

Nice one Mark, looks like it's going to do the job a treat, love the "cardboard aided design" [emoji23][emoji23]

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my G3121 using NSRA mobile app

A lot of fiddly work when you couldda just taken the heat straight off the header tubes, VW style..... ;)


Chris

Sent from my SM-T515 using NSRA mobile app

MkII housing being welded up as I type :)

What was the issue with the front mounted one Mark ?

Tut,tut John, you must read the thread [:D] it was explained several posts (1163) back.

Oversight on it being such a large post/posts, what's the KW output of the rad or have i missed that too :whistle:

4.3 Kw John.

I had a productive day at work today https://storage.proboards.com/forum/...miley/wink.png

Feeling quite chuffed at the housing with it tacked together. Top view;



https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...a84f08b281.jpg

and bottom;

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...9073c000ed.jpg


https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...62e1bf39e1.jpg

I WAS feeling chuffed until I tried it in the car https://storage.proboards.com/forum/...smiley/sad.png The vent hole in the base was still right over the exhaust https://storage.proboards.com/forum/.../notamused.png curse word.

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...1f8ad2d85a.jpg

Cardboard shows wher the exhaust tube goes over the hole (on wrong side here as i'm a numpty and I'd taped it on the opposite side)

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...7fd3723b73.jpg

With the cardboard taped on the correct side https://storage.proboards.com/forum/...y/eyesroll.png and a few different ideas it's ended up like this. The angled part will need to be made a lot longer to extend beyond the bottom of the housing where it will have an adaptor made to suit the round tubing.

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...21cc6c44c3.jpg

It covers more of the inlet than I would like but does not seem to significantly alter the airflow. The backplate will be remade to be completely open inside the 'tube'

https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/blac...e8def1c3b0.jpg

Looks like a MkIII version might get made tomorrow.......... https://storage.proboards.com/forum/...ley/tongue.png

Coming on well Mark it's slowly evolving.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my G3121 using NSRA mobile app