Club 80-90 Forums

There's a lot of support from the Cornwall contingent on here. Thanks all!

Whoo Hoo! Finally got the heater box apart. What a pig. Ended up following the Bentley idea and hitting a paring knife with a toffee hammer to split the tabs. Some of them came apart quite easily. Others were barstewards.

Got the new blower in and tested. Working on all three speeds. I bottled out of fitting the resistors that I bought at the same time as the blower as I couldn't quite follow the diagram. The OE resistor seems to be working fine anyway so if it aint bust don't fix it.


Now just got to get all this lot back in place.


While I have this access I'm first going to lube the wiper mechanism before putting things back in place.

I'm hoping that Hotpod may call by later on and help me make sense of everything. He tells me that he changed his fan in an afternoon - respect!!

Big thanks to Dan (Hotpod). He came along for a couple of hours and we got everything buttoned up - one of those jobs that is more than twice as easy when there's two of you. Especially if one knows what they are doing (Dan) and one has at least half an idea (me). The fan is working great and chucking out air without making a load of noise like the old one did before it packed up. And no rattles!!

I'd got the heater box back together and refitted just before Dan arrived. I followed a bit of advice on the Wiki and ran a thin bead of silicone all round the slot in the mating surface then just fitted the clips back in place. It went back into position a lot easier than it came out which was a bonus.

Just got a few bits to do like stereo back in etc and then its done - the sense of relief is great. It will be tank straps next!

Thanks to everyone for the advice and to Syncropaddy for the psychological insights!!

PetenAli wrote: It will be tank straps next!

When I did my tank straps I had two pieces of 1mm sheet steel about 10" square which I was able to fit between the chassis legs and the tank. This helped to slide the tank out easier and particularly on the sender side where the sender ring studs/nuts can foul against the lip of the chassis leg. The pieces of steel didnt help much on the return journey though but from listening to people on here and other forums it appears that some tanks might be a tad bigger than other ones making the whole 'tank strap experience' unique.

How are your knuckles after the 'dash experience' ?

I have a feeling that only the early version heaters (immediately post-Aircooled with unheated dash end vents) had the heater box glued together. My '86 C-reg definitely hadn't been out before, the blower was the original and clips all round. PS there's a PK screw at the top of the housing, under the screen frame in the middle. I nearly missed it on mine, as a T3 heater novice...

silverbullet wrote:I have a feeling that only the early version heaters (immediately post-Aircooled with unheated dash end vents) had the heater box glued together. My '86 C-reg definitely hadn't been out before, the blower was the original and clips all round. PS there's a PK screw at the top of the housing, under the screen frame in the middle. I nearly missed it on mine, as a T3 heater novice...

Mines an '86 D reg (originally a Caravelle). The heater box was glued together and had 8 clips. When I first saw the clips I thought I was in luck but had still had to fight my way through the glued tabs. When I put it back together I ran a bead of silicone around the joint surface - that seems to have ensured no leaks and the air going where it should.

I found the two screws - one in front of the blower (which is the one Ian mentions above) and one behind it. More importantly I remembered to put them back! They seem to have the function between them of holding the blower firmly in place and preventing bad vibes when it is at full chat. There was also a strip of foam surrounding the mounting edge of my original blower. I spent a bit of time recovering this in one bit and I think this also helps to absorb the vibes.

I have done a couple in recent months.

Most recent was rays/southernsparkys.

Stripped it out, split box, took fan out, wiped flys/dust etc out and made sure it was spotless, took matrix out and back flushed it for hours until it was spotless and 1kg lighter , rebuilt it back up, sealed it, sat back and had a cheeky little smirk to myself in the sunshine with a brew and fag. was ready to fit it back in after my well earned break.

sat with feet up smoking fag basking in my own glory, looked out into the yard thinking i had done well.

I then spotted what looked like a heater matrix sat on the side.......................

Nice work Pete.....love the pics, I still wake with cold sweats just thinking about all that mess n wires...PLEASE DEAR GOD NEVER AGAIN:D