heater valves

PostPost by: wgrainge » Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:58 am

Has anyone successfully found an alternative to the standard heater
valve? I've been through several and they all require as much
pressure as my clutch to operate...therefore...they don't operate. I
have to lift the hood (bonnet) every time I need to turn off the heat.

I've been trying to fit an aftermarket unit, but it mounts inline
(very little room in there), and the Elan uses 1/2 inch hoses (most
aftermarket units I've found are 5/8 or greater).

Would there be anything wrong with putting a valve on the return side
instead? (below the carbs). I was thinking maybe an electric unit -
lots of room down there.

Anyone have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

Thanks.

Will Grainger
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PostPost by: poiuyt » Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:19 am

Are you sure you don't have a binding cable?

Steve B.

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PostPost by: Fred Talmadge » Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:04 pm

Might want to try and put an elbow on the thermostat housing and then
find a valve that can be installed inline with the hose. I looked at a
few options and ended up with the early AN Sprite valve, it's manual but
that works for me here in Texas.

Fred '65 S2

-----Original Message-----
From: Will Grainger [mailto:***@***.***
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 10:58 PM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] heater valves

Has anyone successfully found an alternative to the standard heater
valve? I've been through several and they all require as much
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PostPost by: charles jackson » Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:16 pm

Here is what I was told someone used as a replacement. I checked NAPA
online and could not find the part #, so I don't know if it would work
or not.

Try Napa part# C3UZ-18494-B This is a inline ford pickup heater shutoff
valve made of plastic.

Will Grainger wrote:


Bob Bulfin
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PostPost by: elansprint71 » Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:18 pm

Will,
I completely got rid of that awful looking object from the engine bay and replaced it with a brass elbow fitting, I then fitted a 15mm ball valve in the pipe above the passenger footwell (I can reach over and move this from the driver's seat, if your car is LHD, even better).
If you are interested I can post some shots in the photos section.

Cheers,
Pete.
----- Original Message -----
From: Will Grainger
To: ***@***.***
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 4:57 AM
Subject: [LotusElan.net] heater valves


Has anyone successfully found an alternative to the standard heater
valve? I've been through several and they all require as much
pressure as my clutch to operate...therefore...they don't operate. I
have to lift the hood (bonnet) every time I need to turn off the heat.

I've been trying to fit an aftermarket unit, but it mounts inline
(very little room in there), and the Elan uses 1/2 inch hoses (most
aftermarket units I've found are 5/8 or greater).

Would there be anything wrong with putting a valve on the return side
instead? (below the carbs). I was thinking maybe an electric unit -
lots of room down there.

Anyone have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

Thanks.

Will Grainger
45/9693






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PostPost by: poiuyt » Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:51 pm

Pete,

I'd like to see this modification, if you don't mind.

Thanks,

SteveB
69 Elan S4
78 FIAT X1/9
96 VW GTI-VR6




--- In ***@***.***, "elansprint71" <elansprint71@b...>
wrote:

ball valve in the pipe above the passenger footwell (I can reach over
and move this from the driver's seat, if your car is LHD, even
better).







Steve B.<br>1969 Elan S4
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PostPost by: elansprint71 » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:45 pm

I have uploaded a picture of my invisible heater valve set-up to the files section, follow the separate "new file" notification or this link:
http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/UMwoQqg1vq ... g%201a.JPG

This link:
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro ... 5&ts=71780
shows the valve that I used.
It is important to get a full flow ball valve, most only have a bore size of about 6mm, this one is 15mm. You need to fit a short length of 15mm copper tube into each end of the valve and then the hose slides on to the copper tube, fastened with a worm-drive (Jubilee) clip. I removed the blue plastic sleeve from the valve lever, shortened it and re-fitted a shortened plastic sleeve.
As fitted to my car, only the lever is visible if you climb down into the footwell, the valve itself is behind the trim, if you really, really want me to try to photograph this, ask very nicely, as I have a bad back!
No doubt the picture I have posted will spark off questions about the rest of my cooling/heating system- fire away!

Cheers,
Pete
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PostPost by: wgrainge » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:26 am

Thanks everyone for the heater valve tips. The inline valve I've been
playing with is similar to the obsolete (1963) C3UZ-18494-B Ford
part. It has possibilities but it is quite long and it has 5/8" inlet
and outlet. Adapters can be used of course, but that requires even
more length. The under dash method sounds effective.

Will Grainger
1970 S4



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PostPost by: brassringfarm » Sat Mar 05, 2005 5:30 pm

Lotus folks -
If the heater valve is difficult to operate, then it is either the cable
or (more likely) the unit itself. In order to fit my heater valve back on
the engine (after putting on the new body) without raising the engine, I
took mine apart. It took about 5 minutes to get apart and 20 minutes total
to fix. When I did so, I found a bit of crud in the valve - so after several
years I could imagine that there would be enough to keep it from closing
properly. As you pull back on the cable - the angled slot in the outer housing
makes the valve body go in and out. A very very simple mechanism, but what's
happening is that the valve itself is catching on stuff on the inside. No
amount of oiling on the outside will ever fix it.
To fix it - Disconnect the control cable. Then, just drill out the 1/8 "
Aluminum pop rivit that holds the inner and outer part of the housing together.
Then rotate the housing 1/12 turn and the flanges will no longer be underneath
their u-shaped keepers. Bingo - you can now remove the outer heater valve
housing and the valve itself. The part of the heater valve housing that is
in the upper part of the head is still there. Clean out the crud - and you're
ready to reassemble. You will loose some antifreeze as you disassemble the
valve body - so put a can under the setup.
Enjoy - an easy job. As easy as fitting an in-line valve while retaining
original mechanisms
Paul Zimmerman
65 S2
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PostPost by: wgrainge » Sun Mar 06, 2005 2:04 pm

I bought a brand new one, and it was worse than my old one. I'm now
thinking of using a spare headlamp vacuum valve on the dash, and
putting under the dash a vacuum operated heater control valve (most
cars seem to use vacuum valves so they are readily available).

-Will


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PostPost by: brassringfarm » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:36 pm

FWIW - The valve I took apart was a new one - from Bean. Since I'm
4600 miles from my car and the old parts boxes - I can't comment on
the slot angle of the new one versus old one. My main point was simply
that gunk on the inside can keep the valve from closing and that it's
easy to fix.
Paul
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PostPost by: holywood3645 » Thu Mar 10, 2005 8:24 pm

Can anyone help me lociating a set of OEM heater and choke control
cables. Must have correct knobs. Please send reply to
***@***.***
Thanks
Jim
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PostPost by: holywood3645 » Thu Mar 10, 2005 8:49 pm

Can anyone help me lociating a set of OEM heater and choke control
cables. Must have correct knobs. Please send reply to
***@***.***
Thanks
Jim
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PostPost by: nebogipfel » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:36 pm

Hi All

Has anyone out there replaced the wire wound resistor in the Smiths
Heater unit with a modern one?

If so what value should it be please?

Mine has two speeds ........fast and stop!

John
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PostPost by: john.p.clegg » Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:00 pm

On the plus2 it's 7.5 ohms,haven't got my electrical head on at the moment so not sure of the wattage
John


nebogipfel2004 <***@***.***> wrote:


Hi All

Has anyone out there replaced the wire wound resistor in the Smiths
Heater unit with a modern one?

If so what value should it be please?

Mine has two speeds ........fast and stop!

John
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