Heater confusion Sprint

[bloodknock]

I have been searching this forum for the answer to a problem Ive caused myself. Years ago I stripped and refurbed my sprints heater unit. I fear that I may have assembled it incorrectly. I cant figure out the configuration of the face and crashpad vents.
Here are some photographs from this venerable site:

Heater 004.jpg (88.44 KiB) Viewed 2085 times

Heater 006.jpg (71.42 KiB) Viewed 2085 times

DSC01826.JPG (78.62 KiB) Viewed 2085 times

Should the face level vents come from the front or the rear of the unit? From one of the photos where the dash is installed, I cant see them being positioned at the front.
Should the water feeds be at the front or the rear of the top of the unit?
Should the crash pad vent outlets be front or rear of the vent flaps?
The crashpad vents in the crashpad are also confusing, should the inlet be biased towards the enging or the interior?
Help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bob

[MickG]

I am assuming that picture No 3 is your current set up if so I'm sorry to say but you have the heater in back to front. The face level vents at the sides of the dash are supplied from the tubes shown on the front of picture No 3. They should be at the back. The screen demisters use the larger ducting.
Take a look here http://rdent.com/manuals/index.html interior, sub heading Heat/Vents
Top Tip; Connect the ducting to the side vents before fitting the heater or you well spend many hours cursing.
The top photo is correct.
Regards Mick G

[holywood3645]

Yours is installed upside down. The 90 elbows should come from the bottom.
James

[pharriso]

Yours is installed upside down. The 90 elbows should come from the bottom.
James

It's not upside down, just front to back, spin it 180 degrees around the motor axis.

[holywood3645]

It looks upside down to me! Rubber Elbows should be at bottom (near fiberglass tunnel) but I suspect we are trying to say the same thing in different ways.
And that has never happened here before

James

[MickG]

It's not upside down, if it were the fan motor would be inside the plenum chamber.

[holywood3645]

You see, that's where the confusion lies. I consider the top (that is actually the bottom) being where the 90 rubber elbows are.,,
Problem Solved
James

[MickG]

Now I understand what you are saying. As you previously said

It looks upside down to me! Rubber Elbows should be at bottom (near fiberglass tunnel) but I suspect we are trying to say the same thing in different ways.

But which ever way you say it Photo No 3 is wrong
Regards Mick G

[bloodknock]

I do believe I've got it! By golly I've got it!
Front = front of car

This is a view from the front slightly underneath. So these are the face level vent elbows which protrude from the heater body towards the front of the car.
The Fan motor body is at the bottom (underneath the heater unit)
The fan at the top near the plenum
The demister vent outlets towards the front of the heater.
Regards
Bob

[fatboyoz]

Bob,
I would suggest that you are almost there. The side panels, as shown in you last photo, have the footwell, hot air outlets toward the dash and the demister outlets toward the firewall.
If you look at the small louvres behind the spring loaded, hot air flap you will find that they are angled. These should be pointing into the footwells, not pointing back toward you.
Also, with the hot air flaps toward the dash, they will be almost covered when you fit the underdash trim pieces.
So, swap side panels left to right and you will have unrestricted airflow from the hot air outlets and directed, correctly, into the footwells.
This is covered quite well in Brian Buckland's book in the heating section.
Also, the airflow diagram in the Elan workshop manual shows this arrangement. Note though, that this diagram also shows the eyeball vent tubes exiting from the dash side of the heater. Can't imagine them being in this position, as there is barely enough room for the ignition switch to clear the back of the heater.
Cheers,
Colin.

I do believe I've got it! By golly I've got it!
Front = front of car

DSC03306.JPG

This is a view from the front slightly underneath. So these are the face level vent elbows which protrude from the heater body towards the front of the car.
The Fan motor body is at the bottom (underneath the heater unit)
The fan at the top near the plenum
The demister vent outlets towards the front of the heater.
Regards
Bob

[bloodknock]

Well, here we are, ive swopped the vent ends of the heater and assembled the heater into the car but it just doesnt look right. I cant believe that the routing for the demister vents should look like this!
Can anyone put me right, I cant believe that I'm making such a meal of a simple thing like a heater!!!
Cheers
Bob

[TroonSprint]

My heater, which came ready assembled, has the windscreen outlets at the front end, ie. closest to the bulkhead. That makes sense because then the flap controls fall readily to hand. The way you have it now you would struggle to operate them on the move. In other words, go back to where you were on Saturday.

Mike

[bloodknock]

Thats what I was thinking, looks more sensible. This heater is going in and out more times than..............Do the demister windscreen vents look right to you??
Regards
Bob

[TroonSprint]

Do the demister windscreen vents look right to you??

I haven't got my vents installed yet but I could take a look at them tomorrow. If I remember correctly there is only way they fit and look right.

Mike

[holywood3645]

I will look and take pictures when i get home from work tonight.

Did you disassemble the heater box to restore by any chance?

James