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TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - Heater Rebuild

Now that the dash is out and enough wire to provide Manhattan with phone service extrudes from underneath, it time to pull the heater and rebuild it. Yuk, 34 years of it, stored inside. Anybody rebuilt one of these and can give me pointers?
Don K.
DON KELLY

Don-No experience here, but I see that TRF has all the components or rebuilt units and after you remove the rivets and screws from the shell, it is self explanatory . The heater is probably the only thing on my car that has never needed repairing or replacing yet. Having said that, the carpets will be soaked with rusty anti-freeze tomorrow.
Berry Price
BTP Price

Don
I rebuilt mine last winter, it is straightforward, assuming the screws that hold the case together come out! I renewed the fan motor while I had it apart and flushed the matrix out well with the garden hose.
Good luck,
Ron
R. Algie

Mine came apart just fine. I am going to have it blasted then powdwe coated. I did not find anyone with that sold all the foam gaskets that it had on it.
Don
DON KELLY

Don
I had the same problem with the foam gaskets, ended up making them out of self adhesive draft excluder.
Ron
R. Algie

Don
Modern weather stripping stuff (the self adhesive type) I think would work for you. Also consider having the core pressure tested. Replace those 2 small "snake" water line hoses no mater what condition you think yours are in.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Don,
I blasted the garden hose alternately from the entrance to the exit and what came out was amazing.
After it seemed all the gunk had been washed out I filled the core with white vineger and let it soak
for a couple of hours then repeated the above rinseing.
A lot more gunk came out.
Chris
Christopher Trace

What I really wanted to know was the placement and thickness of the foam weather stripping. Mine was not complete in a lot of areas
Don
DON KELLY

You are right to be concerned about the foam placement Don, mine still makes a slightly annoying "chink" instead of a "thuNK" when switching between screen and feet.

I think you could make a couple of educated guesses with the foam and not be far wrong - unfortunately it was too long ago for me to rememeber where they went and event then it seems it wasn't right!!

I suggest getting the 'radiator' part pressure tested and check fan brushes and motor operation before before re-assembly. Also think about having the bulkhead twin-hose connector re-made in stainless steel - that, and some nice relaxing music when you start to re-fit it.

Cheers

R



Roger H

I used a large adhesive felt pad where the air deflector seats. Nice "thuNK"!

Charlie
EC Smith

Roger- Where were you when I installed the new bulkhead piece 2 years ago. Now you tell me. It shouldn't be to hard to reinstall. the dash, trans cover,and everything else that fits the description of interior pieces are removed.

Charlie- Describe the foam pad.
Don
DON KELLY

Don
When doing mine eons ago, I recall the foam strip was at the edge where the "flapper" touches the mating metal face. It was a very soft foam so it would compress easily.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Rick- The pad was almost the full size of the flapper and I was trying to figure out what everyone was using.
Don
DON KELLY

Don:

The foam in my heater was completely shot. It seemed to me that even if I could find a source for replacement foam it would just go bad again and I didn't really want to mess with gluing foam in there. So I wandered around my local Ace Hardware store looking for ideas and found felt pads with an adhesive backer. (I think they were designed to protect the finish of a wood table from lamp bases, jewel boxes, etc.)

As I recall, they were about 4"x6" and about 1/16" thick. I trimmed two pads to fit, cleaned up the surface and stuck 'em on! That was two years ago. No trouble yet!
EC Smith

Rick is correct about foam on the 'flapper' - I used thin (1/16") 1" wide strips to cover the whole upper surface. It came with a house air conditioner and was left over - not foam really but very thin spongy grey foam with a sticky tape backing.
There were also remnants of a band of foam wrapped around the heater core. When assembled, it fills the narrow gap between the core and the heater box walls. It keeps outside air from going around the core and forces it all through the core fins. I used the same grey strips to replace the dried foam - it may keep the heater box from 'buzzing' at certain rpms, which would cause head-scratching I don't need.
Jeff Fetner

EC- I know just the pads you are describing. All is at the powder coaters now. Will look for that in the mean time
Don
DON KELLY

This thread was discussed between 29/01/2005 and 02/02/2005

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