Heater Valves

[clarkei]

Bought 4 now and all seem to leak either around the spindle or from the body of the valve where the steels seems to be crimped to the alloy. Bought from Minispeed, Moss and a couple of other suppliers. I am guessing they are all sourced from the same place anyway. Any suggestins welcome

1980 1275GT

[Cooperman]

Those valves do seem to be of generally poor quality these days.
A solution is to fit the earlier type of stub pipe with a tap in it which is turned on or off at the tap. Alternatively just make up a stub pipe with a flange welded on and leave the heater flowing all the time. The heater control inside the car will stop hot air getting into the car. It's only cold air you won't be able to get.

[clarkei]

Had hoped to keep it original looking. The problem is the poor crimping alloy against the steel. Suppliers must know this. The one I have at the moment is so poor that the steel plate moves freely.

I think I will just blank it off with a thin steel blank under the heater valve and block the return pipe nearest to the radiator

Thanks for your help. Will look out at Beaulieu to see what others have done.

[FWDRacer]

So it looking original is more important than having a functioning heater?

I hope Beaulieu isnt to hot and you don't have to queue in traffic.....

[Cooperman]

The additional capacity of the heater system does help in really hot weather. In fact, if stuck in traffic on a hot day, if the temp starts to go up it is a good idea to run the heater. Gets a bit warm inside the car, but keeps it 'out of the red'.

[FWDRacer]

Cooperman said:

The additional capacity of the heater system does help in really hot weather. In fact, if stuck in traffic on a hot day, if the temp starts to go up it is a good idea to run the heater. Gets a bit warm inside the car, but keeps it 'out of the red'.

My point exactly Pete. What price originality - A blown head gasket and warped head...

I've used the heater output to stop a Mini boiling over as well.

[Cooperman]

I once did a rally in Belgium in my 1071 Cooper 'S'. The outside air temp was 102 C and it was sure hot. We were wearing 2-layer Nomex overalls and crash helmets. The car got really hot and we had to run the heater and heater fan all the time to keep the coolant temp below the 'red'. I didn't have an electric auxiliary fan on that car.
By the end of the event I reckon we had both lost around 1/2 a stone, we drank literally litres of salty water, but the car ran faultlessly and took us to a class win.
OMG but we were HOT!

[clarkei]

Thanks everyone.

Followed the advice and reversed the fix. Went to Minispeed and they said simply crimping the valve properly would work. A few minutes in the vice and hey presto it worked. Beaulieu and back, no leaks, ran like a dream.

so thank you everyone.

[ginettajoe]

Cooperman said:

I once did a rally in Belgium in my 1071 Cooper 'S'. The outside air temp was 102 C and it was sure hot. We were wearing 2-layer Nomex overalls and crash helmets. The car got really hot and we had to run the heater and heater fan all the time to keep the coolant temp below the 'red'. I didn't have an electric auxiliary fan on that car.
By the end of the event I reckon we had both lost around 1/2 a stone, we drank literally litres of salty water, but the car ran faultlessly and took us to a class win.
OMG but we were HOT!

..... I doubt you would be alive if it was 102deg C!!!!