Trevor S Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Hi Folks, I received my heater, like the rest of the car, as a box of bits. I have restored all the individual components (of the heater) but am now having a problem getting it all to fit back together. Does anyone have an exploded diagram ? My specific problem is that I am not sure if I have got the correct fan motor. The motor has a flange running around it 1 " from the base of it's body (ie the opposite end to the fan blade) with three holes in it to connect it to the circular plate which in turn connects to the retaining bracket bolted to the bulkhead via 3 metal spacers. The three holes on the flange have a rubber grommet in each with a small metal spacer the same width as the grommet running through the grommet. However if I try to bolt these directly to the circular plate attached to the retaining bracket the base of the motor body fouls the heater retaining bracket. There is room for the fan motor to sit further into the matrix but that would require longer bolts and spacers to secure the motor to the upper plate attached in turn to the retaining bracket. Can anyone comment on the length of the spacers / bolts required to attach the fan motor to the plate? I also assume the heater should have 3 clips holding it all together and not just two, which was all my box of bits contained. Hope the above makes sense. Any comments gratefully received. Regards Trevor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sforster Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Trevor, The heater motor mounts on the underside of the top plate, there is an exit hole with a grommet for the electrics and the other three holes are for the mounting bracket spacers approx 1/2" long. The heater should have at least 3 clips between the top and bottom plates. Do not test the matrix by running water through it without these clips in place as you will expand the matrix and blow a hole in the heater, trust me on that one! Regards Simon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
w_eden Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Here are a few pics - hopefully you'll be able to identify if your parts are the same! Three clips are indeed required for the matrix. Cheers, Will Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trevor S Posted February 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Thanks for your reply Simon. Could you however clarify please. I'm slow on the uptake. The top plate has 8 holes in it, one huge one which the fan motor body won't quite fit through, one for the electrical wires from the fan motor with a grommet in it, 3 for attachment to the mounting bracket with solid spacers with a thread at each end. The 3 remaining slightly smaller holes I presume are to mount the fan motor. The corresponding 3 holes on the flange on the fan motor body are an inch from the bottom (ie opposite end to the fan blade) of the fan motor body. Presumably therefore you need 3 hollow spacers and 3 bolts about 1 inch long to reach from the motor flange to the top plate. My box of bits had hollow spacers and bolts but they aren't anywhere near long enoughto attach the motor to the top plate, hence my query as to whether I have the correct motor and wrong bolts and spacers or vis versa. I'm sorry to hear what you say about the matrix. Sound advice but too late I'm afraid. I have already flushed it through with clean water whilst dis-assembled and then poured hot water and descaler into it via a funnel. It didn't leak during this process but it sounds from what you say that it might now be damaged an may therefore leak in the future. I guess I can only take my chances and leave the carpets out for a couple of thousand miles to see what happens! Trevor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trevor S Posted February 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Will, Thanks very much for your reply which appeared in front of me just after I posted my reply to Simon. A picture paints a thousand words as usual. Looking at your pictures it certainly would appear that I have the wrong Smiths fan motor as it looks different to yours. Presumably mine is from a slightly different model of Smith's heater. Fortunately however I believe I can still make it fit if I acquire some longer bolts and spacers to attach it to the top plate as the holes in motor and top plate do line up. Thanks for going to the trouble of posting your photos on the Forum. This has been a great help to me. Kind regards Trevor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sforster Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Trevor, I think Will has answered most things there, regarding the flushing of the heater. You will be OK so long as you didn't put mains pressure through i.e, connected direct to the tap via a hose to flush the heater. You would know if there was a problem because the matrix would have expanded, distorted and leaked instantly. Simon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dennis Nelson Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Our North American suppliers (Moss, Roadster Factory, and Victoria British) only seem to sell complete heater units for the TR3. I would prefer to buy a motor, fan, and new switch for the heater, as before it died, it was somewhat noisey for a few years (now it is very quiet). Does anyone know where to buy these parts? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Our North American suppliers (Moss, Roadster Factory, and Victoria British) only seem to sell complete heater units for the TR3. I would prefer to buy a motor, fan, and new switch for the heater, as before it died, it was somewhat noisey for a few years (now it is very quiet). Does anyone know where to buy these parts? Dennis you could try John Sykes at TR Bitz +44(0)1925861861 He does have quite a lot of sidescreen car parts. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Dennis - Mine was very noisy before I did my restoration from 1987 to 1990. The fan blades were bent oh so little and they were touching as they rotated. I restored the heater and found that there was also a bit of axial play in the motor assembly which had permitted the fan blades to drop a bit. I moved the motor mount points up a bit and tested it before I finally finished it and since then (over 97,000 miles) it has made no noise and still works like new. Try that before you buy items you may not need. Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A TR Register member since 1987 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unclepete Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Be very very careful when connecting up your heater hoses!!! One of our guys is just out of Hospital after skin grafts over 2nd degree burns. A Hose parted company on one of our runs, just as he pulled into services, and badly scalded his legs. A very upsetting experience for us all! Unc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Menno van Rij Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 A bid off topic perhaps, but still close to the subject: I've noticed that the heater on a Series Land Rover looks about the same as a TR heater. Are there similar parts, can one use Land Rover heater parts for a TR heater? L/R owners change their heaters for later models' heaters or even Volkswagen Polo heaters quite often. Even closer to the subject: Revington can supply an upgraded heater, that really works. But, like most of the Revington goodies: expensive. Regards, Menno Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unclepete Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Menno The Landrover heater (series 2 I think) is the same as the TR and a good one is nearly as rare! The Revingtons heater is more powerfull and works very well, I use mine running off the same rheostat as the old heater. As Neil Revington likes to say 'It gives VFM' rather than being expensive! Unc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 You can also use the Morris 1000 heater with a bit of ingenuity on the pipe work as they come out at a different angle but the basics are the same and there are thousands of them lying around! Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Colin Fairhurst Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Hi Trevor, There are currently two Landrover Series circular type Smiths heaters on eBay under classic car parts. The illustrations of the Smiths heater in both the TR2/3 and the Landrover Series 2a workshop manuals look identical and I suspect they are the same. Be aware that these circular Smiths heaters can have different numbers of elements in the water matrix depending on their application and the housing and fan etc are all interchangeable. The heater on my TR2 is from a Triumph Renown and is also identical to TR's. Regards, Colin. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FRESH FISH Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Hi, well would you believe that i have also seen one of these heaters fixed to a fork lift, though a strange idea as fork lift's are open to all wethers so any heat wouldn't hang around for long, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john minchin Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 I have just replaced the matrix in mine with a Morris 1000 one I got from a scrapyard many years ago. I was a split screen car, later cars had a different heater I think. It took a bit of fiddling about drilling holes etc for the motor mounts to get the original motor into the matrix. The Morris motor seemed to spin at the same speed and was taller so would be difficult to fit to the car and gave no benefit. On the point of the mounting the heater lower to get the taller motor in (like the Morris one I had) it can become an interference fit with your nuckles when you change gear. Having ripped my nuckles open on dangling keys I am very thoughtful of this. Oil the motor bearings before you refit it. You can get at both ends on the original motor. It worked for me and cost £5. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 If I remember rightly I think the last time I used a Morris 1000 one I only used the Matrix and kept everything else from the original TR one and apart from the different angle of the pipes everything else went back as normal. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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