> net result is that the heater in my TR4 is getting overwhelmed causing
> it to pump out cold air.
Well, maybe it's the same kind of heater my Healey had. Totally
inadequate anywhere outside of a Sahara-like climate. The only use I
ever found for it was supplement (ever so slightly) the radiator
cooling when the car overheated. Overheating was generally a continuous
problem during the VERY hot summer months in the San Fernando Valley
where I lived at the time. Needless to say it got mighty hot inside.
This was my major complaint about the car until I spent a winter in
upstate New York. Then I was sticking bits of cardboard in
front of the radiator, changing the thermostat and everything else I
could think of to warm it up.
> I learned to solder with a butane lamp & copper piping and made up those
>bizzare
> "S" shaped pipe parts to feed the heater unit. It aint a pretty sight ...
Sounds like you spent your weekend pretty much the same way I spent
mine. The weekend before I had connected the heater hoses up to my
freshly re-cored heater. Unfortunately no more heat seem to come out of
it than before the connection. Checking the hoses I found that the one
going in was warm and the one coming out was cold. Since I knew the
heater wasn't clogged, I started checking the plumbing outside. I
pulled all the heater hoses off and removed the heater supply control
valve. One of these hoses connected to the valve and the other to a tee
in a tube going between the radiator header tank and the water pump.
The tee in the (aluminum) tube was clogged with corrosion and
crystallized coolant. I tried clearing it with a screwdriver but all I
managed to do was poke holes in the corroded walls. So, like yourself,
I had to solder up a new tube ("C" rather than "S" shaped) from copper
plumbing bits. I also replaced the hoses.
The valve turned out to only be partially opened. Fortunately it was
still in good condition and only required a little wire brushing and
WD-40 to get it to open fully.
Boy do I have heat now!
Roland
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