upgraded heater valve

[black olive]

for those who dont frequent the two-sixties, I am working on a solution to the flimsy leaky heater valve fitted to our cars.

Ive sourced a suitable domestic central heating diverter valve that can be driven with the actuator- once Ive sorted a mounting plate and linkage will be offering this as a mod kit, along with the new valve at a greatly reduced price than the X part offering that will leak again in no time. some pics below

[stevedj]

As I'm still new to all this V8 ownership (exactly 3 weeks now, yay :-)
what's this about a leaky heater valve?

Thanks,
Steve.

[black olive]

Steve- the 260s have a water blend heater system, this valve is in the plenum area and controls the flow of hot water in the system.

the original is manufactured in Mexico from bean cans and pieces of blu tak- and falls apart , meaning leaks, sticking valves, and a hot cabin. the new valve is built for the job and should last

[Keith]

Steve don't forget there are two of these valves one inside the car both of similar design

Not sure why the plenum one fails more often but when the interior one goes it is much more spectacular unless you are used to driving in a sauna

[black olive]

yes Ill look into sorting the interior one also

[Lates]

All the valves will suffer the same fate. I am dealing with suppliers of replacement valves presently as we know the OE ones are circa £211 iirc.

There is one way to ensure your valves longevity - ditch the oat.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Lates

All the valves will suffer the same fate. I am dealing with suppliers of replacement valves presently as we know the OE ones are circa £211 iirc.

There is one way to ensure your valves longevity - ditch the oat.

Or retrofit the original MGR air blend system into the car I'm sure you could squeeze the heater matrix somewhere

[black olive]

You cant- the plenum is smaller- something to do witha dirty great V8 mounted the right way in the car Im sure Rincewind will furnish the details

[Simon]

I heard the reason was something like that - plus the bigger transmission tunnel too from what I recall.

[Rincewind]

Originally Posted by black olive

You cant- the plenum is smaller- something to do witha dirty great V8 mounted the right way in the car Im sure Rincewind will furnish the details

There is an issue with space yes under the bonnet.

Where the normal heating system is on the 4/6 cyl engines would be, there is an engine in the V8's!!!! One of the panels that seperated the engine from the plenum had to be removed to get the engine in so the different heating system had to be introduced and unfortunately it was inhereted from the original engineering and we had to make it as best we could given the resources we had and the fact that there wasn't enough time to come up with a new system.

So consequently, we ended up with a pants system that works ok but more than often gives up or leaks on you!

Sorry guys, one of the left over hic-cups we tried to sort out and simply ran out of time.

Nic