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Spitfire Spitfire heater upgrade to TR3?

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Jim Lee

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Looking through Bob Schallers "More BS about TR's" for about the hundreth time I came across his recommendation (on page 23) to replace the TR3 heater with one from a Spitfire MkI, 2 or 3. To quote Mr. Schaller the advantages are

"It is quite thin, has a blower instead of a fan [I am not sure what that means exactly] and has dual flat REPAIRABLE [my emphasis] cores with vents pointing in a good direction".

It also fits is supposed to fit precisely in the cavity behind the dash panel flush with the bottom of the dash.
I am in North Carolina so it is not that crucial an issue for me but I thought it would be interesting to try it for the few winter months we have here with my hardtop and noisemaker sidescreens. I am thinking it might be a challenge to see if I can drive the car all year round.

Has anyone actually done this? I would not think it would be very easy to get a MK1-3 heater but if I could it sounds like a worthwhile experiment.

Any experiences with Spitfire or other 'upgrade' heaters in TR3's or 4's out there?

Thanks very much,
Jim Lee
 
I replaced the TR3 heater motor with a blower motor from a Spitfire. If I remember correctly, the blower was a plastic cylindrical fan whereas the TR3's fan is a metal bladed fan. I removed the blower fan from the Spitfire motor, put the original TR3 bladed fan on in its place and affixed the unit to the original TR3 heater via the original mounting holes. The unit is just a bit larger than the original unit but it still fits, and hardly anyone could tell the difference if he looked under the dash. The Spitfire unit puts out much more heated air. It is also noisey because it runs at constant high speed since I do not have a rheostat dash switch to provide slower speeds. I lose most of that new found warm air anyway because I dislike driving with the side curtains in place. Final solution? Drive the TR8 if it's going to get cold!
 
Yikes $460.00 for a new heater. Probably cheaper to move to Florida!
 
The Revington heater calculates to $469.25 US. The Southern Airs list from $109 - 119. The latter seem quite affordable; can they be fitted easily and neatly into a TR3?
 
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