turn off the heat!!! my feet can't take it

[Woodie]

My feet are roasting. The heater faucet at the back of the block behind #4 is rusted/stuck open. The coolant goes into the heater and even with the air flap closed ITS HOT!!

Now I read somewhere that you should not close this valve /tap/ faucet anyway as it cooks number 4, so, can I simply take a 2 foot piece of 1/2 inch hose and connect the outlet of the faucet to the input/return on the other side of the valve cover, and Stuff a couple of short bolts in the intake and outlet of the heater core until fall when I do want heat.

Any harm in this?

 

[walshja]

I don't want to hijack your thread, but can you explain why you shouldn't turn off the heater on the engine block?

I just bought my Midget, and my feet were roasting as well, so I shut mine off.

this not a good idea?

joe

 

[Pythias]

i cut my hoses long enough so that i can go from the valve to the return or to the heater, and the other one so it can reach the return and from heater inlet to heater outlet. it's then a simple matter to reconfigure and i don't loose the extra hose or clamps...


the second point is that i've heard from a very reliable, very experienced source that its perfectly OK to close that valve. cooking #4 is a myth. .. try to find anyone (SPEAK UP PLEASE) who has actually had an engine failure attributed to closing the heater valve.

 

[regularman]

That is an old falacy been going around on leyland vehicles for years. I knew an old farmer in Kent and he would take his heater hose off the heater and connect it back to the other tube so that flow continued through that loop even the the heater did not get hot. He was convinced #4 cylinder would cook without doing this to his land rover.

 

[Baz]

i cut my hoses long enough so that i can go from the valve to the return or to the heater, and the other one so it can reach the return and from heater inlet to heater outlet.

That'll work until you can get it replaced, just bypass the heater completely, from tap to metal pipe, shut you passenger footwell flap, and make sure your transmission tunnel plug is in.

 

[Woodie]

thanks Pythias for that idea thats a good one, and only an extra foot of hose and no new clamps,,

 

[zimmy]

i was feeling alot of hot air from the
pedal box...............z

 

[texas_bugeye]

I live Dallas texas,I put an averge of about 9,000 miles on my sprite a year I drive it every weekend winter summer whatever. The upper heater hose has no tap for a heater there is no hose on the heater valve(come to think of it why do I have a valve? (note to self get a block off plate) I dont even have a heater box! Dont think you need to have the valve open. No heating problems. I can tell you that a lot of air will be forced thru that little flap-heater door even with the heater off. Find a piece of duct tape and cover it and see if that helps And go ahead and close that valve This aint no air cooled Harley!
:thumbsup:

 

[Luke_Healey]

Last summer when I was running 210F, I had the heater door open to try and reduce heat in any way possible. My right foot was red in color after I took my shoe off, driving 3 hours like that. It physically hurt and looked sunburned.

 

[jlaird]

Guess what. all cars did not come with heaters. There was a block off plate in place of the valve.

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

I just cut the inlet hose and fitted a ballcock and joined the hose to that and the heater.The valve is turned off.I haven't had a problem so far.

Stuart.

 

[Glen_B]

Of course, if you have a highly modified 1275, you never even think of shutting off your heater. Mine was on full all the way to Missouri and back including the stretch into Salt Lake City with outside temps at 100. Turn on the cruise control and pull back the feet. A leather glove laid against the shift can kept the right thigh from getting burned. I guess there is something to be said for un-modified engines, but I can't hear over the exhaust.

Glen

 

[tosoutherncars]

Glen, that sounds like torture!

Wouldn't a remote oil cooler be more efficient AND pleasant to use?

 

[bill_young]

Perhaps on highly modified race motors the cooling circulation might be better with the valve open, but I don't think the factory would have put a valve there if it couldn't be turned off. I get a bit of cooling air through my heater with the valve shut and after mounting a GM 3 speed blower in the housing but it is minimal. One of the guys at Spridget 50 had removed the heater box and mounted an aluminum tray with a fitting for the duct from the front and said it was very good at keeping the foot wells cool at speed, but without any blower was useless in traffic. Check the photos taken by Gryf Ketcherside and you'll find a shot of the engine compartment on this car (Jeff "Prop" O'Brien's).

 

[jlaird]

I even saw a tool box fited to mount where the heater goes.

 

[2091351]

https://www.coolcarceramic.com/products.htm

This might help if it works as advertized!

Steve

 

[kcbugeye1275]

Just a thought, but a crazed MGC owner who has been at the KC MG show the last cople yrs has built a tray against his valve cover on the header side to heat his food. He's from the east and stops at this show on his way to visit family on the left coast.