Bristol Cars - Owners and Enthusiasts Forum  

Go Back   Bristol Cars - Owners and Enthusiasts Forum > Bristol Forums > 8 & 10 cyl Bristol cars

8 & 10 cyl Bristol cars Type 407 onwards - restoration, repair, maintenance etc

603 Heater Water Valve

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 21-03-21, 01:45 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Canberra, Australia
Posts: 23
Default 603 Heater Water Valve

My water Valve is shut and control on the facia is not moving all the way to hot and Canberra winter is coming! The valve would appear to be on the passenger side of the engine bulkhead somewhere behind the instrument panel. Can anyone advise on how to access to it and what it looks like?
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 21-03-21, 08:50 PM
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: woodhouse australia
Posts: 245
Default

Peter you will find the control valve under the vinyl cover on the passenger side at the rear of the engine compartment They seize up with time and often rot away. Some CRC may help . If not they are avaiable on Ebay but make sure you get the one exactly the same as yours. Attached is a photo of a typical Smiths valve.
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 22-03-21, 05:16 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Canberra, Australia
Posts: 23
Default 603 Heater-water valve

Hi Peter,
Thanks for input but regret the 603 is not so easy as earlier models! I have attached photos somewhere which I hope will appear.
0893 shows the heater pipes going into the bulkhead. This is where the water valve is fitted in earlier models (the 408 has the same valve as a Sunbeam Tiger).
0888 is looking down the aperture of the air intake in front of the windscreen with black painted grill removed. It shows the outer cold air box with fan intake at the top and the open cold air flap leading into the inner cold air distribution box. On the floor of the inner box can be seen the copper pipe taking water to the heater matrix.
0890 shows a close up of this inner distribution box with the water pipes on the bottom. The circular vent leads to one of the vents on the facia panel.
The water valve together with the heater matrix must be inboard of the inner dist. box ie somewhere behind the instrument panel.
I suspect your 412 will have something similar? The designer had never heard of maintenance!
I will continue delving.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg DSCN0893.jpg (57.3 KB, 22 views)
File Type: jpg DSCN0890.jpg (117.7 KB, 19 views)
File Type: jpg DSCN0888.jpg (85.1 KB, 19 views)
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 22-03-21, 06:35 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: woodhouse australia
Posts: 245
Default

Peter sorry to mislead you interestingly my 412 is the same as the 411. I am amazed that they would make a change like that when the 412 and the 603 were in production at the one time unless as mine is an early 412 the later ones may have changed Who Knows ?
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 23-03-21, 11:30 AM
Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,168
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Hoskin View Post
The water valve together with the heater matrix must be inboard of the inner dist. box ie somewhere behind the instrument panel.

What a nightmare. Why on earth would they do that? Peter, please photograph what you eventually find and share it here on the forum.


Kind regards,
Kevin
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old 23-03-21, 12:08 PM
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: wellingborough
Posts: 11
Default valve

I think the valve is actually on the drivers side just above the dip and water jet foot switches, which are virtually impossible to operate as they are too hidden away. The valve is not like the smiths unit shown in the photograph and mine to had jammed but with a fair bit of penetrating oil eventually freed up. It also may be worth looking at the slider control on the dash as that is not the best bit of design and is held by a spring clip and does fall off, to see it remove the centre dash section and use a torch.
Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)  
Old 24-03-21, 12:22 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: woodhouse australia
Posts: 245
Default

Peter

Purely out of interest if you fold back the vinyl cover at the fire wall what does it cover. On the 411 and 412 there is , on the drivers side , the Smiths fan , in the middle an air distribution box and further over the Smiths Heater box. What does the setup on the 603 look like ?.

I am currently working on my Mk 2 version of intergrated air conditioning in the 411 by replacind the Smiths system with a Vintage Air unit which is both an air conditioner and a heater in the one unit. I had it working for heat (very good result) but I could not ,on my first attemp get enough air flow into the cabin to properly cool the car thus I am redesigning that part of the instalation.

What has been done on the 603 may help with my project.

Regards Peter
Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)  
Old 05-04-21, 02:26 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Canberra, Australia
Posts: 23
Default Bristol 603

Yes, the heater water valve is on the cabin side of the firewall just above and aft of the Dip switch area. The heater control bowden cable turns an operating wheel to which the valve is connected by a thin rod. In my case the valve was jammed but responded to a little encouragement and now does move but has been incorrectly connected such that the valve is open when the control on the facia is in the cold position! Re-positioning of the cable on the operating wheel would correct this but to get to it is a bit beyond my arthritis so plan is to leave it and see if I get heat without leakage. Removal of the valve will be a nightmare, I cannot see how it is mounted and suspect vent trunking will have to be removed and then? Hope the photos help, I repeat my comments about no thought of maintenance, the previous solution followed by models up to and including the 412 seemed sensible.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg DSCN0898.jpg (50.3 KB, 16 views)
File Type: jpg DSCN0897.jpg (58.5 KB, 14 views)
File Type: jpg DSCN0896.jpg (70.6 KB, 14 views)
Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)  
Old 05-04-21, 10:11 PM
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: woodhouse australia
Posts: 245
Default

One word only NIGHTMARE
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


All times are GMT. The time now is 09:38 PM.


This is the live site

Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2