289 Heater Project

[LMH]

Hey all,
Recently started a heater project to replicate the Delaney Gallay heater used
in the small block cars. Roger (rsk289) did this and his idea got me interested. (thank you Roger!)
It's not quite as easy as I first thought but with access to an original post-CSX2201 heater and a couple Prefect 100E heaters to cannibalize, we're off to a good start.

The original Cobra heater and a Prefect heater side by side:



The spot welds on two Prefect heaters are drilled out or ground off to remove the doors and hose duct. The side is removed from one heater and spot welded in place of the Prefects hose duct on the other. This makes the case the same side to side.




Side mounting brackets are made and spot welded into place as per the original heater.



This is where we are currently. New panels and doors will be made to complete the side and front vents. All holes on the Prefect case will be filled and ground smooth and finally the whole unit painted. I'll update as it progresses.
If someone wanted to replicate a pre-CSX2201 heater, you'd use the motor from the Prefect unit. A post-CSX2201, as we are making, would use a larger later motor. More on that later as I haven't worked out yet exactly what motor to use. The Cobra specific motor appears to be extremely rare, at least as far as I can tell so far. More to come!
Larry

[1795]

Larry,

Cannot wait to see how this progresses. Do you currently have a heater in your car, or are you going to retrofit this one?

[LMH]

Thanks! This heater will be fit to my car as I build it.
Larry

[Riverside racer]

Good one Larry. I know some parts from the English Zephyr Zodiac range which might help with motor.
Ross

[LMH]

Thanks Ross! I'll look into that. I've been trying to find a photo of a motor from a MK1 Cortina. It looks similar but have only been able to find photos with the motor mounted. I need to see rounded triangular mount.
Larry

[rsk289]

Larry, I ended up using one of these:

https://www.holden.co.uk/displayprod...&pCode=080.545

It's double-ended, but you can saw one end off with no problem. Hard to see there's a hole there when installed. It's also a larger size than the Ford motor which is smaller than the original Cobra one.

With regard to the heater doors, I modified the long rearward-facing one by welding a steel section in to enlarge it. The two small rectangular side-facing doors are exactly the same as those on another style of Ford heater - can't remember if it's 100E, 105E, Anglia or Prefect, but I built mine up by cannibalising both. When you come to the demist outlets, I believe the original elbows may have been metal (can't remember Dan's photos offhand), but you could use Austin Healey elbows which are rubber and easily available. Same shape and easier to work with.

For the fan, I gave up trying to get the (fairly useless anyway) bakelite one off the shaft of the Ford heater and used the aluminium 4-blade one Holden sell to go with their new motor, cut down to suit. A local radiator shop relocated the heater water pipes for me and tested the matrix. The new fan and motor arrangement actually throws out a decent amount of heat, and once assembled is pretty much undetectable. The really tricky bit is matching the correct shade of grey!

Roger

[LMH]

Thanks Roger! You can't see the hole in the motor on your car?
On mine car, the heater tilts forward due to the forward tilt of firewall and I worried a hole on the bottom of the motor might show. Probably have to get down there to actually see it though.

BTW, the elbows on the original heaters are rubber. They have the "DG" label cast into them.
Larry

[rsk289]

I don't have a clear photo at present, this is the best one showing the heater.

The Big Healey elbows should be good, then.

[LMH]

Great! Thanks for posting that!
Larry

[*13*]

Sneaky little devil, isn't it?

[LMH]

Just a little update. Haven't had much time to work on the heater lately but did get to filling some holes. The heater as used in the Prefect, has slots in the front with slide controls to open/close the side doors. The Cobra unit doesn't have these, so the slots need to be filled in.
I'm not sure but I think all British steel is rusted before use! Because of this, I didn't want to get into filling holes with steel. Warping is also an issue as the steel is thin, so I opted to fill using lead.

I spot welded a small piece of sheet steel to act as backing behind each slot.




Leaded using an electric soldering gun.




Filled and ground off. Any small scratches will be filled in with primer and the whole heater block sanded.



One thing though, the original heater isn't perfect by any means and it's my intent to keep the replication that way as well.
Larry

[rsk289]

Larry, it's actually pretty good quality steel - I had no problem mig'ing the slots shut on mine. For the casing I used a spotwelder, replicating the positions of the original welds. Best to blast all the paint off the casings first.

[1795]

Larry,

All-in-all, it came out nice. Nice way that you considered options and settled on one that worked.

[LMH]

Originally Posted by rsk289

Larry, it's actually pretty good quality steel - I had no problem mig'ing the slots shut on mine. For the casing I used a spotwelder, replicating the positions of the original welds. Best to blast all the paint off the casings first.

Yeah, it's kind of luck of the draw as to what you get in the heater, now 50 years later. Experimenting with the cannibalized unit, I felt it better to lead the slots. Also for me, my MIG doesn't do well on the lower settings. If I had a TIG welder, this wouldn't have been an issue.
Once primered and sanded, you won't be able to tell.
Larry

[rsk289]

It's looking good. You still have some welding to do on the doors - or you could just fabricate complete new ones, I suppose.

[LMH]

Fabricating new doors/hinges along with new lower side pieces with holes for the elbows. Once completed, they'll be spot welded in place like the original.
Larry

[LMH]

One more for now. New panels and doors cut and being readied for install.



Larry

[Ivygreen65]

Larry,

I'm following this thread intently.

[LMH]

Very nice! You even got the original fan off the motor! Nice job!
Larry

[rsk289]

Remember the Prefect/Anglia motor is smaller than the original Cobra one, as can be seen in your first pic, Larry. That's why I went with the new ones Holden are selling - as far as I can tell, they're the correct size. And have the advantage of being new!