19 replies to this topic

[Craig89]

I recently brought a mk1 smiths heater that was in pretty poor order but everything was there so I decided to strip and rebuild it.


As I got it:



Partially stripped:



Sides stripped:



After a session in the sandblaster:



Primed ready for paint:



Now I have a few couple of questions hopefully someone can help with.

What finish would it have been originally, satin or gloss?

Also when I stripped the motor and fan the direction arrow on the fan was the opposite direction to the motor run direction. Now I can't imagine this should be like this however I can't see how it would be fitted to ensure the directions match. Anybody ever had any experience with this?

Cheers, Craig

[MrBounce]

I am sure that some of the ones I have seen were a crinkle finish but don't quote me on that as I am not a Mk1 expert by any means...

[Craig89]

AFAIK it was only the front panel (car / screen / off) that had the crackle effect. I would guess the rest of the shell was gloss, that's how it appeared when I stripped it.

My main concern is with the fan/motor assembly, I can't get my head around that one

[Craig89]

I have found this picture online that suggests that it is painted satin black which looks good and I also have plenty of it so that's a bonus

[Ben_O]

Nice job you are doing on that mate.

I would have said satin black was the correct colour and the mk5 heater from my 25 will be done satin black. 

 

As for the motor, i have no idea. Are you sure that it is running opposite to the direction marking? don't quote me but i understand that if you have the motor wired up the wrong way, it will run backwards?

 

Cheers

Ben

[Craig89]

Cheers for the comments Ben.

As regards to motor direction switching a couple of wires on a 3 phase ac motor will indeed reverse it. Also reversing the field or armature wires on an industrial dc motor will reverse that also but with small dc motors I'm abit stumped, May have to strip it down.

The direction on the motor was actually labeled though, and that is the way it was going. Then the fan on the end of the motor shaft is stamped up the other way

:s

[Ben_O]

Oh i see!

My mistake 

 

I have no idea then!!

 

Ben

[Craig89]

Bit of an update:

Got a sticker for the front panel



Stripped the motor down and was surprised how good condition it was in.



All parts now finished in satin black



I'm now waiting for some new screws then I can reassemble it

Edited by Craig89, 19 March 2014 - 06:53 PM.

[Doodling]

What foam are you planning on useing to cover the flap and heater matrix??

[Craig89]

What foam are you planning on useing to cover the flap and heater matrix??

I haven't decided yet, I have got some different things to try, I will see what works best

[Craig89]

I had some 10mm foam knocking around from some packaging and found that to be about the right thickness



I used a thicker, dencer piece of foam to pack the heater matrix back





I dyed the foam black for behind the flap



I used black silicone to seal the join between the centre section and 2 side pieces. Also used it to seal the air intake





And the finished article, it looks great!

[Ben_O]

Looks beautiful mate.

 

Well done

 

Ben

[freaker]

very well done. 

 

looks very good

 

freaker

[johnR]

Craig,

Your heater resto looks great - I'm starting to convert an 89 City to Monte Carlo replica Mk1 - the main body of my heater looks almost identical so I'll just adapt it with a new front panel and a lever welded to the flap.

In pictures I can see what looks like little downwards facing teeth in the slot on the Mk1 front panel - can you tell me how the flap lever is tensioned upwards - is there a spring somewhere?

JohnR

[Rocket.]

Looks better than new !