2 replies to this topic

[087dave]

Hi all, Can you use a heater from a 1990 car and use it in a 1970s car
Thanks

[tiger99]

How early in the 1970s? That may make a difference. You need to be aware of the routing of the hoses. In earlier cars they both came through a sealing device, i.e. metal plate plus rubber gasket, in the position where the master cylinders would have been on a LHD car, but on later cars there was an extra hole in the bulkhead elsewhere for one hose. Also, I am not sure that the brackets which support the rear of the heater were the same. These can easily be made, and welded, bolted or rivetted to the bulkhead if needed.

So in general I would say yes, the later heater can be used, with a bit of work, all to do with mounts and hoses.

The alternative is to look around some of the kit car suppliers for the latest compact heaters, and I suspect that some of those would far outperform anything ever fitted as standard to a Mini.

[A-Cell]

Brackets are the same, just pipe differences. Routing and later heaters use 5/8 inch pipes to connect to the heater. The pipes were different diameter each end. 5/8 at the heater, 1/2 inch at the bottom hose. Just need to sort the pipe runs and get a cople of 5/8 to 1/2 inch adapters and the appropriate size hose clips.

The fresh air duct in and the demist ducts are in the same place so a straightforward thing to do.