8 replies to this topic

[mike.]

One of the previous owners of my car has routed the heater hoses through the passenger side of the bulkhead and directly to the side of the heater. Rather than how i guess they are supposed to be routed - through the drivers side, round the back of the heater and then into the side of it.

It is a much more straight foward way of routing them and looks cleaner from the inside however; it means that the hoses come out of the cylinder head/inlet manifold, bend round and go over the inlet manifold and exhaust manifold. This has lead to the hoses looking very untidy and clutered compared to other engine bays:



I'm in the process of cleaning and repainting the engine bay and these hoses are spoiling it.

I can route the hose coming from the inlet manifold, under the carb and the hoses coming from the head i can tuck behind the rocker cover and clip it to the inlet manifold. But i don't know if the hoses will withstand the heat. The one under the carb is only a few mm away from the exhaust manifold which obviously gets very very hot and so does the inlet manifold which the hose coming from the head will be in contact with.

So will the hoses just end up melting with the extreme heat or will they be ok?

[WiredbyWilson]

i dont think the hose will like being that close to the exhaust, if it drops onto it then it is gonna burn through.

should the hose from the tap not go through the drivers side bulkhead, and the other side from the bottom hose through the passengers side bulkhead?

[mike.]

I'm not sure but both the hoses on mine are routed through the passenger side. I'll have to try and route that one under the carb. What about the one over the inlet manifold? If its touching it will it melt?

[WiredbyWilson]

I'm not sure but both the hoses on mine are routed through the passenger side. I'll have to try and route that one under the carb. What about the one over the inlet manifold? If its touching it will it melt?

i think you will be ok with the one over the inlet manifold as it shouldn't get as hot.

how old is your mini and where are the inputs to the hater matrix?

[Ethel]

I think the heater hoses have been routed in all sorts of different ways over the years. Has the car had a later heater fitted, might explain the rerouting?

I wouldn't personally run the hoses close to the exhaust if it can be avoided - you could use copper pipe if you really wanted to.

[mike.]

Mines an '86. The inputs to the heater are on the left hand side if your looking at the front of it. But i think the heaters been flipped round so they point that way. I'll have to try and route it under the carb, it won't be as hot there.

[backstreetclassics]

these hoses never look to good in the engine bay and to be honest i wouldnt put them any where near the exhaust

[GraemeC]

Why not connect the heater tap to the driver's side of the inlet manifold then the opposite end ot the inlet manifold through to the heater. The other heater pipe then connects to the bottom hose.
That way there is none of this doubling back of hoses and they will naturally fall next to the holes where they go through the bulkhead.

[mike.]

Sounds like a plan - If i knew what you meant. Ill hae a proper look at them tommorow and see if i can get what you mean.

I wouldn't mind the hoses being there if they looked good i.e. Silicon. How ever the silicon sets are pretty pricey at about £80 so i was thinking about getting some of these: Link

Item: 190164088000

You get loads of tubing, probably enough to do 2 or 3 minis but i'm not sure if it'll look good or not. I can see it being a waste of £25, but then again it could look really smart.

Has anybody ever fitted these covers before or used something similar? Got any pics of the result?