Hello😀
If you go to Let’s build a 1967 Etype together
It’s all there
Simply…,
It’s a wonderful, exciting pain in the ask!
Remove dash pad top!
Drop center gages down!
Remove the vent tubes!
You said series 1 so there should be no flasher unit blocking the center opening
Next remove glove box !
Yes glove box
Remove wiper arm attaches to the end wiper and middle connection
Yes…
Leave arm in the bulk head and swing wiper arms away towards the right pillar
This will give you room. To put your hand in!
Next drill out all the rivers on the firewall
Some are tight
Push all the pipes in and feel how they go
When you call Sng or whoever give them your vin
One pipe was longer due to build changes
Go to my post you’ll see
It can all be done with the glass in
My engine was out it was a lot easier
Good luck and may the Jag force be with you!
Gtjoey1314
Excellent advice from Joey.
I did it with the screen in too-
http://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9852&hilit=heater
It is much easier on a bare shell of course!
Thanks for all the pointers and advice.
Yesterday was a day of diagnosis and planning. I began by removing the two main hoses to the engine and in my stash had a perfect coupler to join them and bypass the heater tubes. Next was on to assessing where I was at with my remaining two tubes and heater core. First was to test the integrity of the tubes with a pressure tester (I used my Motive brake bleeder). Tubes hold 25 lbs. of pressure for 15 min with no problem (radiator cap is 7 lbs). Cleaned up the ends. Flushed with an adapter and hot water at hose pressure and blew out with 100 lbs. compressed air after flushing. The lower return tube was quite clear all the way around. The upper supply line ran rusty water for an instant and blew out some minor crud after the flush. This makes sense to me since the valve was full of crud and connected to this tube but never made it to the return tube through the heater core.
The heater core flushes great and clear, no issues and held 15 lbs. air pressure for 15 minutes (I didn’t go higher pressure on the core), so good there. So, I think I’m in good shape with the two remaining tubes and heater core and will only replace the valve and valve tube. I’ll do my best to secure the loose supply tube with the D plate, but I can get a hose on it and that will hold it too.
I think my tubes look good. No corroded ends, complete and smooth. Just some slight rustiness that one would expect. I also took a pic of the manifold nipple before I cleaned it up. It too, looked good.
Pics 4 and 5 are the tube I need to replace. I showed it for comparison to the other tubes, big difference. I attribute the big difference in its condition compared to the other two to the joining of dissimilar metals, the valve and the tube, and the corrosive process that happens over time in this situation. Tom D. pointed this out to me and we’ve all experienced it with fasteners, body parts, etc. on old cars. My tube (the piece that broke off) is quite literally welded into the valve with corrosion. The tube at the valve connection is totally destroyed and at the exit end is OK, but full of corroded material from the valve end.
Also pic of bucket and filter. This is the antifreeze that came out of the car from the main connection hoses to heater tubes, about 2 gallons. I filtered it before putting back in the car. You can see what was in the filter and left in the bucket. Really pretty minor in my opinion.
So, that’s the plan. I know some will disagree, but based on my analysis, testing, experience and understanding of the difficulty of the job, I will only replace the valve tube and valve. I’m a financial advisor by trade and risk management is what I do. In this case, I believe the risk of using my remaining two tubes and heater core is well worth the reward.
Thanks again for your help. I’ll let you know how it goes!!
I understand, your thoughts about the situation, and your diagnosis is most likely correct on the cause. Galvanic corrosion only eats away the less noble metal. In this case it was the steel tube. I would have figured the valve was made from aluminum which is less noble. But it was not attacked at all. Curious as to what the material is.
Yeah, not to terrible looking. This is what I had when I decided to replace them all:
The very good news is that (I think) you can replace that one tube without messing with any of the others. It is even one of the easiest to fit. This is someone else’s pic but it helped me visualize the arrangement:
FWIW: when I did Tweety’s, the others were rusted nearly thru, inside the cowl, and out of sight.
I think it’s a false economy to do only one pipe.
I must be missing something here… My heater valve fits OVER the tube coming out of the firewall. That tube, in this car, is not sticking out of the firewall at all. What is the heater valve going to attach to???
Regards,
Ray L.
Ray, I think he said that is the one tube he is replacing… the end had completely corroded away.
Odd that the one was so bad and others looked to be in fairly reasonable condition.
I see the point that it would be ideal to replace them all but that is such a challenge with the engine in it is tempting to wait and see on the others (and carry the bits to hook up a bypass should the worst occur).
OK, that makes sense. But if one is gone, there is absolutely NO reason to believe the others are not in similar condition, and if they go, and leak inside the bulkhead, they can do massive damage before you even know you have a problem. Seems like a false economy to me.
Regards,
Ray L.
I’m with Ray- if you are going to all the trouble to access the one pipe to replace it then not replacing the other two liquid pipes is IMO a fools errand. Replace with stainless pipes and never worry again. Just my 2¢…
I don’t think it would be that hard with the lump in place, unless you were bound and determined to pop rivet them in. I’ve seen where folks tap the back plates for screws before putting them inside, and install with button heads. That would greatly simplify matters. At that point the main difficulty is dash disassembly, and rack removal so I’d definitely do all three at once, and stainless only so no one ever has to do it again.
Thanks for your comments. From what I’ve read and seen, it seems to replace the valve tube is much easier than the other two. Lift the top of the dash and work near the top in an area not blocked by the engine. For the other two, I’d have to drill out the rivets and then start the difficult task of removing and replacing them in a FHC with the windshield in. With 25 lbs of pressure (almost 4 times normal) on my other two tubes holding for 15 min. with no loss of pressure, visual observation of the exposed pieces, and what I observed when flushing and blowing them out (very little evidence of corrosion), I’m reasonably certain of their integrity. They are nothing like the situation with my valve tube.
With respect to the valve, I came to realize that the block behind the valve is not part of the valve itself (when I was looking up what to order) and was able to separate the block from my valve. The valve actually works great and seems much more robust (I believe it’s original to the car) than the repros. I’ve had more than one of this style valve on my brother’s MGB and they are junk. This one really works smoothly, snaps into a locked position when closed and water runs through with no pressure under a faucet in the open position (it’s cleaned up in the pics). I will test and clean it further, but am inclined to reuse it because of the quality of it. I’m thinking of soaking it in that CLR stuff that removes gunk. Don’t know if it would hurt any internals. Maybe leave it alone, works great as is. I do see now how the block mates to the tube/valve with the funnel shaped O-ring.
So, the autopsy continues. I was able to pound the tube out of the block from the valve side. You can see how corroded and thin the tube got, even inside the valve. The silvery portion of the tube remnant was in the block and the dark end portion in the valve. It’s in far worse shape than the other two tubes. I consider myself lucky to have discovered the problem before she let go in the bulkhead.
That’s what I did, with SS4-40 button head screws.
I used a reproduction, it is crap. Wish I wouldn’t have so quickly tossed my original in the trash.
If these cars sit with low, or non existent coolant, these tubes are quick to go. The dissimilar metal In close proximity will greatly accelerate oxidation.
I replaced all of mine with stainless because of the extent the rebuild I did. If your other two seem good, and you keep your coolant glycol rich, I think just replacing the valve tube is a reasonable gamble. Just keep your nose tuned for that unmistakable sweet smell …
And, when it occurs, one will reeeally wish one had done the other two with all the wiper rack stuff now having to be removed, again.
Considering the difficulty of the low tube, with glass in, and engine in…I would take the gamble. Just getting a drill on the rivets would not be easy. A lot of the corrosion damage to these cars is the result of neglect, not poor design. They suffered greatly when they were just old cars, They are high maintenance yes, but if you were to do it, they survive well. Some thing as simple as maintaining a rich coolant mix, arrests block, head, radiator, and pipe corrosion.
Life is gamble. If you spend it covering every possible eventuality, you’ll have little time for anything else. And yes, you’ll wish you had!!
Absolutely agree. The risk is not worth the savings…not even close.
I am looking at my photos & notes from when I replaced the pipes - I did nothing with the wiper rack, it was all left in place.
I did remove the hazard flasher and the metal piece that held it, but that was trivial.
Mine is a Series 2, perhaps S1s require the wiper rack removed?
X2 , nothing touched on the wiper rack and also an SII.
There was not a chance in hell, I could have done it w/o removing the rack.
Perhaps with skinnier arms, and/ or that elusive 12-year old wannabe mechanic!!
Had I lily-livered out, and left my other tubes in, and depended on a “rich coolant” level, I would have been three shades of fu…d.
And drenched in antifreeze.
The rivets were degraded enough, they just popped off, no drilling needed.
Just seems a fool’s errand to only replace one 40+ year-old steel pipe.
YMMV…