Morris Minor Owners Club

Does anyone know if the series 2 had the ducting around the heater? Also the colour have seen some black and some gold,my 54 just has a round heater in black

Must have been an upmarket model you've got; depending on the car, they didn't necessarily have a heater!

My 55 Splitie has a Tudor after market heater, which is like a Hamerite Grey..... and I'm pretty sure the hoses to the demisters are from a washing machine!!

Looks period with the colour and sticker still intact a little undecided to keep an eye out for the round ducting that fits around the outside and scoop or to leave mine as is

for a 54 should be gold with no ducting around it

For factory fitted heaters: Gold Smiths heater with metal cover if car has gold 'flat' dashboard and 'cheesegrater' grille. Round black Smiths heater with cover made of bakelite introduced in October 1954 same time as horizontal slatted grille and central speedo dashboard. Believe some cars built Oct 54 to Jan 55 had gold heaters factory-fitted to use up existing stocks. Dealer-fitted optional extra heaters may differ from the above in both colour and make, such as the Tudor unit posted by geoberni.
My '56 deluxe splitty has factory-fitted black Smiths heater. Bakelite cover. No ducting.

palacebear wrote:Believe some cars built Oct 54 to Jan 55 had gold heaters factory-fitted to use up existing stocks.

I can confirm that, as my slatted grille/central speedo splittie, registered Jan 1955, has the gold heater............

my june 55 4 dr deluxe has the gold unit

The ducting did not appear until 59 with the introduction of the outside air vent with its associated hole in the floor above the gearbox cover. The ducting was needed to control which air reached the heater with the recirculating selector flap.

Mines the same as palacebears

So is mine and it is a 1957 (Clarendon Grey as it happens!)

Here is a photo of my spare round heater, as you can see the ducting comes out of the top r/h side. As far as I can remember the heater came out of a 1959 car.

Never investigated my heater very closely. Presumably the duct is connected to the dash-top demister vents...?

some late split screen had the Bakelite heater, but the gold heater was fitted up to 56

palacebear wrote:Never investigated my heater very closely. Presumably the duct is connected to the dash-top demister vents...?

Here is the Moss diagram, they say a picture paints a thousand words
http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-mo ... minor.html

And very effective it is too ! People often complain about the Smiths early / mid type heaters but i think its because they try them at what they think is full i.e. switch turned fully clockwise, which in fact is low. High is about 1/8 turn clockwise.

the spliter for the window vents is just push fit with the ducts up to the vents. I find that heater really good. no cold fresh air intake

I find my round heater is pretty good too. The hot water valve is jammed open but with no fresh air intake, there's almost no heat circulation beyond my left leg, unless I switch the blower/fan on, so it's bearably cool in summer and nice and warm in winter. Only complaint is that the recirculated air smells rather musty (adds to that 'old car' aroma )

The round heater is an effective unit, throws out a lot of heat. BUT as a demist it struggles. I have thought about ways of blanking off the bottom vent but it's difficult to attach anything to the heater.
Anyone have any ideas?

I don't find the lack of a fresh air intake an issue . I thought that was what the gaps in the doors and windows were for !!!

firedrake1942 wrote:I don't find the lack of a fresh air intake an issue . I thought that was what the gaps in the doors and windows were for !!!

That and the fact that what many people call 'quarter lights' are actually called Ventilators in the manual

Trickydicky wrote:The round heater is an effective unit, throws out a lot of heat. BUT as a demist it struggles. I have thought about ways of blanking off the bottom vent but it's difficult to attach anything to the heater.
Anyone have any ideas?

I had reason to use my heater for the first time last weekend. The Tudor has 2 flaps on the bottom (you can see them in closed position on my photo earlier in the topic); flaps closed = demist, flaps open = heat to people. Lovely and warm!
I take it the round Smiths one doesn't have such covers.