Heater air duct

[Sandaro]

Got the heater removed engine side today in the HJ to replace/fix leaky core. Are these worth/able fixing or just buy a rare spares one? Secondly the round air duct behind the glove box that leads to the round hole in firewall and leads to fan I've got a finger width gap and no gasket/foam or whatever was there. What should it have?

[maxsandman]

A few years ago, I asked my radiator repairer about leaky heater cores, & he said it was hard to work on & quite often still leaked, & the only way he would do it was to buy another new core similar size & adapt that to work. He said to buy whatever was available, not sure if he was just being lazy. I would always worry about the quality of repo ones, but may not have much choice. Up until recently there was still original a/con heater cores available through natra, not sure about now.
Foam goes between the footwell box & firewall, I presume just make it to suit. I recently bought, some for the top of that box, where it screws up to the plenum, off eBay, but could've done a better job myself!

Now, another question on this subject, I've got my footwell box out, & the rubber seal on the flap inside this, the rubber is as hard as a rock, anyone seen replacement rubber for the flipper flap?

[Geopaj]

I replaced the heater core in my HQ with an aluminium aftermarket one Rare Spares (or Kingswood Country? - I don’t remember) core about 5 years ago. It fitted fine and I’ve not had any issues.

[Sandaro]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Max, is the one you are talking about like a plastic cover strip about 10mm wide?

[maxsandman]

Max, is the one you are talking about like a plastic cover strip about 10mm wide?

OK, I went & had an actual look at the vent flap, & it appears to be 2 discs of tin (Milo tin lids, for an example) with a layer of rubber between & riveted together. So will be a lot of work to recondition, for not much result, as im sure it still wont seal 100%.
I might see if I can find some in a little better condition

[Sandaro]

I know the ones you're talking about, I've never looked into replacement parts, but surely worst come to worse use old one as a template to make new one with soft rubber

[maxsandman]

I would guess these vents are in bad shape as the van has sat for a long time, & they were stuck shut, when I tried to move them via the slide levers in the dash, the cables had broken.
I don't think it will be hard to pull it apart to use as a template, I will see how I go, cheers

[Sandaro]

They are the direct access from the outside grill. My old man never used them slides and I remember the first time I used them heaps of leaves came out onto the floor. Yeah those cables can get bind up in their housing.

[Sandaro]

Received and fitted new aluminium one from kingswood country. Looks like a good product. The body of the radiator part was slightly thinner than original (few mms) , so it just took some bending of the holding bracket within the heater to hold it tight and stop potential annoying rattle.