Air control flap
Continuing the heater saga - the other control wire was Ok, just not doing anything in the ducting. The arm on the outside of the heater was moving but broken from the inside.
Here is a view down the heater duct. Click for a full size image. The broken flap normally sits in the bottom. It was easy to get out as the left end was broken off. The arm which turns the flap was still glued to the outside and I risked prising it off, it cracked off quite cleanly but I reckoned I could have made another if it had broken up. The pivot holes are grommets, and have a smear of grease on them.
The flap itself is in 3 parts, 2 plastic panels clip together with a foam rubber seal trapped between them. Here is the top broken bit. The bracket in the middle has to be levered carefully off the link rod you can see in the first picture. The rod opens and closes the demister flap at the top of the system.
Here are the busted bits, and the lever which I forced off the end:
Superglue seems to stick this plastic quite well - I degreased the broken areas well with detergent in the sink and dried them. I tacked the parts together with the superglue, and then added a fillet of superglue and microballoons (a lightweight glass bubble filler powder) as used on the previous page:
Whatever is used, it needs to be strong and reinforce the thin joint. The buildup of filler means that the other plastic part won't sit down flat, so needs a bit filing out:
Here is what it looked like before:
Now to refit the lever. I didn't fancy glueing the thing back on entirely by feel, so decided to fit a screw. Drilling the shaft out was done very slowly and carefully, to suit a self tapping screw from the screw collection:
OOPS.. I tried to bend the flap, just this one piece, to spring it back into place, but it snapped. Remember it is now longer than the space it came from. I said a rude word and went to plan B - stick it back together in place in the duct.
I temporarily assembled the flap parts to keep the holes lined up, and drilled a hole through the whole thing to suit more screws from the screw bin. NOTE - enlarged the holes in the bottom part so the 2 halves would tighten up as the screws are turned.
Put a small trace of silicone grease on the pivots (it doesn't attack plastics) and put the top part back in place. Fit the sponge seal and the bottom part, and screws. It should look like this:
Rather than rely on just the screws to hold the whole thing together, I put a dab of epoxy glue alongside the top bracket, and a patch of epoxy and fibreglass on the open area. I locked the screws with a smear of contact glue (Evo-stik) on the threads.
The last hard bit here was putting the arm/lever back on. Remembering to hook the control wire back on first, I slotted the arm back on and checked the wire travel looked about right because the hex shaped shaft could fit in more than one position. THEN I found I couldn't get a screwdriver in! The glovebox is too close :o( Retires, muttering, to shed, and rummages in the toolbox. Eventually I unearthed a curious tool - the right angled obstruction screwdriver. Bought about 30 years ago and unused since. I just knew one day it would come in handy ;o)
The last part here was to apply more contact glue to the foam sealing strip which was falling off the front of the duct - easy job, just DON'T spill the glue in the car. You can see the strip dangling at the top of the previous page.
The heater panel could now be put back, reconnecting the electrical cables (some are not very long) and the two control wires, then the six mounting screws.
Hey believe it or not it all worked!
I did some work on the radio mounting whilst it was out. The "universal mounting sleeve" for the radio, which clips onto the front panel, wasn't very good. It didn't mount very firmly, and the radio didn't lock into it properly, no holes for the radio's latches. Back to the store, and a cheap but better fitting mount. Trial fit it to the radio and tweak the locking bits. TIP: Black permanent marker on the front of the radio mount makes it almost invisible behind the radio top edge. Before refitting the radio, I considered the banging and rattling from the radio when the engine ticked over. The whole dash vibrates, and the radio bounces noisily up and down. I glued some stout foam pads onto the heater duct under the radio. They are about an inch tall. I also glued some thicker pads above the radio, inside the dashboard top. These would be about 1.5 inches tall. The idea was that the radio would just squeeze between them. Anyway, a BIG improvement, and the radio now sits up to the panel instead of hanging a quarter of an inch out. I no longer sit with one hand on the radio at traffic lights, or with a death grip on the steering wheel trying to damp down the vibration and prevent the radio from self destructing.
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