Heater?

[Hugh Barnes]

It's not the first time that I heard people say that fabric saloons are really toasty in cold weather..

[Duncan Grimmond]

I found that driving my open tops in the summer I still got very hot feet. I don't do winter driving until the salt is washed away...
In winter without salted roads I still drive open tops but with suitable clothing, silk long johns and long sleeve vest and I know it a bit posey but you can't beat a proper Irwin flying jacket (not a cheapo repro), they are so warm if a bit on the bulky side.

[Nick Salmon]

It's a bit of a cliche but...'There is no such thing as the 'wrong' kind of weather, just the 'wrong' kind of clothing...'

[Peter Naulls]

We have had them on both cars at different times. The one on the special was surprisingly effective and made our non-stop Jogle bearable. The large (50mm?) pipe helps.

My father fitted the Ruby one with his own design of on-off valve!

If you do fit one, do remove it in the hot weather, they increase the running temperature by a small amount.

   

   

[Derek Sheldon]

At some stage in its long life someone’s made a two inch hole in the bulkhead of my APE tourer, it takes a large blind grommet perfectly. Removing this allows warm air to flow into the car. I have for some time considered fitting a 6v computer fan over the hole to give it a bit more ooumph.

[joe]

Derek,
Please excuse my cheek in mentioning, but by allowing warm air to enter the passenger space directly from the engine bay you put yourself at risk of poisoning from exhaust gasses.
Joe

[Tony Griffiths]

Derek,
Please excuse my cheek in mentioning, but by allowing warm air to enter the passenger space directly from the engine bay you put yourself at risk of poisoning from exhaust gasses.
Joe

Unless the exhaust manifold and/or its connection to the exhaust pipe are leaking, the only fumes entering the car will be from the vaporisation of oil leaking from the engine and the vents in the valve chest cover. The latter is easily solved - if you so wish - by blanking all but one off of the ventilation holes in the cover plate and fitting a pipe to feed into the carburettor intake.

[Bruce Nicholls]

In the early years (1970's) with my RP when I used it every day year round, I rigged up a very simplified version of that shown by Peter Naulls. There was already a large hole with a blanking plate in the more horizontal part of the bulkhead. I pushed a large diameter flexible pipe into this and wired the other end to the top of the radiator open end forward. It was also wired to the radiator stay to keep it off the engine. This worked well in that it provided a moderately warm draught in the passenger footwell which could be regulated if required by stuffing a rag, old sock or similar up the pipe. Easily removed in summer and the blanking plate restored too.

[Dave Mann]

I've found that with the plates fitted between the chassis and body alongside the engine our saloons get quite toasty even in the coldest of weather.

[Tiger]

Dave Could give a bit of detail where the plates are fitted.
Regards
Tim