Heater delete kit

#21

Michael

Good idea with the 90 degree fitting! You could rivet aluminum over any holes in the fire wall, but I would not leave any holes open.

#22

All the holes in the fire wall will be covered. It is the hole under the cowl where the wiper motor is and where the blower motor was. Does that hole need covered?

Michael

#23

Mine isn’t covered…

#24

Michael, pictures?

#25

Here is the best I could do. The panel for the opening is above and black. But if you look in the opening you will see another. This is under the cowl and where the HVAC fan once sat. I am going to leave it open for now and see what happens.

Michael

#26

[I am also going to fab an aluminum panel to replace where the HVAC controls were and remount my switches and fire pull. There were mounted where the radio was but now I have a lot more room.

Thanks for any input.

Michael
Great Lakes SE30 Series Director[/quote]

Michael,

I left the “hole” open. I don’t see why we would need to cover it.

Now, are you sure that it is legal to remove the heater panel? I wanted to do the same but I don’t see any reference in the rules. Clarification on this would be great.

Thanks

#27

I also plan to just have a panel in place of my heater controls for defog fan switch, rear defrost and fire pull.

#28

To be honest, I am not sure if it is legal or not. I guess the best rule is that of AC systems can be removed in whole or part. At one point I would say it definitively would not be legal as when I started that was the case for sure. Since then we can now remove the instrument cluster and heater core among other things. A few years ago these same things were asked about and were definitively illegal. I guess someone needs to get a clarification and if we must keep the panel even though there is nothing in it but a hole for the radio, slide levers, buttons, temp control, and fan control, all of which can be removed we can always just mount the aluminum panel over the stock panel to clean it up a bit.

Michael

#29

Got another question concerning removing the heater core. What do you guys typically use to plug the three drain holes left when removing the rubber grommet/drain? Is there a solid grommet somewhere that fits nice. I hate to just screw a piece of metal over it.

Thanks,

Michael

#30

i found a rubber hole plug at lowes that fit in there with some trimming, but it stays in and keeps water out

#31

Hi folks,

I’ve just joined the forum (not sure why it took me so long) and would like to get some more of your knowledge and experience on the heater matrix delete issue!

A group of us based in Houston race a 1987 E30 325is…we’ve done 5 races over the year as well as track days etc…

I decided to remove the matrix when we first bought and stripped the car and haven’t really thought much about it until we started having big problems filling the coolant once the car is hot…I know thats never the best time to do it…but when we had a radiator failure and had to dump all the coolant, fit the new rad and re-fill…its almost as if the water wants to boil as soon as it hits either the thermostat housing or the head (the hose from the expansion tank is currently fitted to both those connections)…

So I was wondering if having the both connected is causing some sort of blockage if there is air in the system…perhpas when the matrix is connected, it has enough of a flow path to circulate out the air, but with the T shaped hose trying to fill and vent air, it just doesn’t seem to work???

It seems the delete plate on the head is getting 50/50 reception…so was thinking about some other arrangement such as a second expansion tank higher up to allow a flow and release of air?

Hope that all makes complete sense! Lots more questions to follow im affraid!

Regards

Mark

#32

I’m not sure I understood how you have things connected but some air isn’t going to block anything. If you have an expansion tank connected between the back of the head and the tstat, it’s hard to understand how the expansion tank would work as designed.

The head gets really hot if it’s water jacket isn’t full of water. Water flashing to steam in a hot head isn’t surprising. I’m not sure that there’s a perfect answer but one would have to be slow about putting water in because the head could crack from thermal shock. The water flashing to steam dumps a helova lot of calories as it is.

Everything about filling the coolant system is easier if you drill a really small hole in the top of the tstat. That will allow air to move to the vent screw even when the tstat is closed. The hole will allow coolant to bypass the radiator tho, so that’s why you want it to be a small hole.

#33

You’re right, I need to get a picture or two up and make that clearer.

We also tried running with and without a thermostat…with no real evidence to show which is better, although we did manage 450 laps in 104oF Texas heat with no problems!

Anyway, thanks for the reply, I’ll get a pic sorted later!

Mark

#34

Does any place sell just the plate? I think I can find a better option than the fancy aluminum plug. I needed a quick fix when my heater core popped at work so I just looped it and haven’t thought about it until now.

#35

OK. I’m trying to plug the port on the head without removing the head. Is there anything that can be done to get a little more room back there?

Can you disconnect the motor mounts and slide everything forward a little to get at it. I can get to the bolts, I just can’t get them out without hitting the firewall.

Last question, do i need some rtv sealant or anything with the plate or just the paper gasket?

Thanks,
Jason

#36

[quote=“jls8177” post=63981]OK. I’m trying to plug the port on the head without removing the head. Is there anything that can be done to get a little more room back there?

Can you disconnect the motor mounts and slide everything forward a little to get at it. I can get to the bolts, I just can’t get them out without hitting the firewall.

Last question, do i need some rtv sealant or anything with the plate or just the paper gasket?

Thanks,
Jason[/quote]
I don’t know that you can get the engine forward easily but if you pull the motormounts off that will drop the engine a couple inches and that’s about as good. When the engine drops you’ll get additional clearance back there because the engine will drop away from the sheetmetal that forms the transmission tunnel.

It goes w/o saying that the wiring needs to be pulled up and out of the way.

Paper gasket is fine as long as the surfaces are clean.

#37

Thanks Ranger. I’m a little bit of a bull in a china shop when it comes to thinking of what to try next so I really appreciate all of the knowledge on this forum.

Funny that you say it goes w/o saying but you’re saying it…

Probably something I would have figured out by breaking something when I lowered the engine:)

Thanks again,
Jason