Hello (and a question) from new Vixen owner

[manhoo]

Thought I'd introduce myself as a very happy owner of a '71 series 3 Vixen. I have been waiting for this for years, owned a 1600m and a chimaera, but this really is a dream come true... beautiful from every angle.

One thing I am a bit confused about is the lack of heater controls, i'd imagined there should be either one or two dials on the dash above the radio, but nothing... there's a blower switch but it just pumps out heat from the engine!

Appreciate any advice and look forward to getting to some events this year, I'm in Suffolk.

Cheers

Stefan

[chris52]

Lovely looking car. I think the S3 should have one knob for the heater the S2 has two as it uses the MGB heater box. I know on some if the M cars they just used a choke cable type system for opening and closing flow to the heater matrix so maybe yours is the same. Sorry I'm also new to Vixens perhaps someone more knowledgable will be along to better answer your query.
Chris

[Skullcollecter]

My '72 S3 has a single Dial

[prideaux]

Hi Stephan well done great looking car
I presume thats the one with the Alpha engine
A

[nwarner]

My 1970 S3 has a Ford Cortina MK2 sliding control where your radio is positioned. See below.

[manhoo]

Thanks for the replies, Chris you might be right about the simple heater switch, so maybe the radio replaced the control i wonder if it was as ineffective as actually having a radio anyway! I was expecting to see some variation in dash layout but everything is so different, I'd not seen that dash before Nigel thanks for the pic.
Yes Andrew it's the Alfa engined car, I missed out on the original sale by a few hours, totally gutted as I was smitten, thankfully when I saw it reappear the I think the dealer took pity on my situation and accepted a quick sale offer. When it arrived it was so much better than the pics, the paintwork, wheels and interior are very good, I'm over the moon.

[the other tim]

Whereabouts? Suffolk's my neck of the woods, just south of Bury St Edmunds.

[prideaux]

manhoo said:

Thanks for the replies, Chris you might be right about the simple heater switch, so maybe the radio replaced the control i wonder if it was as ineffective as actually having a radio anyway! I was expecting to see some variation in dash layout but everything is so different, I'd not seen that dash before Nigel thanks for the pic.
Yes Andrew it's the Alfa engined car, I missed out on the original sale by a few hours, totally gutted as I was smitten, thankfully when I saw it reappear the I think the dealer took pity on my situation and accepted a quick sale offer. When it arrived it was so much better than the pics, the paintwork, wheels and interior are very good, I'm over the moon.

Fantastic i am delighted for you as she really looked an interesting conversion as i said it sounded so wrong but just looked so right keep us posted as always nice to hear how these modifications work guess your on your own when it comes to fixing some parts but hey thats all the fun
A

[manhoo]

the other tim said:

Whereabouts? Suffolk's my neck of the woods, just south of Bury St Edmunds.

In Ipswich so just down the road...

[manhoo]

prideaux said:

Fantastic i am delighted for you as she really looked an interesting conversion as i said it sounded so wrong but just looked so right keep us posted as always nice to hear how these modifications work guess your on your own when it comes to fixing some parts but hey thats all the fun
A

I need to familiarise myself with the set up, this alfa engine has twin webbers like my old m series xflow 1600, I'm a bit of a mechanical buffoon, but for the moment everything seems to be working just fine... I shouldn't have said that... In fact I had the RAC out yesterday as I couldn't get it to start. Eventually discover no petrol and faulty gauge, so it begins!

[prideaux]

manhoo said:

I need to familiarise myself with the set up, this alfa engine has twin webbers like my old m series xflow 1600, I'm a bit of a mechanical buffoon, but for the moment everything seems to be working just fine... I shouldn't have said that... In fact I had the RAC out yesterday as I couldn't get it to start. Eventually discover no petrol and faulty gauge, so it begins!

LOL bet the RAC Man was amused
A

[manhoo]

prideaux said:

LOL bet the RAC Man was amused
A

The poor guy scraped his van badly coming up our narrow walled drive too.

[Moto]

[quote=manhoo]Thought I'd introduce myself as a very happy owner of a '71 series 3 Vixen. I have been waiting for this for years, owned a 1600m and a chimaera, but this really is a dream come true... beautiful from every angle.

One thing I am a bit confused about is the lack of heater controls, i'd imagined there should be either one or two dials on the dash above the radio, but nothing... there's a blower switch but it just pumps out heat from the engine!

Appreciate any advice and look forward to getting to some events this year, I'm in Suffolk.

Cheers

Stefan


Hi Stefan. Welcome to Vixen ownership, you've got yourself a very pretty example and I think a nice engine / drive configuration. I'm really pleased the car ended up with someone who will appreciate it and that you got it for a better than advertised price.

Your question ref the heater has already been answered. It should have a single knob (MGB) with a cable link to the heater valve. When I got my Vixen S3 the heater knob was there but cable and heater valve were missing. They're easy to buy from MG Spares : http://www.mgocspares.co.uk/acatalog/sec_MGBV8heat...

Fitting is a straightforward hole in dashboard centrally above the radio. Like this ...

[manhoo]

Thank you that's very helpful, will check what's going on behind the panel hopefully there is something to connect to. Your car looks amazing btw

[prideaux]

Moto said:

Fitting is a straightforward hole in dashboard centrally above the radio. Like this ...

Its not quite that simple as behind the timber is carved in allowing the control unit to position and move around as they where not designed to be fitted to a timber dash hence you need to reduce the thickness of the ply in that are this will require the dash being removed if its a replacment however if they re covered the old one the recess should still be there.
As you can see in the picture of my old one from the Tuscan the way its carved into the timber to allow them to fit and turn



Andrew

[moluag]

I'm a bit confused, why are there TWO cutouts for a single circular knob?

I must be missing something, tho' the wife's been telling me that for years.

[Moto]

moluag said:

I'm a bit confused, why are there TWO cutouts for a single circular knob?

Early MGB's had 2 similar controls, 1 for the temperature and one for directing the air flow through different outlets. I think the earlier S2 Vixens used both these controls and hence two cutouts. Later S3's did away with the air flow control so has just 1 located centrally in the dash. Probably 2 cutouts is just a hangover from earlier layout.

[prideaux]

Adrian@ said:

Hi,
You will need to install some kind of heater valve and a restricted bypass if the water system requires that hot water circulates through the pipe work...the later 1600M series just has a heater pull attached to the steering column bolts (as Andrew says, the MG version requires cut-outs into the rear of the dash which should be there anyway).
Adrian@

That presuming they re covered the old dash and did not make a new one leaving off the heater hole fingers crossed they did not as its dash out the fit otherwise
A