Bruce Raybould Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Hi everyone, the heater motor fan has stopped working on my 1965 Vitesse. I thought it might be an excuse to upgrade. I have read of Nissan Micra fans fitting without any alterations but dependent upon the year of the Nissan. Could I kindly ask for a link to save me a lot of research and knowing me getting it wrong as well. Help appreciated. With thanks. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johny Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 The search came up with this thread under 'Micra' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Smart car fans also work well. Very quiet and at the moment quite cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Raybould Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 21 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: Smart car fans also work well. Very quiet and at the moment quite cheap. Thank you. I will take a look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johny Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 23 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: Smart car fans also work well. Very quiet and at the moment quite cheap. Colin with this upgrade I know the air blast will be more powerful but does the air come out warm enough? I suspect with my heater output the temperature would be quite low... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 20 minutes ago, johny said: Colin with this upgrade I know the air blast will be more powerful but does the air come out warm enough? I suspect with my heater output the temperature would be quite low... You can always add a variable rheostat control knob (Is that the 'correct' term?) which allows you to control the speed. I bought a very cheap one off eBay, about £4, so you can fine tune the fan output for the best speed to heat ratio. You are always limited by the state and output of the heater matrix, but as long as it's clear and free-flowing you'll have a better chance of demisting the Herald if not heating it to comfortable levels with the higher fan output. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve P Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 My Vitesse had a poor heater, I took all of it apart, lubricated the fan motor and put a new control valve and flushed the matrix. Then tested the switch and found it was really intermittent. Found a NOS one on e bay for £15 and fitted that, bingo, fan much faster and heater warmer. Not that it matters much in a CV but it did help when I was driving it in January with the roof down at -1 degrees. S 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 1 hour ago, Steve P said: Not that it matters much in a CV but it did help when I was driving it in January with the roof down at -1 degrees. S Last November I used my 13/60 convertible in a charity run and it was 'P' ing it down all day, so pulled the heater control knob out to open it up. No use at all! Several kilometres later I realised it might be better if I switched the fan on and directed the air to the windscreen rather than footwell. There was a real & surprising improvement, to be honest I was quite impressed with it. Should those comments be transferred to the 'Blond moments' thread??? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgana Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 38 minutes ago, Chris A said: Several kilometres later I realised it might be better if I switched the fan on and directed the air to the windscreen rather than footwell. There was a real & surprising improvement, to be honest I was quite impressed with it. There is a page in the Herald glovebox manual with a settings table for different conditions when using the heater/blower - window open slightly, distribution to windscreen, heat on with fan etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 4 hours ago, Steve P said: Not that it matters much in a CV but it did help when I was driving it in January with the roof down at -1 degrees. Ah yes!! Driving my 1200 into work at 3pm in lovely Winter sunlight was easy on December 23rd, driving home again at 3am wasn't. I gave up after a mile at most and put the hood up. I don't think the engine would ever have warmed up enough for the heater to have made even a slight difference. More recently a Boxing Day run almost cost me fingers and ears in the 13/60. Modern convertibles, such as my wife's former Saab and my current BMW have superb heaters, it seems way in excess of the output of any of our saloons, but Heralds are marginal at best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 I’ve done the Nissan conversion and with a new Heater Matrix the heat output is good Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 3 hours ago, Morgana said: There is a page in the Herald glovebox manual with a settings table for different conditions when using the heater/blower - window open slightly, distribution to windscreen, heat on with fan etc. Yes I know, but :- 1. Handbook wasn't in the car 2. I was too busy wiping the windscreen with a towel to clear the condensation to read it even if it was 3. Normally I have it set to the footwell and off, just using it on cool days with the roof down 4. The main reason : brain not working. 🙄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahebron Posted June 8 Report Share Posted June 8 On 24/03/2024 at 23:01, Colin Lindsay said: You can always add a variable rheostat control knob (Is that the 'correct' term?) which allows you to control the speed. I bought a very cheap one off eBay, about £4, so you can fine tune the fan output for the best speed to heat ratio. You are always limited by the state and output of the heater matrix, but as long as it's clear and free-flowing you'll have a better chance of demisting the Herald if not heating it to comfortable levels with the higher fan output. Or a 10 amp Pulse Width Modulator will bring it into this century😜 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted June 9 Report Share Posted June 9 We in the Southern Hemisphere appear to be a little slow in responding? I had 3 Heralds/Vitesse's in the late 60's and early 70's in the NE of England and lived right on the York Moors (extreme outskirts of Guisborough) I found the heating in all 3 cars very good, after walking in the snow/slush with soaking wet shoes and cold feet putting the interior heat on max my feet were warm and shoes dry in the 40 min drive home, with the inevitable white tide mark on the shoes which required a shoe polish to cover up! Demisting was not as good but you could see the condensation slowly recede on the windscreen BUT there was always a wide ribbon of condensation up the windscreen adjacent the frame, requiring the back of the driving glove string back to smear off! Tried the demister creams but not that good. No way would they melt snow on the windscreen. I had a work's Corsair V4 for a while that had a fantastic heater demist system. The Smiths stick on rear window film demisters were good fitted them to both saloons and I thought about the aftermarket heated bar front demisters but never fitted them, always worried about a fire from the red glowing element? The daughters Mk2 Spit which we've had nearly 25 years the heater motor very noisy but quietens down with use didn't demist at all looking down thro the windscreen I found there was no slit/opening in the recovered vinyl dash (PO job), so cut a hacksaw blade down sharpened it to a razor finish bent the blade to gain access thro the steel demister cover as the windscreen slope seriously affected access and cut a slot in each demister hey presto some demister effect, cabin heating is fabulous well here in Aus anyway! I have a new Smiths heater motor to fit in the Spit BUT it is unfortunately on the early Spits it's a heater out job, so can wait till the existing motor fails!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTV8 Posted June 10 Report Share Posted June 10 On 08/06/2024 at 09:21, ahebron said: Or a 10 amp Pulse Width Modulator will bring it into this century😜 I tried a PWM when fitting a SPAL fan into the heater box of my TR4, during tests I found that the PWM was not allowing the full voltage when ‘fully on’ - An anemometer showed it was about 20% down on airflow. I ended up fitting without the PWM as an on-off approach and it is very good. i know others who were happy to use a PWM, but just worth being aware of in case your objective was maximum airflow. ……… Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 10 Report Share Posted June 10 On 24/03/2024 at 13:40, Morgana said: There is a page in the Herald glovebox manual with a settings table for different conditions when using the heater/blower - window open slightly, distribution to windscreen, heat on with fan etc. Yes, those sort of manuals are often quite funny. "Too warm? Open the window. Too cold? Close it again." "The windows on the Herald have unlimited adjustment - fully up, open a crack, down a bit more, down quite a bit, stick your head out..." I spotted this little item the other night, for the rear screen: ...and for the front screen avoid those very common ceramic 12v blow heaters, you can breathe on the glass more efficiently. A good condition Herald / Vitesse heater and blower will be adequate, but no comparison with a modern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpitFire6 Posted June 11 Report Share Posted June 11 Hi, If you are not happy with the span speed you can cheaply boost the speed with a DC-DC boost module for less than a tenner. It does make more noise at 15V! Cheers, Iain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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