Heater Valve Plate

[mobylette]

Anybody know where I can get one of these, No 16 in the diagram:

MM Valve.JPG (11.69 KiB) Viewed 2375 times

I can only find it complete with valve for about £20 !!

[mobylette]

Found one at Bull Motif, but nearly £12 delivered!

[ManyMinors]

That REALLY doesn't sound expensive to me for a specially made, low volume car part, delivered to your door!
I think that we Morris Minor owners are spoiled. Try buying parts for your modern car and see how much they cost.....

[SteveClem]

I've heard the opinion that the reason many new minor parts are substandard is that owners aren't prepared to pay for quality, so manufacturers are working to our price expectations. Has a ring of truth about it.

[mobylette]

Exactly, which is why I am not willing to pay £12 for a part that was probably made badly in the far east for 10p.

[philthehill]

I do not know about £12 - the base plate is available from MOSS for £4.40 plus the usual - see link below.

http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/base-plate ... soc=136597

The item listed looks well made to me

Here is another:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-MIDGET-AUS ... Swn45ZvSEl

[liammonty]

I’m with ManyMinors and SteveClem on this one - once you consider the cost of making tooling, shipping the part and so on, £12 is nothing. We are lucky we are able to get these parts for our cars, and in some cases, I’d be happy to pay more for better quality parts.

[oliver90owner]

Anybody know where I can get one of these, No 16 in the diagram:

Easy peasy if you have the machinery and tools. You won't make a one-off in much less than an hour, mind - unless you do this sort of thing regularly, or have a CNC machineat your disposal.

Plasma cut (or band saw) the flange and drill/bore the holes, weld on a (spigotted) socket, bore to size, tap the thread, and face off to remove any warpage/excess metal from the welding. You could do it with hack saw, files, hand drill, etc., or from the solid, rather than fabricate.

Soo, if you think £12, or £20 for the whole, is expensive join your local model engineering club and get to work!

I would make mine if it were difficult to obtain, too pricey or needed urgently. It is not really that difficult.

The flange is a standard sae size, no doubt.

[BrianHawley]

Prices apart, I have to agree we mog owners are spoiled for availability.

Talk to anyone with a more obscure 50 year old car and they have to fabricate practically everything.

[firedrake1942]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-MIDGET-AUS ... Swn45ZvSEl

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-MIDGET-AUS ... 0005.m1851

[philthehill]

The thread of the home produced solid brass spacer I have and into which the actual tap fits is 3/8 x 19TPI BSP.

[mobylette]

Thanks Phil, I have purchased the eBay one you gave a link to, £ 7 delivered seems more reasonable.

May I add that I am happy to pay for quality and reasonable postage charges.

The postage quoted for this small & light item has been up to £5 on some well known suppliers sites. Unless purchasing other items, then it is a no go for me.

[RobThomas]

I had those ALTA components made and I sold them for what they cost to make. The bits above look to be amazingly cheap when compared to what it cost me to get my stuff made and I couldn't include any of the development time into the price. A 1098 valve guide costs maybe £5 but the material for me to make one from scratch is £5 by itself and then you need to add time/labour (1 hour each), electricity, postage, tooling etc.

Thinking about it, £100 for a complete new suspension leg is staggeringly cheap for any car!

[Declan_Burns]

The heater valve plate costs only £5.94 from ESM. Not worth making it yourself at that price.
http://www.morrisminorspares.com/coolin ... ve-p829611
Regards
Declan