Morris Minor Owners Club

71 2 door saloon
Just making a front parcel shelf for my moggy, can anyone tell me if the heater blower had ducts or tubes to protrude through the parcel shelf into the front foot well?

Yes there are holes in the parcel shelf (1 either side of the heater) for ducting to keep the occupants' feet warm.

You can buy a parcel shelf ready made.

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... -d-p828896

Hang on though.......Saloon production ended in 1970.....

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 8:23 am
Hang on though.......Saloon production ended in 1970.....

Stephen

It was in November though.
He probably has one of the last ones and it hung around in a Dealership for a while until someone did a deal to take it off their hands...
It would be interesting to know how near the Chassis Number is to 1288377

Ours is 1097 away from that number, assumed to be built November '70 and sold quite a lot later (J reg) in 71.

Shifting the last stock must have been quite hard and probably called for some deep discounting.

yes J reg registered in 71
are these duct s available anywhere

Nax wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:36 am yes J reg registered in 71
are these duct s available anywhere

Yes, the ducting is the same as in a Series II Land Rover and you can buy it from a company called Emberton Imperial. The same ducting is used to go from the heater up to the screen air vents. As the ducting tubes pass very close to each other where they join the heater, only this original type thin-wall ducting will fit.

Stephen

Thanks for your help I will get that ordered

svenedin wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 11:02 am
Yes, the ducting is the same as in a Series II Land Rover and you can buy it from a company called Emberton Imperial. The same ducting is used to go from the heater up to the screen air vents. As the ducting tubes pass very close to each other where they join the heater, only this original type thin-wall ducting will fit.

Stephen

Thanks Stephen, I'll bear that in mind.
The hoses Basil came with (original 2017 image below) are a strange pale grey corrugated item, that look as though they belong to some sort of Laundry appliance...
Mind you, I'll have to compare the outlets of the Tudor with the Smiths...

Yes Berni, that is a bit nasty. Maybe a condensate drain from a tumble dryer?

This is the link. It is expensive but it is the only supplier I am aware of. This is the same ducting as is used on the later rectangular heater.

Mice ate some of this before I had even fitted it!!!

https://embertonimperial.com/products/r ... iVZExpDhK-

Stephen

You can buy similar pipe the right size from garden pond suppliers, that is what I used.

kevin s wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:13 pm You can buy similar pipe the right size from garden pond suppliers, that is what I used.

This is plasticised cotton fabric over a wire coil and has a very thin wall. With the rectangular heater the outlets for the footwell and the screen vents are so close together that I could not get corrugated plastic pipe to fit. I did try that first but it was a waste of time.

Stephen

michael4 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 9:38 am Ours is 1097 away from that number, assumed to be built November '70 and sold quite a lot later (J reg) in 71.

Shifting the last stock must have been quite hard and probably called for some deep discounting.

Mine is 442 away from that number!

svenedin wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:42 pm

kevin s wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:13 pm You can buy similar pipe the right size from garden pond suppliers, that is what I used.

This is plasticised cotton fabric over a wire coil and has a very thin wall. With the rectangular heater the outlets for the footwell and the screen vents are so close together that I could not get corrugated plastic pipe to fit. I did try that first but it was a waste of time.

Stephen

My 62 has been retrofitted with square heater, with elephant trunk fresh air inlet. It has two ducts for the windscreen but no ducting for the cabin as you described Stephen. The cabin outlet is a rectangular slot with no ducting. Do all of the square heaters normally have 4 duct pipes?

My 64 (which is in reality a 63) came with the square heater fitted as standard (the parcel shelf was the correct duotone beige version, but with the square heater outlets cut out of it) and has two pipes (of the kind described by Stephen) dropping down to provide heat to the footwells (or more likely the gearbox cowl ).

I think you'd see them if you did have them at the angle of your photo, but otherwise it's a case of bending down low enough to look under the parcelshelf to see them.

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 9:52 pm

svenedin wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:42 pm

kevin s wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:13 pm You can buy similar pipe the right size from garden pond suppliers, that is what I used.

This is plasticised cotton fabric over a wire coil and has a very thin wall. With the rectangular heater the outlets for the footwell and the screen vents are so close together that I could not get corrugated plastic pipe to fit. I did try that first but it was a waste of time.

Stephen

My 62 has been retrofitted with square heater, with elephant trunk fresh air inlet. It has two ducts for the windscreen but no ducting for the cabin as you described Stephen. The cabin outlet is a rectangular slot with no ducting. Do all of the square heaters normally have 4 duct pipes?20220310_131744.jpg

For the rectangular Smiths heater, the actual metal heater box only has one air outlet per side (this points upwards and goes to the screen) but the plastic "ears" provide another outlet per side that points backwards and the pipe then makes a bend to go downwards to the footwell. The screen pipe and footwell pipe are so close they touch each other. I notice your heater Bill does not have the plastic "ears".

This isn't a great photo but it shows the pipe going downwards to the footwell and the fresh air intake pipe. You can't see the pipe going up to the screen but it's a very tight squeeze and even with the thin walled original type ducting there's barely any room at all.

Stephen

Thanks Chief and Stephen, you are correct mine does not have plastic ears or ducting, just rectangular opening in heater box.
Not really a problem as its never used in winter and has demister pipes if raining.
If I came across the ears cheaply or free I may fit them
Not very good picture, as car is not at home, but if you zoom you can see the opening

Early Minors had the "round" heater. Later Minors had the "square" heater with the plastic "wings" and two sets of ducts that took air from the side of the heater. Other BMC cars such as the Mini had a similar "square" heater that had a slot underneath and only one set of ducts. Although some had a slider control to operate the air diverter flap, it is easy to modify them to have the Minor style flap control. This can result in heaters that look very similar but with different ducts.

simmitc wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2026 1:24 pm Early Minors had the "round" heater. Later Minors had the "square" heater with the plastic "wings" and two sets of ducts that took air from the side of the heater. Other BMC cars such as the Mini had a similar "square" heater that had a slot underneath and only one set of ducts. Although some had a slider control to operate the air diverter flap, it is easy to modify them to have the Minor style flap control. This can result in heaters that look very similar but with different ducts.

Mine is 62 but had the elephant trunk heater retro fitted(came with garage invoice) it has a central control for off, car, demist you can see in picture. The toggle switch is the heater fan, I assume its a later minor heater? but no ears or ducts for in car position.
Unless you recognise it as something else

So is the elephant ear and duct outlet the one circled? So they screw on to the housing with ducting to the foot area. The rectangular opening that points into the cabin doesn't have anything. Is that correct?

Yes that's correct. The screws for the front plate also secure the wings or ears.


Stephen