Taxi Driver Online

Hi all - new on here. I'm the general fixer/dogsbody for my wife's LTI Fairway (it's run as a private car as a hobby!) and as expected the heater for the drivers cab is useless. Just wondering if anyone had fitted an upgrade heater/fan unit eg
http://www.t7design.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=180 which I'm hoping will be rather better than what's there. (I now know why london cabbies all used to wear bodywarmers and flat caps!) I'm also thinking by installing in the cab I can remove/seal up the existing unit and stop it flooding the floor everytime it rains (again not entirely unexpected!). Any other suggestions would be helpful - I have considered scrapyard hunting but the compact units do appeal for ease of fitting in the cab.

Cheers and thanks in advance for any insights.
P.

You can have the one from my new E7. I think that it was re-cycled from a Sopwith Camel.

Honestly, it is incredible that all Taxi Manufacturers/Converters "Claim" to have spent a small fortune developing the latest iteration of their baby and then install a heater that one could not sell in Argos because it's too crude!

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Don't dream it ~ Be it.

Never upgraded it ,but maybe it needs a new matrix or washing out ,take the pipes off under the bonnet and wash them through.Or sometimes if the engine runs cold put someting over the front of rad to warm the engine quicker.Good luck

The latest Lti (whatever that is) has aircon!

except the condenser and evaporator, whilst carrying a well known UK's company's name are all imported from India

OK, they have it hotter out there but the items were turning up with having been tested to a lower pressure than needed, so if your aircon goes wobbly on our summer day (lol) you know why....

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Wannabe theve had aircon from the fairway ! I have it in mine but never use it,never warm enough here

It's worth checking the hot water valve actually opens and giving the heater matrix a clear by flushing through the pipes with a hose.
The heater on mine is still pretty poor in cold weather but blanking off part of the rad has made a big difference and the engine also gets up to temperature much faster too.
So far I've had no problems with overheating butam keeping an eye on the gauge.

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Selling Imperial tools for old cars.

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. The radiator currently has a muff (ooer !) but temperature barely climbs above halfway so I might try some extra "muffing" (it gets worse) behind the grill. A flush of the matrix sound like it could be in order as well - it's a bit too bloody cold to bugger about like that at the moment! The control works fine so it's not that. Still thinking about uprating the fan as it's decidedly asthmatic even on "high" speed. Even my old SIII landrover was better than this I might also try fitting an thermostatic electric rad fan - they are a popular alteration on Landy's so might help with the equally crude technology of a Fairway - particularly as it's not doing stop/start PH type duties - just being used as a runabout so is effectively over-cooled95% of the time.

P.

I added some insulation under the roof and in the side pockets and tried to stop the draughts (with some success).

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Selling Imperial tools for old cars.

Bacon, you'll be doing a loft coversion in the old fairway soon .

Why not,it's got a wooden floor already!

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Selling Imperial tools for old cars.

How about underfloor heating and a conservatory?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Hi,
I've found the front heater in mine to work perfectly well if you put a radiator muff on. Failing that, you could 'find' a For Sale sign, cut it so it just fits over the matrix but inside the frame of the radiator and have a letterbox sized hole cut in it. Just keep an eye on the temperature gauge at first in case you need to make the hole bigger. My temp gauge has been right in the middle since I've installed my for sale sign.

Yes,and decking and a patio.

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Selling Imperial tools for old cars.

Sorting heater out will have to wait until the weather's warmer - I'll try flushing out matrix etc first. I have a muff fitted and it doesn't seem to make much difference. Heater fan itself is a bit knackered too I think - probably all needs stripping out and cleaning. We've got warm air heating at home which uses a similar fan design - I cleaned that af ew weeks ago and got abot a pound of dust off it - I suspect the fairway fan may be similar if the rest of the concealed bits are anaything to go by!

More annoyingly the radiator fan distintegrated rather spectacularly the other day so sorting that out will take priority. New rad fan will be a temporary fix until I can source a cheap electric unit and remove viscous fan - anyone else done this ?

P.

Ours hasn't got underfloor heating or a conservatory but we do have a water feature in the drivers footwell ....