Thanks Geoff for the suggestion, the thought did cross my mind but what to do with all those bits of unwanted Bristol 405 ???? besides I would still want to hang onto the heater box as a memento!!
However with some persistence the problem is now solved and I have one heater box removed and the heater radiator ready for the tanks to be removed and the entire radiator and tubes cleaned.
For those interested here is how it was done,
Firstly It is important to understand that the demister tubes exit the heater box at a slight upwards angle.
The two holes in the bulk head that the demister tubes pass through are elongated upwards and towards the driver’s side.
The workshop manual says to disconnect the speedo cable, which would suggest that you remove the heater box from that side BUT this could not work because the oil pressure line is immediately in the way as is the auxiliary light socket and the hump for the steering column. No mention of removing the oil line or the light socket in the workshop manual.
Because of the tube angle when I cut the tube end off ( Straight ) with just a metal saw blade I ended up with one side being 3-4 mm and the other side being about 7mm, which as it turned out was pretty close to what I estimated should be removed (5mm -10mm) this amount would still easily allow the rubber elbow to be refitted. It was still a bit tricky to remove the unit via the passenger side where I disconnected the cable to the fuel mixture system and pulled it back through the firewall and partly through the bulk head so as to not impede the heater box movement at all. I had already removed the HMV radio power unit which is located immediately to the left of the heater box but that is a simple procedure. I taped up the edge of the bonnet opening to prevent any scratches and then finally I was in possession of one liberated heater box.
To make it a little easier to refit I will look at trimming the demister tubes a little more and perhaps work out a tube insert mechanism which can be inserted/withdrawn from within the cabin, Not that I think I should ever have to do this again.
The next step is to take the heater radiator to a radiator specialist for a tanks off cleaning and then I need to service the water valve. I hope this info assists someone else in the future.
Cheers all
Peter
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