Heater & Blower Cover on 411

[peter dowdle]

Geoff very good of you.

Adding photos is easy if you can get them into your computer.

Below the area where you type a reply to a thread there is a section for attachments . It works realy well.

I believe the material used is the same as used in the Austin Healy boot. Im trying to source a supplier in Australia.

[Kevin H]

Peter and Geoff, it did occur to me that the bottom of the vinyl cover could be secured between the metal strip and the front of heater tray, then folded up and over the metal strip so it is not visible from the engine bay. Of course this would require the vinyl to be a bit longer, probably by about 1.5 inches.

However if a vehicle was being restored, it is likely that there may be a bit of rust in this area and if the metal strip was removed during the restoration process, the vinyl beneath it may not be in good condition, so it would be tempting to cut the bottom inch or so off the vinyl, in which case it would no longer be long enough to wrap around the metal bar when re-installing. So the metal strip ends up being fixed on the outside of the vinyl cover where is it visible in the engine bay.

I hope this makes sense! (see attached drawing)

[peter dowdle]

Kevin you may be right > Shall await with interest Geoffs photos. Its amazing with all the 411s out there no one else has made any effort to reply. Cant be that hard to lift the bonnet and have a look in the interest of keeping the cars original.

[Geoff Kingston]

Peter,
Due to my limited computer skills failed to upload the photographs so have sent them to Kevin who kindly offered to help if I got into any difficulty.
I managed to get access to another 411 series 3 which had far less clutter round it so I was able to take some photographs, this is another car untouched for ages and the mounting arrangement is different with the metal strip Kevin photographed on the outside bottom of the cover, none of which ever appears to have been disturbed so I put money on this being how Bristol put it together originally. The strip is fixed to the metal strip on the shelf and the cover itself extends a little bit below it which I hope comes out in the photograph.
I checked on my 603 and it is totally different to the earlier cars.
Geoff.

[Kevin H]

Thanks for the photos Geoff, which are attached to this post.



The metal strip looks very similar to the one from my car, a 411 S5, except the metal strip appears to taper at the end. You can also see that it was screwed in place.


Don't you just love the trouble Bristol went to in getting the heater hoses neatly through the vinyl cover :-)

[peter dowdle]

Thanks guys for all your effort. Im very keen on originality where possible but how poor is the whole design , especially the holes for the heater pipes. A little modification to the design seems to be called for. Its interesting to note the type of material used I believe I last saw it in the boot of my 100/6 Healey some 50 years ago. Trying to source a supplier at the moment.

[peter dowdle]

Hopefully the last question

I noticed in various photos posted earlier,stitching that formed a rectangular box effect on the upper vertical panel of the cover. My question is, is this purely decorative or is this stitching holding something to the underside of the cover?
What purpose is it there for.