EA81 heater tap retro-fit/replacement
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 10:41 pm
Here it is then, the thread everyone has been waiting for For all those people with a leaking/non functional heater tap on their EA81 who want a modern/new part to replace it. There is a way!
Grab a heater tap from a V6, VN VT etc commodore such as this which is the correct bypass type required for our old Subies. Down side is it's made of plastic BUT they are cheap and plentiful being from a commo so easy to source a new one when it breaks. Maybe even keep one in your spares bag when you go on trips It comes with a vacuum can attached to control it, it is a simple task to remove this.
The bracket which holds the original heat tap can be re-used, it is necessary to destroy the old heater tap to remove it from the bracket. It's quite easy to cut away with a chisel the little brass folded over mounting ears.
Happily the inlet/outlet arrangement of the commodore heater tap is correct for this application, and the lever which operates the flap inside works the same as the old heater tap. The cable pulls in towards the firewall for hot, pushes away from the firewall for cold. The tricky bit is you have to mount the tap at an angle to get the crank rotation to be in line with the cable travel, a bit tricky to explain but if you do this mod you will see what I mean.
I added a piece on the old bracket to mount the new tap using the holes that used to mount the vacuum can. Forgive my rough and ready looking example as below, I was in a bit of a hurry today and seriously couldn't be bothered breaking out the welder to fab up a fancy bracket. This is only going on my beater ute anyway It is plenty strong enough, trust me.
Grab a heater tap from a V6, VN VT etc commodore such as this which is the correct bypass type required for our old Subies. Down side is it's made of plastic BUT they are cheap and plentiful being from a commo so easy to source a new one when it breaks. Maybe even keep one in your spares bag when you go on trips It comes with a vacuum can attached to control it, it is a simple task to remove this.
The bracket which holds the original heat tap can be re-used, it is necessary to destroy the old heater tap to remove it from the bracket. It's quite easy to cut away with a chisel the little brass folded over mounting ears.
Happily the inlet/outlet arrangement of the commodore heater tap is correct for this application, and the lever which operates the flap inside works the same as the old heater tap. The cable pulls in towards the firewall for hot, pushes away from the firewall for cold. The tricky bit is you have to mount the tap at an angle to get the crank rotation to be in line with the cable travel, a bit tricky to explain but if you do this mod you will see what I mean.
I added a piece on the old bracket to mount the new tap using the holes that used to mount the vacuum can. Forgive my rough and ready looking example as below, I was in a bit of a hurry today and seriously couldn't be bothered breaking out the welder to fab up a fancy bracket. This is only going on my beater ute anyway It is plenty strong enough, trust me.