Heater Valve Access Hole.. What the ?

[pauldridge]

My '64 230SL (European) seems to have a different arrangement on the firewall where the rubber heater valve access plug and hole should be.  There is no hole at all on mine, and the curved lip on mine is filled in, rather than having an opening for a potential hole.  It also looks like some ham-handed P.O. made a cut in the metal here, then tried to weld it back up afterward.  

The car is in process of being stripped to the last nut for painting, which will include removal of the entire A/C and heater boxes, and I have all new firewall rubber and pad, so this seems to be the time to try to correct this.


I've looked at a jillion other '64 and '65 SL's and have yet to see another with this oddball configuration.  I'd sure appreciate feedback on what to do with this!

230SL soon to be 180G Silver/blue interior. Auto/AC

Code: [Select]

[merrill]

paul,
sure looks like the p.o. left you a mess to fix.

once you get the car stripped (inside and out) you may be able to see the original hole from underneath.

if you are lucky you can get the hole put back in where it belongs.

note: you can get new rubber grommets for the heater hose to firewall.
I purchased a grommet set from K&K (read sls)  which included many grommets..




Matt
Austin Tx
66 230 sl - "white"
78 300 D - Blue
98 C230

[J. Huber]

Hi Phil. Well, turns out, the earlier cars had a straight ridge that ran the length of the firewall. (not curved like later ones)... And no access hole. Someone over the years sliced a hole in mine -- when I did my firewall pad, I reworked the hole to be as round as I could and added the rubber plug. So mine looks ok but is not original. Good news is, I can now get to my heater valve and joints.

James
63 230SL

[114015]

Dear Paul,

Now I am surprised that nobody else has answered yet.
Of course James is right, early cars like yours did not have the opening for the heater valve in the firewall and the ridge was straight all accross. The change to the opening was made somewhere after serial 003100 or so. Certainly your car got new fenders in the past and together with those the sheet metal panel in front of your windscreen was replaced as well. The replacement part always takes care of the valve opening in the firewall with the little bulge in the metal lip you recognized, that's why you find it there somehow "changed" at your car.
It's up to you what you will do with the opening during restoration; my car did not have it and won't get it since it is not original. However, then you have to live with the fate that the heater valve is much harder accessible for maintenance, through the fresh air opening, to say so. IMHO you can live with that since the heater system will certainly get attention now during restoration (cleaning, rust removal, greasing) while the system is out of the car.

Best,


Achim
(Magdeburg, Germany)