Hi folks;- just nipped in on Roger's signon.
Got his bongo heating malady sorted today. The photo posted further up this thread is of an aircon rad(no cooling system pipes attach to it). Just off the picture to the right are 2 rubber cooling system pipes that attach to the inlet & outlet pipes of the actual heater matrix(rad) that protrude through the bulkhead from inside the car. The matrix & its position in the big plastic heater box under the dash are almost identical to that of most other cars. With the glove box removed,the matrix can be pulled of of the heater box into the nsf footwell. EXCEPT that the 2 moulded feed pipes stick thru the bulkhead into the underbonnet space about 2.5inches & prevent the thing from being slid out.However,with all the 10mm fixing nuts removed,the heater unit can just be levered back into the cab enough to allow the feed stubs to clear the inside of the bulkhead. With the leaking matrix out,mop all the green water out of the heater unit.
I spent quite some time scouring the web & phoned 4 Bongo parts suppliers,plus a bongo specialist recommended to me in Coventry. One drew a total blank(cant supply/never been asked for one), 2 never called me back, the Coventry bloke never came back to me despite me chasing him 3 times.One came up trumps & quoted me £280 quid & a 3week wait from Japan.I also posted a request on 'Parts Gateway' which circulates requests round several hundred breakers with not one response. Not very inspiring all round.
I had found a cooling system specialist in Birmingham that makes copies of rads/matrixes on a 2day turnaround.But at quite a cost.
As the matrix appeared to be to fairly familiar/standard dimensions,I went to a local radiator specialist & we combed his catalogues. He had several units in stock.Although the original is a modern non-servicable plastic/ally type,we found a (new) metal/soldered brass unit of the same dimensions.The outlet pipes were not ideally aligned with the bulkhead access holes.Kindly my supplier called in at Wickes on his way home last night & bought some yorkshire fittings.This morning we decided the ideal angle/alignment for the feed pipes & he drilled the end tank of the unit & soldered them in.(He still builds/repairs old-school rads for a living).With the new matrix in position(& the addition of some window-draught-excluder foam to seal it in the heater box),I used some 'Gates' pipe joiners to extend the rubber feed/return pipes thru the bulkhead to the new matrix. I then refitted the blower unit & trunking under the bonnet(which actually needn't have been removed) & topped up the coolant. Bleeding & testing tomorrow.
Dont worry Roger-I shant be expecting you the fork out for all the man hours internetting/phoning/head scratching expended.You know I like a challenge......
Hope this is of some use to forum members(although thankfully it seems these dont fail often!)
Best Regards
(PS/I drive a '76 aircooled VW camper & so am immune from these problems.....although my heating is pretty rubbish though!)
I don't feel quite as silly, as others thought the same, but at least we now know the score if it happens again.