Now that I've completed the custom heater box to replace the bulky factory Mini one (https://mearcat.blogspot.com/2020/03/custom-heater-system-part-1.html, I had to make a new heater control assembly.
The cable for the heater tap lever will pass through a grommet in the firewall and rather than get a cable commercially made, I custom made one using a generic lawn mower throttle/control cable.
By wrapping the steel core (1.6mm diameter) around a 4.5mm diameter mandrel, I formed at eyelet on one end for the heater tap pin.
In the cabin I had to modify the lower dash panel for the Mini heater controls but first I cut out an opening for the stereo head unit.
The opening in the lower dash panel is a single DIN size (180x50mm) and due to a heater mounting bracket being directly behind this opening, I also had to modify the bracket to allow a full depth stereo to fit.
With the air direction flap in the heater box deleted, I couldn't use the standard Mini heater fascia so had to make a new assembly to hold the hot/cold lever and fan power switch. The heater control assembly was designed as a single piece.
The heater adjustment lever was designed to have a 30mm stroke required by the heater tap and it was held onto a 5mm pin with some 1mm brass shims and a push on retaining clip (aka starlock washer). I also added a custom brass saddle to prevent any vertical movement, and limit the horizontal movement of the lever.
I found that the piece of the heater lever that was set in the eyelet was binding sightly as the lever was moved back & forth so I remade the whole lever with a round pin brazed on the end.
The heater controls will be located directly below the stereo opening. I created a CAD design for a fascia and I got a local trophy shop to cut a piece of 3mm laminate, engrave the labels and paint fill the text.
The stereo shown below is obviously a really old unit, which will be replaced with a new one but this is the final layout in the lower dash panel.
One small update I made to the heater hoses in the engine bay was to replace the standard 16mm hose between the heater hose and the bulkhead adapter with a universal 90deg 16mm heater hose as the normal hose was kinking slightly with the tight radius.
The cable for the heater tap lever will pass through a grommet in the firewall and rather than get a cable commercially made, I custom made one using a generic lawn mower throttle/control cable.
By wrapping the steel core (1.6mm diameter) around a 4.5mm diameter mandrel, I formed at eyelet on one end for the heater tap pin.
In the cabin I had to modify the lower dash panel for the Mini heater controls but first I cut out an opening for the stereo head unit.
The opening in the lower dash panel is a single DIN size (180x50mm) and due to a heater mounting bracket being directly behind this opening, I also had to modify the bracket to allow a full depth stereo to fit.
With the air direction flap in the heater box deleted, I couldn't use the standard Mini heater fascia so had to make a new assembly to hold the hot/cold lever and fan power switch. The heater control assembly was designed as a single piece.
The heater adjustment lever was designed to have a 30mm stroke required by the heater tap and it was held onto a 5mm pin with some 1mm brass shims and a push on retaining clip (aka starlock washer). I also added a custom brass saddle to prevent any vertical movement, and limit the horizontal movement of the lever.
The other end of the mower control cable was trimmed and another eyelet hand-formed. This cable is held in place with a same simple clamp as on the heater tap.
Instead of the original single speed fan, I have an LED illuminated on/off switch and adjustable fan speed for the high speed PC case fan in the heater box. The fan speed is controlled by a potentiometer as part of a simple LM317 voltage regulator circuit I got off eBay. This circuit board provides a linear range of 1.5-12 Volts to the fan (which uses less than 1 Amp). Also, the four captive nuts in the photo below are used to mount the assembly to the lower dash panel.
The heater controls will be located directly below the stereo opening. I created a CAD design for a fascia and I got a local trophy shop to cut a piece of 3mm laminate, engrave the labels and paint fill the text.
The stereo shown below is obviously a really old unit, which will be replaced with a new one but this is the final layout in the lower dash panel.
One small update I made to the heater hoses in the engine bay was to replace the standard 16mm hose between the heater hose and the bulkhead adapter with a universal 90deg 16mm heater hose as the normal hose was kinking slightly with the tight radius.
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