Technical Another heater tube thread

[JumpJet]

So I got my 126 starter cable in the mail, so I went to install the heater tube and ran into some problems - problems I think others have had before. I've read Peter's thread here, and came to the same conclusion more or less but wanted to socialize a planned fix. The brackets don't line up with the existing holes as Peter found out, and I re-discovered. Rather than go through the headache of re-clocking the brackets, I was thinking about drilling 2 holes through the flat portion of the body, about 6-8 inches apart. The bottom hole, I'd drill large enough for a socket+extension, while the top one will first be for a self-tapping screw to mark the position, followed by a riv-nut (assuming there's space). I'd fit some 1/4" rubber washers between the tube and the body to isolate it and get rubber body plugs for the bottom holes. Any thoughts on this course of action? I think it'd be a lot more straight-forward than fiddling with brackets. My main concern is working room with the control arm right there.

Also, the plastic clamp for the starter cable shattered as soon as I tried to twist it into the tube, so that started things off wonderfully. I'll have to get another one of those and flatten/thin the mounting point to ensure that doesn't happen again. In the meantime, I've bodged a fix using the old 500 starter cable clamp and the existing hole for the previous header flex tube clamp someone installed.

If none of this pans out, I suppose I'll wind up reinstalling the flex tube that was on the car beforehand.

 

[JumpJet]

Plan A wouldn’t work so I took a chance and decided to re-clock the rear mounting tab and I think I’ve succeeded. The front tab was good, so I cut off the rear tab (a bit too much on one spot weld) and test fit it with duct tape to hold it in place until I could tack weld it. The welds weren’t the prettiest, and I had to play with the voltage and wire speed to keep from blowing holes in the thin metal, but in the end was able to plug all the holes, grind it down, and paint it.

On top of that, some extra clearancing was necessary on the sides, and I still need to add brackets to hold the cable in place instead of the cheap plastic clamp, but I think this’ll work.

 

[JumpJet]

Sistemato! I didn’t want to fiddle with another plastic clamp, so I stuck a riv-nut in its place and another further forward to secure a couple coated cable clamps. Now everything is nice and secure... better than new.

Lesson learned - put the ducting on before cinching everything down. What a pain to jam it up there with the metal tube in place.