1947 ford ranger...

So, on my ‘to buy’ list was an appropriate vintage heater. I was really having trouble finding anything I liked that was the appropriate size and shape and not daft money.
What I should have done was tidy up a bit , cos I was going through a box of entirely unrelated Y block engine parts to find some bits out for a mate, and a found a period heater box in there! Assuming it came from the same vehicle as the engine, it’s from a later 50s ford truck. I don’t know what brand it is, I don’t think it’s original ford as they had ones with the ‘ford’ script stamped in, which are now a fortune, even for untested wrecks. So I assume it’s aftermarket, but I’m fairly up on vintage heaters and it’s not a brand I recognise.

It’s not bad looking, and has a fan fitted that is 12v and after testing works fine. The front door was a bit damaged and it had no heater core, but these old heaters are pretty simple and I thought I’d be able to find something to fit.

So, sort the casing out first. I removed the front panel, cleaned it up, dressed any dents out, knocked the door back flat, and freed up the hinges. Them being seized was why someone had bent the door.


Sorted out a bit-




I also removed the fan from the main casing to rewire it was the insulation was falling apart. Getting the fan off the motor without damaging it was a bit of a mission but I managed it eventually.



The back side that sits against the firewall is dead simple, it just has 3 studs and the slots at each side are for the pipes, the matrix sits flat above the fan.


There’s also doors on the sides and a outlet for a demister pipe, but I didn’t get pics that really showed that.

The next issue was the lack of heater core. So I sat down with a tape measure and a online heater matrix catalogue, and the best option in terms of size, outlets and price was one of these-


Bargain. Certainly saved me a lot on buying another period heater with what they fetch these days.

It’ll need packing with foam a little around the edges, but you want room to add a bit to avoid rubbing and rattles really.
Just waiting for it to turn up and it can go in. May need the heater box trimming a bit for the pipes but that’s no major issue.

In the meantime I’ve got this little bit on the front edge of the heater box to sort, then I can paint it.


I’ll also probably come up with something to replace the missing emblem in the recess on the front, but it’s not a major priority at the mo.

Actually I know just the man, he’s done me a few little bits for me before.

After much googleage I’ve found out it’s actually a ‘Briggs’ heater, they seem to be from Ohio. Certainly one of the less common ones out there.

That’s picclick for you. It’s a site that’s pretty much useless but occasionally gives interesting archived pics, along with some unrelated information!

I was going to offer to pick up a set next week and bring them over with me on the 18th. I was halfway through your post, checked autozone and napa local both have them, then saw rock auto had been utilized.

Green wheels?

I like the lime wheels..

I also utilise rock auto for most of my parts for my Cressida, not necessarily because it's easier to find parts (it is, they're all in one place, and I don't have to leave the Aircon to the find them), but because they're about half the price delivered as Australian stores.

More bits I bought are turning up.

First these-


The bushes on mine were totally shot, actually worn through on one side, which meant the pins had worn a bit as well. It only cost about £7 extra for the new shackles as well over the price of the polybushes on their own.

New balljoints turned up, and are wrong, so will be going back. One of the few chassis changes is uprated, larger lower balljoints in 2006 (for 2007 model year). Even supplying the reg. number and clearly stating it’s a 2007 TDCI model this dullard sent the earlier ones. Meh.

One massively annoying thing about Japanese designed vehicles is the over-use of metric fine fasteners, In applications that really do not require fine threads. These trucks suffer from it, all fasteners over m8 are metric fine, with even pretty mundane stuff like the bolts for the tank guard and crossmembers being fine thread. There’s no benefit to it, and they seem much more susceptible to seizing and snapping than their ISO counterparts. It also makes replacement an issue, especially as none of them are plain hex head, they’re all flanged, and id like to keep them that way as it means no messing about with washers and lock washers.

Replacing the m6 and m8 stuff wasn’t an issue, but try finding m10x1.25x30 flanged head bolts. In the end I could only get self colour, so I had to buy those and paint em with a can of cold-galv after a dose of brake cleaner.


But that meant I could bolt the first bit back on! It’s this arguably fairly pointless crossmember. The only thing that bolts to it is the handbrake cable, and I’d question its chassis-stiffening capabilities when it’s only bolted on with 4 m10 bolts in slotted holes, but ford/Mazda seem to think it does something 🤔


I also had to buy a couple of new nuts for the front leaf spring eye bolts, as to get them off I’d carefully ground the nut through on one side and split them as they wouldn’t come undone. Being metric fine again, two m14x1.5 flange locknuts ran to a fiver! At least they’re BZP this time.

Dunno of it would be worthwhile, hard to say exactly how many people would want them, they’ve obviously been doing without them up til now!

Still thoroughly enjoying this thread thanks, really great work.

With regards to sourcing various bolts, have you ever looked at www.accu.co.uk/

This is yet another website that I stumbled upon by sheer accident. I have been using their services to source all sorts of different bolts/washers/nuts, etc...

Their delivery charges are realistic and I have ordered goods at 7.00pm and had them turn up by the next morning; less than 24 hour turnround.

Perhaps it may be worthwhile trawling through what they have available?

Keep up the good work as well.