GD70

WOW! Looks brand new! Those are great reference pics, and excellent work. Explain how you did it and what paints etc... you used.
Glenn

Dustup7T2

Thanks for the opportunity, Glen.

Yeah, it's always interesting how a couple cold beers can make or break a project. (in moderation, of course)

When I get home later tonight, I'll load up pictures of the disassemble/clean/paint/reassemble process.

Outside of procuring a gasket kit from Dr. Rebuild and careful drilling of the rivets, the cleanup was media blasting of metal pieces, hot soapy water, elbow-grease everything else, and rattle can.

I think the pictures will explain better once posted.

Eddie

GD70

Nice! Nothing like a few cold ones to help the project move along. I need to get a rivet gun one of these days. Look forward to the pics.
Glenn

BigBlockTank

Absolutely, but at every spot in the job, there was the question, "what the hell is that" and of course, it was another component (vacuum canister, etc.) that didn't work or was very sluggish to work, etc, etc, etc. You all know the story. Well, there is all kinds of stuff I didn't know was in that area. Well, it's all new now, I even replaced the vacuum hoses that control the heat and A/C operation. I never want to break into that crap again, I think I just might sell it first.

Dustup7T2

Hi Glenn,
OK, got sidetracked with afterhours shop work last eve and finally managed to get the images loaded.

Thanks again for allowing me to ride on your original post.

These instructions are for a non-AC car. As you've explained, accessing the core is done through engine bay.

Like many of us, my heater project was one of those "while I'm at it" deals fixing other stuff. It wasn't planned and I already had motor/trans pulled out.



My core didn't leak and took it to local radiator shop for testing anyway. No one wants to miss an opportunity "while you're at it". It passed without problem.



There are 30 or 32 small rivets to remove the cover and inner support. I used a Dremel tool with a cutting disc to slot the top of the rivet head. Then I carefully chiseled off the head and small punched them out.







There are 16 rivets to remove just to see the inner support free like this.



Then it was time for hot, soapy water to remove 35+ years worth of crap (literally: some classy mouse chose my Vette to nest behind the dash). The OEM foam on large flapper had deteriorated so much it fell away to the touch. The adhesive was not so quick: used a gasket scraper to get most off. Any rivet holes that looked too big from removing old rivets were cleaned & filled in using standard 2-part resin/hardner from a Bondo brand kit I had. Redrilled to 1/8th size.



After the fiberglass housing was washed and dried, I painted it with Rustoleum Hi-Performance enamel in semi-gloss black.

The plastic vent pieces I painted with Krylon Fusion in satin black, as it's designed for plastic.

After quick wash and dry, the metal pieces went into the blast cabinet, using 70 grit aluminum oxide to remove rust. Another wash and dry later, I sprayed them with Duplicolor engine enamel cast coat aluminum because I like the color. Being heat resistant doesn't hurt, I suppose.

The Dr. Rebuild kit includes gaskets and a pkg of correct rivets. Following the directions, I used black weatherstripping adhesive to glue the new gaskets in place. One rectangular gasket needed a slice length-wise and also uses staples (wire supplied in kit: cut to fit) to hold in place.

I didn't have the correct OEM-style rivet tools and not planning a NCRS-level restore so I used my trusty Craftsman rivet tool with a pkg of 1/8" x 1/4" long aluminum rivets to reassemble the support and cover.



Riveted the support, used some black RTV to reseal small air-gaps, checked that flapper operation was free and all gaskets positioned correctly, then riveted-fastened cover back in place.

I reused the OEM tubes seal because it was in good shape instead of the one in kit.



Assembled all the pieces and remounted to firewall.











Piece of cake with room to work. You had the the challenge of repairing a functional ride so your repair has equal integrity, as it was done with the clock being watched.

Hope that helps anyone who's crazy enough to break down one of these heater boxes in a non-ac application; it's not so bad afterall.

Later Guys...

GD70

Great write up & photo documentation! I'm printing this out & putting it in my AIM for future reference. Thanks for adding this to the thread. It only enhances it in my opinion.
Glenn

...Roger...

Very nice job Dustup

Paul L

Dustup,

Many people will benefit from that excellent write-up with pics. Thank you.

Dustup7T2

You're welcome, Fellas.

Thanks for the kind words. This forum has helped me immensely in lots of ways on my project and I'm pleased to return a bit of that with this piece from the car.

If I think someone might find value in other parts I'm correcting, I'll be happy to do what I can. I've taken a bunch of pictures!

G-Sting

Thanks for the pics and nice write-up. It looks like I'll be doing mine.

Is there a large gasket that goes around the whole distributor/heater core box? If so, where does one get it? (Have a link?)

Thanks.

GD70

No, there's a groove around the perimeter that the sealer bead sets into. I used black RTV sealer, but the old stuff I cleaned out looked like the putty stuff like the 3M caulking strips, but it was grey. You can see the groove in the pic.
Another thing, when you are pulling the core on the left side, push the tubes inward at the same time. It will help it rotate as you pull on the left. The wire hook I made really helped.
Glenn

G-Sting

Thanks, Glenn!

Is your superb helper for hire?

phclub

I have to change out the coolant and also plan to replace the heater hoses from the engine to tank, tank to heater core. Can anyone tell me the hose sizes (ID)?

GD70

3/4 & 5/8ths I believe.

G-Sting

Yes, I found some Goodyear hoses in these exact ID sizes at Autozone. One just has to cut them to match.

73StreetRace

Nice job ! Great pictures and informations, as always !
Maybe it should have been posted in C3 Tech/performance instead of C3 General...

Grumpy 427

Right on, i wish mine would of been from the engine compartment. Had to pull half the interior apart to get it out. Thank God i wont have to do it again.

GD70

Glad I didn't have AC. The reason I dated it was if I need to replace it again, I'll know how long it's been in there. Some guys have said they needed to replace it with in a few years. Hope not. Still pretty straight forward from the engine compartment side.
Glenn

kwikcc

thanks to all for the pic and info as well as the the words of encouragement, its all been helpful and as always I appreciate all you guys do.

tomgallucci57

beatiful job,and after seeing all the work you did,it makes me want to by-pass my core on my 68 with ac. is it as easy as disconnecting the hoses at the firewall and connecting the two hoses together with a pipe sleeved in between? thank you tom,,,again,beatiful job on core fix.