Hey Folks,
Anyone ever pulled the heater core out? Even with the AIM, I'm still a little confused. It has to come out from the engine compartment side, right? Also, it looks like there is a bead of some kind of sealing caulk around the whole cover assembly-Is that what it is and does anyone know what I should replace it with?
Any tricks or tips I should know about? It looks like a beast to get to all the fasteners.
Reason I'm inspecting the this area is that the passenger side carpets are always soaked and I can't see anything else that would cause this except for a leak in the heating system.
Thanks...
-Tom

 

Just replaced mine. I fyou have A/c you will have to go in through interior. It is not hard, just time consuming. You have to remove the lower dash. I would recommend the upper too, it will just make life easier. Then you have to remove most of the heat a/c duct. Then you take the heater core box out and viola. Also, you will have to crawl under the car to remove the heater hose. I would recommend just cutting them off and buying a new set; sense in skimping with this project. I was told what a bear this project was. It is not that bad, it is just lengthy.
However, before you go to the trouble of the heater core, you may want to check the fire wall to windshield frame bond. The adhesive holding my fire wall to the windshield frame was severly deteriorated; probably from the torque of the 502 which rested under the hood of the 'Pit before I got her. I am estimating this to be a major source of water in my floorboard. Also, you may want to search the archive on cleaning out the fender drains that drain the wiper well. Hope this has helped.

 

Thanks for the reply...
I should have mentioned that it's not an AC car.
I had the lower dash pad off this morning trying to asses the job, and it looks like the whole heater/duct assembly is fastened from inside the engine compartment. All I could see from the interior view was what looked like the heads of the bolts and rivets.
I did check for the windshiel/fender leaks-they look Ok, but I think the problem is related to the heater because you can smell and feel the antifreeze in the affected area.
-Tom

 

If you have factory A/C then you need to pull it out from the inside. As was suggested you should cut the hoses and put some new ones on. You should also loosen the center console and center gauge cluster to make pulling the large vent ducts out without scratching anything. I scratched up my gauge cluster and center console by trying to keep them where they were...the vent ducts have some metal tangs which will scratch them and the dash board (it roughened my dash stitches:(). It would also be a good idea to take out the passenger seat to avoid damage to it.

 

Since you have a non A/C car then you can take it out through the engine compartment. Check out this
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...&a=7422869&f=0

Great info with pictures
John




[Modified by theandies, 11:42 PM 11/23/2001]

 

Thanks for the info...
I bumped into that link when I did a search on this topic. Very helpful. Glad I don't have AC now!!! Doesn't look like it'll be as bad as I thought(I say that alot, never works out that way though:crazy: ).
Found alot of good advice when I did a search on previous posts about this topic. Gotta remember to search first from now on.
:cheers:
-Tom

 

I am the author of that photo album. Hope it is of assistance. I used silicone to seal the cover. It is simply an air/dust cover so pretty much any sealing goop will do. Good luck! It is not a big job: two beers on a scale of 10.

 

I'm looking forward to doing this job myself. Mine just let go a few weeks ago.

The only real difference between the 79 above and your 69 should be the windsheild wiper actuator and all the othere crap that is up in that area. I might be mistaken but I think our core cover/ fan housing might be a tad bigger. Everyone has been telling me it's easier to go through the inside with the 69's. (Even though I dont have air either).

Does anyone know where I can view a step by step like above but accessing the core through the interior???

 

427
It is fairly simple. I just did my 71. Two tricks are...you may need to open the hole up just a little (1/8" or so) in order to get the old core out or the new core in, I used a dremel tool. The hole is completely covered by the box so this 'mod' will not be visisble. Also, there are two little spring loaded clips that hold the core in. The one on the left is obvious, the one on the right is behind the firewall and not visible. Once I had the old core out I could not get the new core in with that clip in the way, so I used a dremel tool with a cut-off wheel to renove it. It was that, or completely disassemble the interior to get to the core from the inside (and I would rather change my clutch than pull the center console!). The new core went in VERY tight so I don't think the clip is absolutley necessary, the one on the left went back in no problem. Of course you may not run into this problem but if you do, that was my solution. Also, I used plumbers putty to seal the box back up. It wont dry so it will be easy to remove the box next time if necessary.

All in all, I thought it was one of the easier repairs and gave me the oppurtunity to clean and paint that portion of the firewall. Have fun...

Chris


[Modified by 71roadster, 10:47 AM 11/24/2001]