I'm needing to change my heater core on my corvette. Looking for feedback on the difficulty of this task from anyone who has done so.

Also, how long should I expect to take?

I have a repair manual but it does not go into detail on what I should do. Can anyone guide me to where I might be able to find a detailed task list of how I should change the heater core?

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

 

If you've never done one of these before, expect it to take the better part of a day. However, I will bet that once you get things apart, you're going to find items (such as foam seals and such, perhaps some other things) that you weren't expecting to have to replace, will be deteriorated, and to do the job right (which it makes no sense not to do once you're in that far), you have to. That said, either try to have everything in there on hand before you start, or count on things being apart for a while until the stuff you've ordered comes in.

 

OP, you will probably get more help if you post this in the C3 section instead of here in the C6 section.

 

You'll have to remove your steering wheel, your glove box, your center gage console, your dash and then the air ducting on teh passenger side.

Heater core is easy to get to from then on.

Get the AC Delco part, so you'll have a quality product to replace the old one with.

I would leave a weekend for the job. Don't pull on the dash too hard or you'll crack it. $500 for a new dash.

Have fun!!

 

I will be doing the same thing in a few months... I will also change out the speedo cable, replace speed/tack bulbs and general cleaning and inspecting while there. Will also be replacing the dash so cracking will not not be an issue for me. They DO crack easily so be very careful and like everyone said, be prepared unless you don't mind down time while you get parts delivered.
Goos luck!

 

This might help...

 

Nice link!

Thats the proceedure I followed. You don't need to remove any of the driverside stuff. I did mine about 3 years ago. I was able to get the core box out without taking out the center cluster but was not able to put it back in without its removal. On the driver side i found I had to remove the one pipe that feeds the vent to the furthest left to get some wiggle out of the main distribution box behind the center cluster. Change the center cluster bulbs while you have that out.

To get the center cluster out. You need to remove both side panels. Remove all screws. Don't forget the two bolts that attach the center cluster to the consol plate. The center cluster is a bit of a pain to get out. The upper has two wires going to it and a light socket for the bulb that shines down on the ashtray. You need to tilt the top of the cluster out and remove the wires and bulb. It will now clear the dash pad. You will find that there is little room to get the center cluster out. the shifter is in the way. As you take it out you need to put the shifter in L1 to get enough room. Once you have it out you can unplug the main connector in the back. Make sure not to damage the circuit board. Before you put the cluster back in plug the connector in and turn the ignition on and make sure all the guages work. The circuit board sometime shifts and the connector does not seat right, All your guages will go wacky.

Don't foget the one bolt on the driverside firewall. Its circled in that link.


Aside from that the only real pain was getting the hoses off the core under the car. This required crawling under there and cutting the hoses off. I left about an inch of hose one the core pipes. I had to cut and pry that bit of hose off otherwise it got caught when I tried to pull the core box up and out from the inside.

While you have the core box out you can see the blower motor compartment. Clean it out with a shop vac. I had a lot of debri in there.

Make sure you spend good money on the core and get the exact one. The pipes on some do not line up the same. Bending them like some have done is not a good idea. they are easy to break. You don't want to do this twice.

All in all it took about 6 hours. I could probably do it again in about half that time now that I know how.

Jim