AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Topic: AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core (Read 9070 times) previous topic - next topic

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

December 09, 2012, 10:55:17 PM

due to my having climate control and other issues personally with the odds of breaking other stuff, i decided to do my heater core this way.
Only need to make an enviromentally sound and secure cover for the work done.

what you see here is a pertty careful cut hole to expose all the goods within that have failed me.

remove upper intake
undo and scoot to the side the pass fuel rail
mark area to be cut, then cut the fire wall followed by the air box.
the factory cut out for the air box is pretty big also and retrofitted with a foam filler.
I inserted my new core then used 2'' sound deadening foam because i have a lot of it.
Now i need a nice looking cover and its done.

cut out and re-install work up to the point the pictures show was 3 man hours.
Take it or leave it. From now on though all my heater cores in this car will be less than an hour.

BTW, this is an NOS fomoco core i have had reserved on a shelf shipped to me back in 2003. so now i have no extra core for the white coug.

bash away, or, try it out. either way i have no idea why this is not a popular mod, it was so easy.

My angle is off so if tried, go a tiny bit more clock wise.

again, too easy.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #1 – December 09, 2012, 10:57:12 PM

here are the remaining pics for the moment, knocked off to go eat.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #2 – December 09, 2012, 11:23:10 PM

sorry the pictures are out of order, thread 1 is grouped right but out of order. thread 2 is grouped right but out of order.
the site uploaded them that way, not the order which i clicked on them.

here is a little etch and sketch of where the heater core is physically located.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #3 – December 09, 2012, 11:29:29 PM

Interesting!!! I agree a nice cover and you have it made.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #4 – December 09, 2012, 11:38:19 PM

Hmm I'm not sure how you'd cover that hole and allow access again. Do you think that cutting that hole caused any structural issues?

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #5 – December 10, 2012, 12:50:45 AM

yeah, ive always worried about that large hole from the assmebly line right next to it where the AC core has that huge foam adder.

the hole i have now is 3.22 times larger than the original heater core opening.

I wont weld it closed, cant really see the point as i dont believe my engine will torque enough to fold it ,, LOL,,, its just a stocker

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #6 – December 10, 2012, 06:40:10 AM

It's not the engine you should worry about, It's the suspension.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #7 – December 10, 2012, 06:55:36 AM

Find a Fox at the bone yard and cut a good piece of the firewall out, and make a panel from that. Then, it matches up. make it about a half an inch larger on all sides, make a gasket, and use short sheet metal screws to attach it. I can't bash you on that. Seems like a logical idea. Especially if you can make a nice panel and give it that factory look. I'm betting the firewall will be fine. Good work.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #8 – December 10, 2012, 08:18:53 AM

What Vinnie said.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #9 – December 10, 2012, 12:07:04 PM

X3 on what Vinnie said. If mine goes again on the Coupe or the Bird yanking the motor out and cutting that hole would be easier than going through the dash. Its bringing back horrific memories of the last time I did it.

Darren

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #10 – December 10, 2012, 12:28:28 PM

Jay here we go. This panel is how we repair cut firewalls.The hole you made is not structural enough to cause any problems. I will call you when i get back to the shop. Thanks

:hick:

:burnout:

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #11 – December 10, 2012, 03:10:15 PM

my *revised quote* from the dealer for Air conditioning rework and heater core replacement was
$1440.00 excluding incedentals which would / could result from a car with this age.
basically i had to sign a waiver if they did the job.

I was told this was a decent price, granted im not into the whole "cheaper is better" game... they did tell me that he would put a tech on it that had experince in these older cars.

i can attempt to reverse the math seven differnet ways under the sun but i see this being no less than 80$/manhour job excluding materials.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #12 – December 10, 2012, 03:22:11 PM

one final tip..
when you cut the hole, and reach the plastic air box... the core kind sits in a "nest" so to speak.

when removing the plastic that allows the core to pull out, you ***WILL*** penetrate the Air conditioning air box section when removing plastic from the ***********LOWER LEFT side of the heater core nest.

end result will be a small opening the size of a nickle allowing unwanted air escape path from the air conditioning chamber.
You must seal up this small area with cable hole putty or something as i had to. I did not want the two different chambers having a chance of conflicting each other when air is dispursed.

If your car does not have EATC, this may not be true but for this car (20th anniv cougar), it was the case.

I will not go into the fine details of what plastic to cut where, its too complicated to explain. At the end of the day, if its in the way of pulling out the core, then dremal it out.

The trick is to insure you use really thick but squishy foam to retrofit the front of your core so it molds itself around the new opening you made. This will keep the air flow within the chamber / duct work as its suppose to. you dont want the air to leak out and fall behind your dash or leak out and go into the engine bay.

thats all...

next pics of the cover later today. Then i will button this up and call it good..........or maybe i will pop out my injector screens and swap in new ones since im in there.

Tom~ i just figured out how the IAC works on the trottle body, studied night before last. it just allows air to bypass the trottle plate at EEC specified parameters. pretty simple,, simple rules.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #13 – December 10, 2012, 03:28:45 PM

My plan is to re-install the section i cut out with "H" shaped rubber trim and silicone.
after i treat the edges of the metal with some corrosion prevention compound, i can then pop in my old cut out with this double sloted rubber grommet. should go fairly smooth,, only issue is i have to find the gromet.

AND NOW!!!! It's a 1hour or less heater core

Reply #14 – December 10, 2012, 10:03:38 PM

Quote from: jcassity;404303

yeah, ive always worried about that large hole from the assmebly line right next to it where the AC core has that huge foam adder.

the hole i have now is 3.22 times larger than the original heater core opening.

I wont weld it closed, cant really see the point as i dont believe my engine will torque enough to fold it ,, LOL,,, its just a stocker

I should have been clearer :hick:. What I meant was any structural issues with the heater box, since you cut a big hole in the box it might be hard to keep air in the box and out of the engine. It seems like you may have solved that problem with the gasket seal and the foam though.