Complete AC/ stock heater removal.

[GoodSamaritan]

Well, despite the miserable summer heat, I never used my ac this year. Also my heater core just puked its guts out a weekend or so ago. Amidst all this I was looking at pics of Deuceanahalf’s racing box. That super clean firewall on the passenger side, got me to thinking.
Since, I don’t really use this car as a long distance cruiser, and my wife refuses to be seen in it anyway, why not just rip out the whole ac, and factory heater, and install some tiny aftermarket kit. Then use the stock heater control location for switches, etc. It would definitely clean things up under the hood, and depending on what I get, I might just end up with a better heater to boot.

Here is my quandary. I have never had the dash completely out of a 79-89, and I don’t know how the defrosters/dash vents hook up. Are they going to be a pain to hook up to something with that round, heater duct hose that old cars used, or are they all molded together in some funky looking mass?

Well folks, what about it?

[turbo2256b]

I am shure Lowe's can hook ya up

[GoodSamaritan]

LOL! I take that to mean that to heater ducting wil work?

[torquelover]

PM 1987cp.

[86VickyLX]

Here is my quandary. I have never had the dash completely out of a 79-89, and I don’t know how the defrosters/dash vents hook up. Are they going to be a pain to hook up to something with that round, heater duct hose that old cars used, or are they all molded together in some funky looking mass?
Well folks, what about it?

The vents are like this...



Had you made this thread like 2 weeks ago, I could have taken pictures of the vents and defrosters. Anyway, the vents and defroster things, are screwed to the dash. they aren't really connected to the plenum, they just slide over it.

[86VickyLX]

They just slide all together. The side vents are slipped into the center vents. the defroster vent is screwed to the other vents by means of a screw, hope this helps.

[gadget73]

It looks like a mess in there, have a gander:

http://lunar.gadget73.com/images/galactica/heater_core/DSCF1315.JPG

and

http://lunar.gadget73.com/images/galactica/heater_core/DSCF1311.JPG

not gonna inline the images, they're kind of big. The heater core box is the white thing you see, and its got an inlet for the evaporator which is mostly under the hood. If you look roughly center of the dash, you can see the square output from the heat/evap box, above that is the input to the air plenum. The air plenum goes down behind the stereo to the floor vents. All the vacuum motors are in there, have a look up next to the gas pedal and you'll see it hulking up in there. It plugs into the other ducts for the defrost and stuff. Pretty much all the black plastic you can see in the pic is either the air plenum or connected to the plenum. Re-working it would be a major undertaking to get it actually really functional. Probably would lose some weight out of the dash, and give you a ton of room to work in there. Heck that HVAC plumbing is probably 75% of whats behind the dashboard.

[cld783]

bah. you can damn near cook bacon on my dash. were you thinking something like a portable space heater with dryer hose going to the vents? lol no but seriously.. i dont know about you guys but all the fords i've had/driven always had kickass heaters.

i say leave the heater! probably more of a B#tch than its worth.

[Lincolnmania]

the heater core replacement job isnt that bad....no complete removal of the dash needed.....the heater core in my volvo wagon is starting to go.....dammit i swore i would never do another again!.......flat rate time is 12.5 hrs eek......panther heater core time is 5 hrs.....can be done quicker

[GoodSamaritan]

I know I could put the heater core in easier than I could gut the hvac system and install an aftermarket version. I was thinking of simplifying the whole thing and gaining some room under the dash/hood.

I had in mind using one of those aftermarket heaters they make for old pickup trucks. They are just a small box with a heater core, a fan, and a blend door. You control the thing with a fan switch and a pull cable. What could be simpler?


Ah the heck with it. I'll probably just pop in the heater core for this winter.

[gadget73]

Fords have good heat if the core isn't clogged, or the stupid bullshit sensor for the automatic climate control isn't bad. Mine will cook you out, especially if I swapped the thermostat for a 195 degree version. Its also got a new core and sensor, so my climate control works exactly like it should. Before that, it wouldn't get really hot, stupid sensor was bad and wouldn't push heat to full hot. It floated between warm and freezing at random. Now its basically stable, but the trick is to not mess with the temperature lever. Set it at 70-75 and leave it there. Moving it around gets the system all wacky, and you'l freeze or cook till it resets itself to ambient temperature. Moving in small increments is fine too, but going from full hot to full cold just screws it all up.