things to do whilst doing heater core?

[BerniniCaCO3]

My radiator was moderately clogged up last summer, to the point that the car never officially overheated but got close.
I was figuring the heater core might also be a little rust-filled,
and lo and behold, I get but modest heat come winter!

So I'll just go ahead and swap it once temperatures warm with spring once more.

Is there anything else, while I'm that deep into the dash, that I should be preemptively changing out at the same time?

[1990LTD]

do you have atc?

[BerniniCaCO3]

what is atc?

[rick99601]

automatic temperature control

[1987cp]

Ask torquelover about his "quick-disconnect" dash arrangement. Made my last heater core swap easier than normal.


Oh, and soak the plenum studs in lots of penetrant beforehand. They're evil and love to twist and ruin the little plastic slots the slotty-collar things sit into. Twice now I've used redneck methods to replace the upper plenum stud after the plastic around it got hopelessly messed up.

[87gtVIC]

All I can suggest is installing a flow restrictor in the hose leading into the heater core.

[86VickyLX]

Do any wiring you were gonna do now. You'll have the dash away from the firewall.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Heater core arrived this week, installing next week: went back to this thread to see anything I've missed.
Any last thoughts?

I believe the 1990 colony park does NOT have atc... it's just a hot:cold bar, no degree settings. Makes life simpler; I just read about all the quirks having ATC can lead to!

The hot:cold switch is broken somehow, it binds if I try to slide it so I replaced it with a keyring so I can pull out at the same time that I pull it over to Hot or Cold.
I don't know if there's a replacement lever at rock auto, or if I'll be able to figure out and fix what went wrong once I see it apart.

Any electrical issues in the dash that like to rear their heads and should be amended preemptively?

[gadget73]

might be the cable binding up. That 90+ climate control head has a habit of breaking the knobs off, and feeling generally cheap but I've never opened one up.

If your air doors don't act correctly, now would be the time to pull the air plenum out and replace the hinges on the doors. I dont know if they updated the doors for the 90+ cars but on the older ones, the doors used a plastic hinge that would break off. Once that happened, the air doors just flop around in the box and changing the settings doesn't do much. Air comes out of everywhere.

[1990LTD]

All I can suggest is installing a flow restrictor in the hose leading into the heater core.

Could you link to the type of part you're talking about?


I have had a heater core sitting on my shelf for over a year just in case mine failed but luckily it has not, and since the weather is getting warmer I'll be able to sit in the car outside for a while to do the job. Right now it's the only part of my cooling system that I haven't replaced and I don't want to deal with coolant on my floor some day when I don't have time to do it.


anyway, yeah, I'll be replacing my heater core sometime this summer. I don't have ATC or anything...what should I replace or fix while I have the dashboard down? It will hopefully be the last time it is ever apart.

[87gtVIC]

This is what I installed, like I said some people get the same results from an old socket for much less money.

http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/item/LRS-18599A/79-04-Mustang-Heater-Core-Flow-Restrictor

[1987cp]

Actual OEM part, eh? You'd think they'd have just designed the system not to fail from RPM in the first place!

[Piece-it pete]

Anything with the speedo cable while the dash is loose? When I hit about 75 the needle likes to jump up much higher and won't go back to normal till I stop.

Pete

[91waggin]

Replace it then. They are like $15 on Rockauto. I dunno, but it's probably easier when the dash is down. Speedo cables aren't usually repairable, and they're so cheap it's probably not worth your time to try.

[1990LTD]

Would the throttle cable be a bitch to replace or would it be much easier with the dashboard down? I don't need one but if they're available for sale anywhere, fuck it, why not do it while it's apart? Unless these are of the sort that never break or fail from age at all..