I'm about ready to tackle something that I've been avoiding for awhile and I wanted to see if any of you have experience with this.
I've been told by the indy that maintained this car for many years that the reason the heater doesn't work is that he "disconnected" it when he replaced the AC system and converted it to r134. The problem with the heater was that it would randomly blow hot and cold and the vents could not be controlled.
His diagnosis was that the some of the flapper valves in the heater box had deteriorated hinges and/or seals and needed to be replaced. Because this involves gutting the interior to get the dash out so the heater box could be accessed, his suggestion to my folks was to just disconnect the heater and make sure the AC worked (this was in SoCal and the car was only driven in fair weather.) The bill for this would have been north of $2K for labor alone, so my folks decided not to do it and later gave the car to me.
Because of some other work that I've started, I already have the seats out, the steering wheel off, the instrument cluster out and parts of the lower dash out. I figure I might as well just bite the bullet and fix the heater situation now also.
I've read through the factory manual for removing the dash and it seems do-able, but pretty involved. I've got 3 questions for anyone who's done this:
1) Are there any tips that you picked up when you removed the dash that can make it easier or prevent damage to the dash pieces?
2) Any special tools that you can recommend?
3) Has anyone replaced or repaired the flapper valve hinges or seals on your heater box? What's involved with this?
Thanks.
Mike
I've been told by the indy that maintained this car for many years that the reason the heater doesn't work is that he "disconnected" it when he replaced the AC system and converted it to r134. The problem with the heater was that it would randomly blow hot and cold and the vents could not be controlled.
His diagnosis was that the some of the flapper valves in the heater box had deteriorated hinges and/or seals and needed to be replaced. Because this involves gutting the interior to get the dash out so the heater box could be accessed, his suggestion to my folks was to just disconnect the heater and make sure the AC worked (this was in SoCal and the car was only driven in fair weather.) The bill for this would have been north of $2K for labor alone, so my folks decided not to do it and later gave the car to me.
Because of some other work that I've started, I already have the seats out, the steering wheel off, the instrument cluster out and parts of the lower dash out. I figure I might as well just bite the bullet and fix the heater situation now also.
I've read through the factory manual for removing the dash and it seems do-able, but pretty involved. I've got 3 questions for anyone who's done this:
1) Are there any tips that you picked up when you removed the dash that can make it easier or prevent damage to the dash pieces?
2) Any special tools that you can recommend?
3) Has anyone replaced or repaired the flapper valve hinges or seals on your heater box? What's involved with this?
Thanks.
Mike