59 Chevy Truck Build
The subject of my attention.
My truck needs a good heater. The following shots are of the various parts and detail of the process I have experienced beyond what the factory manual shows. I hope this helps your rebuild efforts regardless of experience. I've written for the point of view of a novice, like Books for Dummies. So if your an experienced mechanic please don't let you panties bunch up. It'll just make you more irritable and we don't want that do we. Happy mechanic means happy truck and happy owner.
Here is the heater that was installed in my truck when I got it. I disconnected it long ago since it was steaming my windows and putting out little heat. So I've spared myself a big leaking mess. It might be a good candidate for someone else to rebuild.
View of firewall where the old heater and fan motor is poking through. New holes will be drilled to accommodate the Deluxe heater this truck has never had. Yes it is dirty, I live on a dirt road and this engine been in there since '04.It does get washed now and then. Back then I was just interested in getting it road worthy. Still is I just tinker to preserve and improve here and there.
A view of the dash and interior. Once the old heater unit is out I'll be able to finish putting the new carpet where it belongs.
Closer view of the dash controls. I have a set of new chrome knobs to install. If I find the energy and time the dash might come further apart and get painted too. Notice the radio hole is unmolested.
Another dash view. CD player/radio installed in glove box. It is hooked up to a CD changer too.
I had forgotten I bought this manual to toss into the glove box for fun.
I found this factory Deluxe Heater from a guy I met at a swap. At the time I thought expensive but now I know the guy really was a big help and took care of me. Don't remember exactly how much I paid but it was a bargain. This is a complete set ready to install, short of a little wire to bring it all the way to the fused junction block. He had basically cleaned and assembled most of it. I've had it in a box for probably seven years. Some of the parts appear to be new or almost, core rebuilt too. I've now taken it apart to further paint and detail for installation.
View of fan motor, blower housing and fresh air diverter/intake. Notice the silver colored spacer on the threaded stud. You need these and all where included in my package. Washer nuts too.
Another view of the fan motor and housing. Once again I didn't have to hunt down any parts.
Firewall side view of the blower housing and fresh air intake diverter.
Fuse junction block. This truck did not have one at all when I got it.
The deluxe fan control. I purchased the lens and knobs separately. Otherwise in great shape.
The 3-speed fan switch looks pretty new. I should probably test it before mounting to the dash.
Here is the core, control valve, heater box clam shell and all the rest of the associated parts disassembled.
This is the heater core and control valve assembly. I understood it had been reconditioned, but even so it was worth testing before installing and finding out and issue later. I didn't want to take the time to round up a compressed air setup to test so I just hooked it up under the hood, let the truck warm up and manually moved the control valve. I'm one happy guy!
Another view of the core and control. The fins look darn good. If yours are not or partially crushed you can gently and tediously reshape then with with a small screw driver. You want as much air flow as possible on these heaters. Do Not Force any of them if they don't move easily. It is easy to fracture or poke a hole in the core.
Close up detail of control valve. I did not fiddle with any of the built-in tuning adjustments on the valve hoping who ever rebuilt the core left it alone as stock or tweaked it as needed if they know what they are doing.
Another view of the core and valve. Check those screw clamps!
Another view of the core and valve. It would appear in this shot, one of the tubes is the standard size difference normal in Chevy cores. They ARE the same. I'm not certain what this model is suppose to have.
Close up of the defrost flapper and floor heat diffuser. The bumper for the flapper seems right, but I don't know about the rubber and spring washer shown. I'll use them anyway to space and quite down the flapper lever. (More on this in a later slide) Tip; the spring clip that covers the hole and properly spaces the flapper lever is fragile, be careful not to break off any tabs.
Another shot of the defrost flapper parts. Notice the build up covering on the flapper lever offset. I read somewhere in a post that this should be free and rotate on the shaft. Mine does not, I tried, it seems like hard shrunken plastic and it does not seem to hinder the function of the flapper.
Inside split view of the heater box clam shell, parts and core.
Heater core half mounted in the firewall side of the clam shell. There are three spacers shown too. One is longer than the others, I believe you can figure out which stud it goes on. Notice the screws are not fully torqued! These will tightened later when the other side of the clam shell is joined and the rest of the screws have been started. This is a technique that should be practiced in many assembly projects as needed. You'll know when you should have use it because holes don't line up. My helper today is posing also. And a can of Hammer-rite paint in the background.
Shot of the cable clamp detail. This cable must be attached before the exposed side of the clam shell is attached to the firewall side. You can see about a half inch of the cable sheath protruding past the clamp. Attention: the factory installation manual specifies 1/8th inch at all cable clamps in this heaters assembly. I'm sure you can adjust as required later. This one is buried when assembled though and not accessible later.
Heater box partially assembled with defrost flapper in place. Thick side of the bumper button is mounted down on the flapper (down when oriented correctly) so it quiets the clang when defrost is switched to on position.
Another shot of the heater box partially assembled with defrost flapper in place. Attention: The rubber washer shown on the pivot of the flapper is not correct. It caused a bind when I tried to assemble the other half of the shell. It fell out when I disassembled and I was not sure where it came from. I have since moved it to the opposite side of the flapper lever along with the spring washer shown previously. It seems to center the flapper between the clam shells properly, and probably provides some vibration dampening. Can't say it is stock or not but I bet it is an improvement. There is a push on spring clip washer on the outside of the box that keeps it from floating back and forth.
This shows what you can do to tune the cable some so you don't break another control arm at the dash. Notice the cable clamp is not parallel to the control valve cover. I have bent it down slightly with pliers to help it follow the arch the cable makes when the temp lever is activated. You'll need to hook up the lever controls to do this. I did and there was excessive friction present. This adjustment made a big difference. You should previously have cleaned, straightened and lubed you cables. Do it now if not already done so. The lever arms are known to break because people force the control to get heat. I can see why as this particular cable will have the most snaking bends when installed.
This spring clip that secures the flapper lever is important and fragile. Be careful not to snap off pieces when removing. Look closely there are little lock tabs in the middle that will break off if not pinched adequately during removal. It goes back in the slot easily with a firm thumb push.
You can see where I let the cable protrude from to help it be as relaxed and out of the way as possible. You can also see a notched hole in the clam shell above the air diffuser (below if shown upside right). It might have been for the cable but it adds quite a bit of torque this cable does not need. The manual actually shows the cable more like I have it but not very clearly to me. At this point all your screws can be torqued BY HAND, be careful not to over tighten, like someone had already done to a couple of mine, and stripped the holes requiring a fatter screw. Also the torque sequence here works best if you first tighten the fours screws that attached the core to the clam shell halves on the vertical axis prior to all others. You should see that this makes sense if you haven't figured it out already.
View showing the defrost cable hooked up for testing. Works like a charm.
Fan now assembled to the fresh air/blower housing. Notice the mounting studs are all in the same direction, duh! Test your fan before this step! To do this hold the motor firmly, keep you fingers away from the cage. Touch the motor flange to the truck battery negative post and then touch the single wire to the positive battery post. Hold tight as a good motor has some torque and may startle you or jump out of you hands. If painted properly you might have a bit of trouble grounding the flange, just push a corner of the flange in firmer to the post.
All parts are now ready to install. I'll add the install procedure in this gallery as I get there.
Old heater core is now out. ANd my firewall looks like swiss cheese.
Another view of the swiss cheese from inside the engine compartment.
This is my old fan motor switch, b-bye.
My cue ball shift knob. I don't think it will make the heater work any better, but it looks good.
With cover removed, this is the parking spot for the new deluxe heater controls. Notice the notched flange bottom left and right in the hole. This is where you need to put a spring nut to receive screws, picture later.
Fresh air vent cover removed and ready to receive the vent flange.
Getting ready to mount the fresh air vent flange. The limp snake is plumbers putty. I didn't have a gasket and this worked great. Roll out about a 3/16th inch bead and press it to the flange. Then screw down the flange snuglly then wait for the putty to squish a bit, come back later and finish tightening the screws and pick off the excess putty.
The flange mounted in place with the "rubber-band" seal already installed and folded over, ready for the fan housing and vent diverter. You can see a little putty oozing out and yet to be cleaned up.
Again, check your cable for alignment. This one is a bit bowed. The oval end is interesting and it works. It lets the flapper kind of pop into place when actuated. Next slide clearly shows the cable adjusted. I just gave the clamp a tweak to straighten it out.
No more arc in the cable.
I know this is a hack, but effective for the time being. The holes will get fixed right when it gets a frame-off resto. In the mean time I used duct tape smeared with acrylic caulk to seal it down. It will come off easy when the time comes.
My patch job with paint. All uneeded holes are gone. It will be less drafty also!
Fan and vent housing in place. Do not forget your spacers that go over the studs. Here it would have been nice to have an assistant to put on the nuts and snug them up while you hold the unit in place. It should line up pretty square with a small gap when torqued up. Now you just unfold the rubber band. Easier said than done. This step is a pain when you get to the back upper corner.
You are going to need some seals for the hose pipes. I made some dognuts from packing foam out of a computer box. That stuff works great for small tool holders in a box or bag.
The almost finished doughnuts, they just need a trim where they overlap the heater box or they may show when mounted in place on the firewall.