cleaning up the firewall???

[paddyjim]

JUst another rookie question. I have a 1984 k5. going to be putting in a new 350 long block in the next couple of weeks. My rig once upon a time had air conditioning, but now is missing the compressor and other critical parts. What is left is the evaporator/heater core case the a/c acumulator and all the lines. This seems like a good time (with the motor out) to remove some of this equipment and clean up the firewall. What kinds of problems if any will i run into when i start removing. I guess i am wondering will a find a huge gaping hole after i remove the evaporator case. Should I leave anything or should i take all a/c equipment off. I dont plan on rplacing the a/c unit. to expensinve. Any help that you guys can provide sure would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Pure Insanity]

Yes you will find a huge gaping hole. If you plan to do away w/ the heater core also you could just make a block off plate like you see on drag cars. I am not sure if the non A/C heater box will fit or not, but going from memory I dont believe it will. The A/C cabs have a much larger hole I think. You could make a block off for the A/C and get a standard heater box. Also I think youll need to at least drop the right fender well to access some of the bolts. The fender MAY need to be removed also, I am not sure. When I had access to my box I had the whole nose off. There are some nose off pics in my album if you want to take a look. I dont know how much theyll help tho.

 

[Michael]

Yes, there will be a big hug hole once you remove the evap case. You will also loose your heater unless you convert to a non-A/C truck heater like I did. Th hole can be patched with sheetmetal...either welded in or por rivited, depending on how nice ya want it to look. The non-A/C heater is much more compact, I'll post a picture of mine. When the evpap. case is removed all the parts under the dash on the inside come out too. They hold each other in by sandwiching the firewall. You'll see an A/C dryer in the pic, because I added a "hang on" A/C unit.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.jmartin.net/goose/Heater.jpg>Heater</a>

 

[riz]

<font color=blue> I've been thinking of doing the same thing to mine ..... I'd love to have the extra room in the engine bay while working on it ........ I would like to mount my MSD6A ignition there as well.

 

[502Burban]

Here's a pic of what you will find under the A/C box: http://community.webshots.com/photo/16047413/16050728pzbJjLJGZV . You can either fab a plate to cover the holes left by the squirrel-cage fan and the evaporator/heater core or you can actually buy them from <a target="_blank" href=http://www.vintageair.com>Vintage Air</a>. They include the plate and plug with their "Sure-Fit" A/C kit that I am installing, but will also sell them as individual parts.