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Heater core?

absolutely none taken.. just throwing that out for the record that my system isn't complicated... :D
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Excellent, because I am a simple man, with simple needs.... but mostly I am simple:haha:

Yeah my heater core didn't come in.

Hopefully it'll be in tomorrow.

What can I remove while leaving the heater core mounted still??
 
to make it a whole lot easier, i just used an air ratchet and removed the inner fenderwell right off the bat. Then i removed the glovebox. Then i removed the coolant lines and used a couple wine bottle corks to keep fluid from making a mess and removed the wiring. Then i removed the cables, and vents.

Once your ready to pull the box, Go back to the engine compartment and remove the bolts surrounding the heater box. The whole box splits in 2 pieces, one on the inside and one on the outside of the firewall. Remove the inside part and the heater core will be in there. Yes be careful with the hardware as well. It should take a couple of hours, but in all reality if its anything like my truck, bolts will/might strip, ducting might break, so be patient and careful.
 
Yeah I am expecting this to be a fantastically fun occasion...:crazy:

I think saturday is gonna be the day to tear the inside of the truck apart.


Another question:

While I am in there, is there any A/C equipment I can rip outta there?? All the A/C lines are disconnected, and I'd love to get anything else A/C related disconnected/removed.
 
that is why i got a heater from summit, the ac box is HUGE and there is nothing you can really do to it unless you want to cut the ac part out of the box and fiberglass a panel to reroute the air back into the heater portion of the box which is a lot of work imo and your still stuck with a big ugly heater.

When i modified the ac box in my truck, i just got a heater only controls and made everything work on cables instead of the vacuum actuators which are unreliabe. I also elimated all ducting that had nothing to do with the defrost and made a plate for the hole in the heater box. I only had floor heater and defrost by doing this. I also gorilla taped the defrost tube to the heater box on top of the bolt thats there so no air would leak under the dash in defrost mode.
 
You dont need to remove the fender on newer trucks like your 89.
I just did the core on my 89 Blazer. All nuts are acessable with out removing the fender. IIRC there is also a nut on the inside holding it on. Remove the glove box
It took me a couple of hours to do. The hardest part is splitting the heater/air box. You have to pull some of the linkage off and a damper rod out to get the box apart.
 
How often do heater cores go out? Sounds like a pretty pain the ass job on a Chevy...

At least Ford got something right.. changing a heat core in a Ford truck is a matter of removing 4 or 5 screws from the plastic box under the dash and unhooking the heater hoses. Done in about 20 minutes if the truck is already cold.
 
Yeah I'm not looking forward to this at all.

I got my heater core today. It finally came in.

I never got an answer on this one though:

Can I take anything off tonight, or tomorrow that would cut some time from the replacement on saturday. I can't remove hoses, I need em' connected because I gotta get to and from work tomorrow.
 
Inner fender has to stay for the battery tray. you can go ahead and remove the glove box, hard vent lines as well as the vacuum line connections if you want. Get the carpet ready to just fold back out of the way as much as possible (you will get some fluids on the floor). The vacuum lines are not that big a deal though. You will want to have a sharpie or other permanent marker to mark the current location of the metal rod that pushes/pulls the door. This will help ensure that the door functions properly when you put it back.

I will try to remember and go over what I did and let you know more.
 
Yeah I have no carpet. Bed lined floor is all I have (which is pretty convenient, because I have a crap load of wet rags on the floor right now...)

See I didn't know if I had to crack open the heater box first or if I could just start pulling ducting out.

Thanks.

I'll let everyone know how it works out.
 
Clod_King said:
Yeah I have no carpet. Bed lined floor is all I have (which is pretty convenient, because I have a crap load of wet rags on the floor right now...)

See I didn't know if I had to crack open the heater box first or if I could just start pulling ducting out.

Thanks.

I'll let everyone know how it works out.
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It's really just the duct that goes to the driver side footwell and the piece that comes out in the middle under the dash. Above that piece is the duct that takes it to the defroster vents I believe and it may be able to come out also. When you get under there and start looking at things you will be able to tell which pieces can be removed. I think they are either a phillips screw or a 1/4" bolt head screw (or about that size).
 
So two of the studs that hold the heater box together twisted in half...:mad:


I am on the last one, and if it snaps it'll mean I have three mounting bolts to hold the two halfs of the heater box together...

Am I screwed?? should I just remove the whole assembly and weld a sheet of metal in there until I can buy one of those summit heaters?

Or is there a way to pull the special fasteners out, and just use a bolt and nut??
 
I vote, bypass it, gut it, patch it, buy a summit heater when ya can... But then again, I'm a little biased.. :wink1:
 
hahaha, yeah I read what you said about the summit heater. That's why I thought of it!

the thing is, I drive this thing to work and back everyday. I don't need heat, I like the cold (in moderate amounts), but the defrost is the part that I need...


And I don't know when I could afford to buy a summit heater.

Hey Ryoken, does the summit heater just hook up to the heater hoses, and the rest is plug-n-play?? Or would I have to rig up some switches, or somthing like that??

I know I would have to plumb it up to the defrost vents, but that is understood.
 
Clod_King said:
hahaha, yeah I read what you said about the summit heater. That's why I thought of it!

the thing is, I drive this thing to work and back everyday. I don't need heat, I like the cold (in moderate amounts), but the defrost is the part that I need...


And I don't know when I could afford to buy a summit heater.

Hey Ryoken, does the summit heater just hook up to the heater hoses, and the rest is plug-n-play?? Or would I have to rig up some switches, or somthing like that??

I know I would have to plumb it up to the defrost vents, but that is understood.
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yup, just hooks up as stock except both lines are 5/8.. you'll have to change out the one 3/4 fitting...

comes with a rotary switch setup, super simple.. There's a couple ways to go about defrost.. you can buy the hose kit, use both outputs and bring it up to either side and attach directly to the opening..

you can leave the Y-diverter plastic in and plumb 1 hose to that, leaving the other for floor heat..

you can run around with just floor heat and just cook the h*ll out of the cab, which is what I was doing... does ok.. :wink1:

I was gonna retain the stock Y in and mod to that.. But I recently designed a fiberglass solution that I'm gonna do... Trying to make it much more space efficient and smaller than the factory plastic..
 
I was gonna retain the stock Y in and mod to that.. But I recently designed a fiberglass solution that I'm gonna do... Trying to make it much more space efficient and smaller than the factory plastic..
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You never take the easy way out do ya??:D:haha: hahaha


I think I am going to go with the summit heater. I am fed up with this crap...

I got the heater box out of the truck, and in doing so twisted off 50% of the special fasteners. I think I could use nuts and bolts, but something else broke aswell.

I removed all the little screws that held the halfs of the heater box together, but there is a diverter or something that is mounted to shaft that goes through both halves:mad:.

I pulled on the shaft to get it out, and a piece of the diverter thing broke off. It was the ear that the keyed part of the shaft goes through. So now I am completely fed up with the whole system, and I am going rip it out of my truck.

I have a/c in my truck though... what do I do with the wires that hook up to it??

Snip 'em, and tape 'em off?

Or do they unplug from somewhere else in the truck??

I connected the two heater lines together, and I will weld in a piece of sheet metal over the hole the heater/ a/c box is gonna make tomorrow.

Thanks guys.
 
There is am easy fix for the ear thing that holds the rod in place. I will look and see if I have any of the retainer clip bolts left and send them to you. I will have to go through the pics on the 'puter for the fix of the retainer thing.
 
reddog64 said:
write up on the ck5 home page...

it's a pain in the arse...

did it in 3 hours and broke a few plastic parts...
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yep same here, both ones i ever done there was a mouse house in there, heat blew way better after cleaning that crap out. its way easier if you dont have A/C
 
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