Damn heater core!!!

SoCal71RS · 02-21-2006, 11:57:13 AM

Well, it looks like the time is nearing for what seems to be a very fun project.
My heater core seems to be leaking. Which is much better than just full on puking. I see a little splash worth on my floormat every time I drive.
Anyway, as I think of this upcoming project I have thought about going ahead and deleating my AC box. I have the box but no compresor and who knows what else is missing. And AC is so far off my list of prioritys.
There is a company called http://www.americangraffiti.biz/
they sell a AC delete kit has a cover, heater core, blower motor and fan.
This way I could fix my problem, clean up my engine compartment, keep my heater. And if I wanted AC someday down the line there is probably soething better out there like the vintage air systems.
So basicaly I'm posting all this nonsence to see what you guys thing. Any opinions or thoughts, pros vs. cons.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks.

Ceth · 02-21-2006, 01:51:52 PM

I took out all my A/C stuff as well. I want to add the A/C delete box to make the engine compartment look cleaner and less cluttered, but WTF is up with that price? Im not going to pay that. Let me know if you find some cheaper way to do it.

Little Naples · 02-21-2006, 02:32:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ceth

I took out all my A/C stuff as well. I want to add the A/C delete box to make the engine compartment look cleaner and less cluttered, but WTF is up with that price? Im not going to pay that. Let me know if you find some cheaper way to do it.

Man, that is a totally reasonable price....how do you expect a company to manufacture an exclusive item like that for cheap?

Knuckle Dragger · 02-22-2006, 12:17:59 AM

I have the box in my car. Let me tell you it's not worth the price. A couple of things you should know before ordering the piece. You will need a new motor and cage. The A/C stuff will not work. When I ordered it they no longer had the fan cage available. The cage is fairly hard to find. There is no provision for the blower resistor. The resister must be in the air flow or it will burn out. I used a resister from a 3rd gen and cut a hole. There are not holes drilled at all on the piece. You will have to drill all the mounting holes. They are dimpled. In my experience their customer service sucked, hard. I ordered the piece on Monday, and I needed it quickly. They said they had it in stock and it would ship the same day. It shipped on Friday. When I called asking about it I was told basically too bad so sad.

Batman has a home fabricated box on his car that looks just as good if not better than the American Graffiti box. I think he has a template still. You'll need to do a little basic fabricating but it's fairly easy to make your own. And you'll save at least $120 of the $140 they want for there box.

JMO

SoCal71RS · 02-22-2006, 01:42:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knuckle Dragger

You will need a new motor and cage. The A/C stuff will not work.

The kit comes with a new motor but what do you mean by cage? If the cage just houses a fan can't I reuse my existing one? What do you mean by the A/C stuff won't work? All I expecting to work is just the vent and heater. The AC dosent work as it is. Do you meen the controls won't work?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knuckle Dragger

There is no provision for the blower resistor. The resister must be in the air flow or it will burn out. I used a resister from a 3rd gen and cut a hole.

Sorry man, I have no idea what that is... Where did you cut a hole?
I really do appreciate your feedback though.
Basicaly my main goal is to fix the leak and while I'm in there replace items that I mite as well do while I'm in there. Plus my fan or motor doesen't work anyway so I'd like to fix that cause when the window fogs up my defrost is worthless. I wouldn't mind having AC but I have so many other more important things to do on the car that I really could care less about it. Plus it would probably cost way more than the ~$300 for the delete kit to get everything I need to get the system working. Money I'd rather put towards the rust/paint issues fund. I'm sure it does add value to the car having the AC box but if that is all I have and I'm missing everything else I feel like it just dosent matter. Of course if I do take it off I'll hang on to it to pass on if I ever sell the car or to possibly reinstall someday.
What I'm getting from you is that you dont feel the cover is worth the money and the customer service sucked. But did it work and look clean and most importantly did it work, meaning all your heater and defroster controls? And if I do buy this kit is there anything else I should buy?
Anyway, thanks for your help.
John...

SoCal71RS · 02-23-2006, 12:48:12 PM

_ttt_

muscl car · 02-23-2006, 04:28:14 PM

just pull all that stuff out throw a piece of sheetmetal over the hole and be done with it

.it doesn't get cold enough here to need a heater anyways.

SoCal71RS · 02-23-2006, 07:39:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muscl car

just pull all that stuff out throw a piece of sheetmetal over the hole and be done with it

.it doesn't get cold enough here to need a heater anyways.

I'll agree with you it dosent get cold enough to really need a heater. But the main purpose for me is really the defrost. Sure its nice to turn on the heater if your date is cold but I'd rather be able to see out the window. It always seems to fog up good in my car when it rains...

Knuckle Dragger · 02-23-2006, 11:00:04 PM

What I meant about the A/C stuff not working is that the blower motor you have now will not fit. The cage is the circle of fan blades that attach to the motor, will not fit. The whole thing is too long at least in my case. Your controls will work fine. If you look at your set up right now, you will see a plate bolted to the case with 5-6 wires plugged into it. This is your blower resistor. It's what changes the fan speed, by reducing the current flow. It gets real hot. They put it into the air flow stream of the blower so that it will cool down. The American Graffiti box has no provision for this resistor. I hope that clears it up.

The box looks fine once it's installed. You may have seen mine the time I met you at Hooters. I can get you some pictures next week if you would like, and I'll show you where I installed the third gen resistor.

The most likely cause of your blower being in-op is a faulty ground to the motor. It was a crappy design to start with. I ended up running a wire from the fire wall to the fan case to eliminate the issue.

SoCal71RS · 02-24-2006, 10:47:41 AM

Thanks Dave, that does clear it up a bit. I have gone ahead and just looped the line for the moment. I think I might just end up replacing the existing heater core and motor and whatever I can see in there. And just keep the AC suitcase. That way it just continues just being in my way with the possible option of fixing and adding whatever I need to put the AC back together someday in the far future.
Thanks again for your help.
P.S. That paint looks great.

Chucks73 · 02-24-2006, 03:31:44 PM

I was looking at doing the same and switching out the box. I do remember a while back that American Graffiti did talk about the different Blower and cage. I checked out there site and then called. They have retooled the cover to work with the stock blower and cage.

Hey John nice wheels on the car.

Kunihiro · 02-24-2006, 03:56:21 PM

Dave, You're such a wealth of knowledge!

John, Just keep on fixin'

Chuck (Musclcar), hurry up and get your shoulder fixed!

Chuck (Chuck73) I was just waiting for you to jump in, since you already removed your A/C stuff. What about those coil overs????

I was bored, so I felt compelled to jump in....

Allen

Knuckle Dragger · 02-24-2006, 04:17:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCal71RS

Thanks Dave, that does clear it up a bit. I have gone ahead and just looped the line for the moment. I think I might just end up replacing the existing heater core and motor and whatever I can see in there. And just keep the AC suitcase. That way it just continues just being in my way with the possible option of fixing and adding whatever I need to put the AC back together someday in the far future.
Thanks again for your help.
P.S. That paint looks great.

Thanks for the compliment

Before you replace the blower motor be sure the ground is good. It's very common. No pun intended.

Chucks73 · 02-24-2006, 05:30:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunihiro

Chuck (Chuck73) I was just waiting for you to jump in, since you already removed your A/C stuff. What about those coil overs????

I was bored, so I felt compelled to jump in....

Allen

The suitcase is still in. But I have plans for getting ride of it to. Got a lead on the Coil Overs just waiting for the guy to pull them out of his car.

BTW you want to buy a T-Shirt

AND is your car running yet?

Kunihiro · 02-24-2006, 06:50:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chucks73

The suitcase is still in. But I have plans for getting ride of it to. Got a lead on the Coil Overs just waiting for the guy to pull them out of his car.

BTW you want to buy a T-Shirt

AND is your car running yet?

HHHMMM,,

Lemme see,

OH, you must be talkin' about my "Cruisin' For A Cure" T-shirt....I forgot about that one.....

Yep, car is up and running. Took it out for a 60 mile spin today......Runs pretty good. I ended up replacing the 800 cfm to a smaller 650 Edelbrock AVS cause there was fuel wash in the crank case which contaminated the oil.

I'll bet that's what happened the first time which blew the rod.

The new engine was sniffed with one of those smog sniffer things with the 800 and it was so high it didn't even register. The 650 was put on and the motor was sniffed again. It was still a little high, but under load (at the exhaust) the readings were reasonable.

So we'll see what happens. Quite frankly I'm afraid to drive it, cause I don't want to blow another motor.......You know,,,,you have a bad experience and you don't wanna go through it again kinda thing....

Allen