Overhauling Heater/AC Box
On to the AC section. Disassembly was fairly straightforward, but then, it usually is easy to take things apart.:rolleyes: The only booger was how to get this little thermostatic tube out of the evaporator coil.
It's supposed to "slide" out according to FSM, but nope! I consulted a you tube video suggested by superbirdrag on this board, and it turned out to be very helpful. I followed that guys method of cutting a slot in the sheet metal box for the tube to slide through as I pulled the coil out. I had to be careful not to nick the tube with my cut-off tool.
That allowed me to pull the evaporator coil out. I don't know of any way to bench test the switch that the coil is attached to, so I'm leaving that one to chance. The coil appears to be in fairly decent shape.
I brush blasted to sheet metal box just to get the gunk out of it and spray painted it.
I bought a gasket and foam rebuild kit from DMT which is a really nice set at a reasonable price. The guys at DMT were super helpful, even responding very quickly when I discovered that I was missing one piece out of the set. As I was getting things cleaned up to re-assemble, I THOUGHT that I was missing something else from the gasket set. There were these fiberglass insulation sheets backed with a felt paper that line the evaporator box.
I could not find them in the gasket set. I searched all the hardware stores for a substitute material that I could cut for this application, but I couldn't find anything that suited me. I finally ended up with some mastic/cork pipe wrap stuff that I used to strip line the box. It worked out OK, and I was satisfied that it would work. More on this later.
I pressure tested the evap coil the same way I did the heater core; no apparent leaks. I have no idea if there is trash in the system. I blew compressed air through it, and that's the best I can do; just have to take my chances on that count. All the guts got re-installed in the box, and I sealed up my tube removal slot with the same insulating mastic.
At this point, I stood back, took a breath, and admired my work; started picking up and cleaning up debris. That's when I found the "missing" sheets of fiberglass insulating material that were intended to line the evap box. :BangHead::BangHead::BangHead: Well, not the first dumbass thing I've ever done, and I'm sure it won't be the last. The kit from DMT was beautiful...too bad I wasn't smart enough to use the whole thing. All the panels back in place, motor painted and re-installed, vacuum diaphragms and linkages back in place. Ready to hook the AC and heater boxes back together.
By the way, there was one door inside the AC sheet metal box that gets a foam pad attached to both sides. I got one side stuck on OK, but the other side was problematic. I could barely even touch the door with my bare hands through the opening where the blower fan goes in, much less put a stickly piece of foam on the door. I got my 7 year-old grandson, Duncan, over here one afternoon, gave him some minimal instructions, gave him a couple of dry run shots at putting it in place, and the next thing you know...it's glued in. He was proud to have helped Paw Paw on the car.
On to the AC section. Disassembly was fairly straightforward, but then, it usually is easy to take things apart.:rolleyes: The only booger was how to get this little thermostatic tube out of the evaporator coil.
It's supposed to "slide" out according to FSM, but nope! I consulted a you tube video suggested by superbirdrag on this board, and it turned out to be very helpful. I followed that guys method of cutting a slot in the sheet metal box for the tube to slide through as I pulled the coil out. I had to be careful not to nick the tube with my cut-off tool.
That allowed me to pull the evaporator coil out. I don't know of any way to bench test the switch that the coil is attached to, so I'm leaving that one to chance. The coil appears to be in fairly decent shape.
I brush blasted to sheet metal box just to get the gunk out of it and spray painted it.
I bought a gasket and foam rebuild kit from DMT which is a really nice set at a reasonable price. The guys at DMT were super helpful, even responding very quickly when I discovered that I was missing one piece out of the set. As I was getting things cleaned up to re-assemble, I THOUGHT that I was missing something else from the gasket set. There were these fiberglass insulation sheets backed with a felt paper that line the evaporator box.
I could not find them in the gasket set. I searched all the hardware stores for a substitute material that I could cut for this application, but I couldn't find anything that suited me. I finally ended up with some mastic/cork pipe wrap stuff that I used to strip line the box. It worked out OK, and I was satisfied that it would work. More on this later.
I pressure tested the evap coil the same way I did the heater core; no apparent leaks. I have no idea if there is trash in the system. I blew compressed air through it, and that's the best I can do; just have to take my chances on that count. All the guts got re-installed in the box, and I sealed up my tube removal slot with the same insulating mastic.
At this point, I stood back, took a breath, and admired my work; started picking up and cleaning up debris. That's when I found the "missing" sheets of fiberglass insulating material that were intended to line the evap box. :BangHead::BangHead::BangHead: Well, not the first dumbass thing I've ever done, and I'm sure it won't be the last. The kit from DMT was beautiful...too bad I wasn't smart enough to use the whole thing. All the panels back in place, motor painted and re-installed, vacuum diaphragms and linkages back in place. Ready to hook the AC and heater boxes back together.
By the way, there was one door inside the AC sheet metal box that gets a foam pad attached to both sides. I got one side stuck on OK, but the other side was problematic. I could barely even touch the door with my bare hands through the opening where the blower fan goes in, much less put a stickly piece of foam on the door. I got my 7 year-old grandson, Duncan, over here one afternoon, gave him some minimal instructions, gave him a couple of dry run shots at putting it in place, and the next thing you know...it's glued in. He was proud to have helped Paw Paw on the car.