the Heater Delete option?

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SSing

SSing

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Anybody here know about these block off plates?
Were they part of the option?
What did they look like in terms of finish and such...
Talking about the ´68 Barracuda in particular.

block off FABO.jpg
 
Yes they came with car with heater delete.

Mexican Darts 318 GTS's and Barracuda's with Rallye dash commonly have heater delete and have those block off plates.

I have/had a picture somewhere of a 69 Barracuda from Mexico with KPH speedo and part of a block of plate (car was a hammered shell)
 
My car has them both installed. I'll get a picture for you.

Originally it came with the heater delete option, no A/C (installed later on by dealer), and speedo in km/h
 
autoxcuda said:
Yes they came with car with heater delete.

Mexican Darts 318 GTS's and Barracuda's with Rallye dash commonly have heater delete and have those block off plates.

I have/had a picture somewhere of a 69 Barracuda from Mexico with KPH speedo and part of a block of plate (car was a hammered shell)
Click to expand...
Ok, thanks. See if we can get a picture of it.
 
Josecuda said:
My car has them both installed. I'll get a picture for you.

Originally it came with the heater delete option, no A/C (installed later on by dealer), and speedo in km/h
Click to expand...
I´m thinking you may have forgotten about this.
Im trying to make a set and a good picture off how thick it is and the finsh of the plates would be super.
Thanks
 
This is on my Duster and obviously not a rallye dash but you get the idea. It's no thicker than a normal climate control bezel. The finish is also the same as a regular one which is sort of a satin; The trim is vacuum plated chrome which is clearly faded on mine. I'm not sure what this came out of, I got it from someone here in the US.

heater delete.jpeg


IMG_9701.JPG


There was one on Ebay recently which I meant to buy but forgot about it and missed it. The pic below is from the ad.

Heater delete back.jpeg
 
Don't forget when you take the heater out you'll need a heater delete fresh air door!
heater delete door.jpg
 
Useful i
rmchrgr said:
This is on my Duster and obviously not a rallye dash but you get the idea. It's no thicker than a normal climate control bezel. The finish is also the same as a regular one which is sort of a satin; The trim is vacuum plated chrome which is clearly faded on mine. I'm not sure what this came out of, I got it from someone here in the US.

View attachment 1716202568

View attachment 1716202570

There was one on Ebay recently which I meant to buy but forgot about it and missed it. The pic below is from the ad.

View attachment 1716202571
Click to expand...
Useful information...
Thank you.
 
SSing said:
Yes, was thinking of making one out of a driver side vent box.
Probably easier said than done but what to do, not many of thoes around...
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yeah... not an easy project. The box itself is totally different. You can't just flip the left side around, it would have to be turned inside-out to work.

I think the easiest solution might be to cut the vent box out of a complete, right-hand heater box assembly and graft it on to a left side box. There is an overlapping seam on the bottom secured with brass rivets so that's kind of how the factory made them. I'm sure they didn't want to make the tooling for something like that since it was a non-standard option limited to year-round warm climate markets.

I could never figure out exactly what material was used for the heater and vent boxes though. It's similar to fiberglass and may very well be some sort of pigmented resin/mat type stuff.
 
rmchrgr said:
Yeah... not an easy project. The box itself is totally different. You can't just flip the left side around, it would have to be turned inside-out to work.

I think the easiest solution might be to cut the vent box out of a complete, right-hand heater box assembly and graft it on to a left side box. There is an overlapping seam on the bottom secured with brass rivets so that's kind of how the factory made them. I'm sure they didn't want to make the tooling for something like that since it was a non-standard option limited to year-round warm climate markets.

I could never figure out exactly what material was used for the heater and vent boxes though. It's similar to fiberglass and may very well be some sort of pigmented resin/mat type stuff.
Click to expand...
Ok, brass rivets. Good info. Still have them here somewhere on the farm. 3/8" flat head or so.
It´s a good thing the box is not an eye-catcher like the 4-speed shifter next to it and I got this one perfectly right.
 
SSing said:
Ok, brass rivets. Good info. Still have them here somewhere on the farm. 3/8" flat head or so.
It´s a good thing the box is not an eye-catcher like the 4-speed shifter next to it and I got this one perfectly right.
Click to expand...
In the pic I posted you can see what the rivets look like (above the door opening) because there is a seam on the front of the box as well.

I'll let you in on a secret - about 10-12 years ago I actually got my right-side fresh air box through an Ebay Australia autcion. Their cars are right-hand drive which puts their heater boxes on the left - voila, right-side fresh air vent. The ones used on the '68 S/S cars are exactly the same as the right-side ones found on mid-'60s Australian Valiants.

I had to create a separate Ebay Aus. account and it took months of checking before one popped up but I stuck to it and snagged one. It cost way more to have it shipped here to the US than the part itself. The guy who had it for sale thought I was nuts but he followed through and got it to me. I've never seen another one out in the wild, it is an über rare part. Unfortunately, the door hinge on mine is broken but the door itself is OK. Not sure If I'll ever use it since I ended up blocking the right side cowl vent opening on my car. I got one though!

A bit later I bought another one from down there but it was from a later model. That one is made of molded plastic and is not even remotely the same as the other one. The vent door/grate is cable-operated like the ones that came on B bodies. Might be a tad lighter than the older one as well. Still have that one too.

No guarantees but I will try to remember to grab the older vent box from my storage spot when I'm there and take more detailed pictures for you.
 
I screwed up years ago. I found a right hand drive Barracuda in a junkyard and grabbed the left hand mirror delete trim piece. Looks like I should have grabbed the left hand vent box also.
 
rmchrgr said:
In the pic I posted you can see what the rivets look like (above the door opening) because there is a seam on the front of the box as well.

I'll let you in on a secret - about 10-12 years ago I actually got my right-side fresh air box through an Ebay Australia autcion. Their cars are right-hand drive which puts their heater boxes on the left - voila, right-side fresh air vent. The ones used on the '68 S/S cars are exactly the same as the right-side ones found on mid-'60s Australian Valiants.

I had to create a separate Ebay Aus. account and it took months of checking before one popped up but I stuck to it and snagged one. It cost way more to have it shipped here to the US than the part itself. The guy who had it for sale thought I was nuts but he followed through and got it to me. I've never seen another one out in the wild, it is an über rare part. Unfortunately, the door hinge on mine is broken but the door itself is OK. Not sure If I'll ever use it since I ended up blocking the right side cowl vent opening on my car. I got one though!

A bit later I bought another one from down there but it was from a later model. That one is made of molded plastic and is not even remotely the same as the other one. The vent door/grate is cable-operated like the ones that came on B bodies. Might be a tad lighter than the older one as well. Still have that one too.

No guarantees but I will try to remember to grab the older vent box from my storage spot when I'm there and take more detailed pictures for you.
Click to expand...
Cool stories...
I acctually put an add in for the block off plates in a Facebook group over in Australia but no luck so far.
As for pics of the vent box thanks, but I have gathered some 30-40 over the years, from all angeles, so I´m well prepared once I deside to go.
And door is 4 1/4" X 6 3/16" witch is slighty smaller than driver side door.
 
SSing said:
Cool stories...
I acctually put an add in for the block off plates in a Facebook group over in Australia but no luck so far.
As for pics of the vent box thanks, but I have gathered some 30-40 over the years, from all angeles, so I´m well prepared once I deside to go.
And door is 4 1/4" X 6 3/16" witch is slighty smaller than driver side door.
Click to expand...
Ha, that's funny about the FB group ad, probably your best shot these days.

Unfortunately though, you're probably coming up empty because as far as I know, '67-'69 Barracudas were never produced down in Australia, only Valiants. Chrysler Australia was a low budget operation and it's highly doubtful that any Valiants would have come equipped with a left-hand drive, USA Rallye style dash.

Maybe try Jim Kramer in PA. Jim has an original B029 so he would at least know what you're looking for.

Thanks for the info on the door dimensions. I'm not sure I ever put my right and left side boxes next to each other for comparison.
 
As promised, here are some pictures of my right-side 'heater delete' vent box. Don't mean to side-track this from the OP question but it's sort of relevant.

I have the little door handle, just forgot to show it in these pics. The foam rubber seal gasket is wasted.
IMG_6654.jpg


The seller sent me everything including the hangers. When it arrived at my door, the door was still attached but just barely. The second I opened it, it fell off. Probably hadn't been moved in decades.
IMG_6643.jpg


Back side.
IMG_6644.jpg


Side view. I'm not sure what the angled cutout is for but if I had to guess it would be a steering column bracket or something. I'm not sure if the '68 Hemi Darts or 'Cudas had these reliefs, might be unique to the Australian cars.
IMG_6646.jpg


Outer side. The part number is stamped on both sides.
IMG_6648.jpg


Bottom side with the brass rivets. The shape is actually kind of complex.
IMG_6645.jpg


Part number and 'old' Mopar logo. Cool!
IMG_6650.jpg
 
This is where the door and hinge separated. The hole in the hinge is from a rivet. I had to be real careful when drilling them out, this stuff is so fragile. Normally, there's a little tab/wing on the bottom and top edges of the door with holes. The hinge had angled tabs that fit into the door tabs and are fastened by rivets. The corrosion made the tabs weak. Not a very robust design to begin with though.
IMG_6652.1.jpg


Here's the other one I have. The pic is from several years ago. This one is obviously made out of plastic. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, this one had a cable operated grille vent like a B body. At one point I took the grille off and actually made a door and hinge for it. It would have worked, I just didn't like the way it came out, especially the hinge. Maybe I will revisit it.

IMG_0101.JPG


That's all I got.
 
rmchrgr said:
This is where the door and hinge separated. The hole in the hinge is from a rivet. I had to be real careful when drilling them out, this stuff is so fragile. Normally, there's a little tab/wing on the bottom and top edges of the door with holes. The hinge had angled tabs that fit into the door tabs and are fastened by rivets. The corrosion made the tabs weak. Not a very robust design to begin with though.
View attachment 1716206570

Here's the other one I have. The pic is from several years ago. This one is obviously made out of plastic. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, this one had a cable operated grille vent like a B body. At one point I took the grille off and actually made a door and hinge for it. It would have worked, I just didn't like the way it came out, especially the hinge. Maybe I will revisit it.

View attachment 1716206574

That's all I got.
Click to expand...

Absolutly, pictures of original parts like this is always interesting and in my case also useful.
Thank you for taking the time.
And good close up pic is helpful when I want to mimic surface finish...
As for the cut out, the original ´68 SS-cars use this very same vent box from what I have seen.
 
Glad to help. There really isn't much out there on the internet in regards to these boxes so hopefully it helps others down the line as well.
 
clementine said:
Ive bought stuff from @Josecuda before, I'm surprised he hasn't responded to post pics.

Everything ok Jose?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on the road for the past days. Everything's good just a lot of work. I will be home tonight and could send the pics of both plates. Thanks!
 
Josecuda said:
My car has them both installed. I'll get a picture for you.

Originally it came with the heater delete option, no A/C (installed later on by dealer), and speedo in km/h
Click to expand...

The longer one is glued and I couldn’t get it off to check the part no.

IMG_1562.jpeg


IMG_1563.jpeg


IMG_1566.jpeg


IMG_1565.jpeg


IMG_1564.jpeg
 
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