Just finished my Heater system 'rebuild' on '56 259 Power Hawk. So much easier with input from you all.
In an effort to get better defrosting, I used 'Y's instead of 'T's, and since I couldn't find any to buy, I made my own outa copper pipe. Since the joint was essentially a butt joint, I was concerned about strength, so I wrapped the joint in Epoxy putty. I also put the 'Y' before the heater valve so as to get heat to the defroster sooner and to run defroster without heater, not sure if this is the right thing, but I can move it later (If you all tell me what an idiot I am for doing it this way
). I also ran bigger hose to the defroster till just before the firewall.
I had my radiator re-cored by A1 Radiator in Fortuna, Ca for 150.00. Very nice job, but it is 1.5" shorter, biggest core they could find. So I had to do a little filing and fabricate a mount-block off plate. It seems to work just fine, lots of heat.
I also went a bit nuts cleaning up the heater box... got perhaps a few hours into scraping, cleaning, wire brushing, rust converter and paint.
Regrets? I should have researched heater hose options material/quality/price (comments please). I've since found that heater cores are available for affordable prices, but when I made my decision all I found were 300.00 and used.
Feels good to get to know my car more intimately and to know that it should work for years to come. EXCEPT: as I was hooking up the hoses to the manifold, I noticed quite a bit of corrosion blockage inside the manifold, perhaps 25% flow restriction. I expect the whole motor looks the same inside?
Rafe Hollister
In an effort to get better defrosting, I used 'Y's instead of 'T's, and since I couldn't find any to buy, I made my own outa copper pipe. Since the joint was essentially a butt joint, I was concerned about strength, so I wrapped the joint in Epoxy putty. I also put the 'Y' before the heater valve so as to get heat to the defroster sooner and to run defroster without heater, not sure if this is the right thing, but I can move it later (If you all tell me what an idiot I am for doing it this way
). I also ran bigger hose to the defroster till just before the firewall.I had my radiator re-cored by A1 Radiator in Fortuna, Ca for 150.00. Very nice job, but it is 1.5" shorter, biggest core they could find. So I had to do a little filing and fabricate a mount-block off plate. It seems to work just fine, lots of heat.
I also went a bit nuts cleaning up the heater box... got perhaps a few hours into scraping, cleaning, wire brushing, rust converter and paint.
Regrets? I should have researched heater hose options material/quality/price (comments please). I've since found that heater cores are available for affordable prices, but when I made my decision all I found were 300.00 and used.
Feels good to get to know my car more intimately and to know that it should work for years to come. EXCEPT: as I was hooking up the hoses to the manifold, I noticed quite a bit of corrosion blockage inside the manifold, perhaps 25% flow restriction. I expect the whole motor looks the same inside?
Rafe Hollister
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