Heater Core Alternative - Escort Core into 260/280

[Captain Obvious]

13 hours ago, HusseinHolland said:

 does this entire box attach to the one in your picture where the foam seal is located

Yes. This whole box:

Goes here:

Now... Since your car came from the factory without A/C, there is supposed to be a simple hollow duct box sitting there, but I don't know what they did for your aftermarket A/C.

[HusseinHolland]

8 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Yes. This whole box:

Now... Since your car came from the factory without A/C, there is supposed to be a simple hollow duct box sitting there, but I don't know what they did for your aftermarket A/C.

Thank you - those make it very clear. I am thinking of buying a used factory AC box with evaporator, since every other part of the dealer AC install is sloppy, I can't imagine the evaporator install is any better. The issue there would be dealing with the factory line fittings. I have no idea if they are standard or some funky metric size/version fittings that will be difficult to find. 

[SteveJ]

1 hour ago, HusseinHolland said:

Thank you - those make it very clear. I am thinking of buying a used factory AC box with evaporator, since every other part of the dealer AC install is sloppy, I can't imagine the evaporator install is any better. The issue there would be dealing with the factory line fittings. I have no idea if they are standard or some funky metric size/version fittings that will be difficult to find. 

What exactly do you need measured? I have an evaporator sitting in my garage. 

Do you have any typical fittings you could send me to test fit for you?

[HusseinHolland]

18 minutes ago, SteveJ said:

What exactly do you need measured? I have an evaporator sitting in my garage. 

Do you have any typical fittings you could send me to test fit for you?

Hi Steve

Thank you for the offer. I think what I would need to explore this are the OD and thread pitch of the Male fitting and the ID of the Female fitting, where the lines exit the firewall, and the two male fittings on the Evaporator itself - if that's what you have handy. I took this image from the eBay listing. I need to establish if they are all metric or standard.

Judging from the other pics, the line fittings are flared (JIC perhaps?), which is not standard for any US type o-ring style fitting (MIOR, MOR, FIOR, FOR, etc.,)

This may not be worth the effort if I have to make lines that go into the casing to attach. I don't see any way to convert the outer fittings to o-ring style, unless someone sells repair ends that can be silver soldered to the existing hardlines. There are standard (#6, #8, #10) male & female flare beadlock fittings, but they will definitely be SAE thread, not metric.

 

[Captain Obvious]

2 hours ago, HusseinHolland said:

Thank you - those make it very clear. I am thinking of buying a used factory AC box with evaporator,

Glad to help.

I've got factory A/C parts here available for purchase if you're interested. I'm a reasonable drive from you for something bulky, heavy, and expensive to ship. Wouldn't mind seeing one of your other project cars either.      Send me a PM.

[HusseinHolland]

On 4/13/2023 at 9:56 AM, Captain Obvious said:

Glad to help.

I've got factory A/C parts here available for purchase if you're interested. I'm a reasonable drive from you for something bulky, heavy, and expensive to ship. Wouldn't mind seeing one of your other project cars either.      Send me a PM.

I thought of you this weekend as I was down in Philly with some Art Honor students, visiting PAFA & Philly Museum of Art. 😬

There is also a cool Sculpture park about 1/2hour North

[Captain Obvious]

2 hours ago, HusseinHolland said:

I thought of you this weekend as I was down in Philly

Cool. Looks like you had a good time. And neat pics. Clear that you know what you're doing behind a camera. About the only thing I take pics of is cars or car parts.

And I like the pic of that sculpture too. Looks like a nice Daydream.

[HusseinHolland]

Took out the glovebox today, so I could see what's back there regarding the heater & AC

pulled the blower housing, made it very easy to access all the heater hoses. Needs a good clean anyway.

Heater core out.

bulkhead fitting removed, M4 rivnut in place to retain the AN line fitting

turns out the aluminum bracket/fitting has identical spacing to factory, makes things easier. Just have to drill the center hole to match the factory cover plate shown

All kinds of crusty 'plastic' laying in the box - it seems the heater core end tanks were encased in it

Edited July 2, 2023 by HusseinHolland

[HusseinHolland]

So to continue with my version using the '91-02 Ford Escort heater core (thanks Capt. Obvious!) I ordered the heater valve mentioned by another -4 Seasons 74627 - but it didn't arrive until late this evening, so I dismantled the original & had a go at fixing it following the other thread

Think it's pretty clear why the heat never shut off - large chunk of silicone wedged in there

I forgot to take pics of the re-assembly, I used a Viton o-ring in place of the square cut outer seal, I left the inner one alone. Left it set on an angle filled with fluid to check for leaks.

This is what my phone screen looks like (actually worse now, it's all dark) - so my pics are hit & miss

I flipped the I/O for the heater hoses - the bulkhead upper is now the return & the outer/lower is the feed. I did it this way so that the feed is not too short, and the return is a straighter run. and so the inside feed is a plain elbow 90º.  Determining hose lengths (cut from Volvo 700 formed hoses) here. SS tubing is 20.5". 

dogleg for the other end, test fit alignment of pipe & hoses

Hoses cut & clamped (head fitting was removed, de-rusted, sealed & reinstalled, slight offset change -more vertical

Far end adjusted & clamped 

With that end out of the way, I returned to the heater valve & core. Eyeballed holes for core pipes, based on the core being centered. Added closed cell foam on the sides to make it snug, and to the front to keep it pushed all the way in & cover up the old pipe holes.

Was playing with hose routing - this way was to allow the 74627 straight pipe valve to sit above the feed pipe

along these lines

I'll revert to this layout if I need to switch to the 74627 valve

When it became clear that the 74627 wasn't coming , I switched gears & worked on fitting the original repaired valve -

Heater valve fitted using the upper existing mount screw, new hole drilled in plate. Cut a notch in the valve mount bracket to clear the lower screw. Checked that flap can open.

Feed hose clamped. Cable attached & function tested.

Test fitting (formed, Volvo) hoses to & from heater valve 

Added oetiker clamps after this. Since I wasn't able to flare the end of the core tubing, I prefer them as the clamping is typically more uniform than a worm clamp of any type. 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by HusseinHolland
remove excess pic

[HusseinHolland]

Have to switch out the stock valve - it doesn't completely close - the hoses are still mildly warm, so coolant is still passing. Not going to work for me, will interfere with working AC once I get to that.

[grannyknot]

7 hours ago, HusseinHolland said:

Have to switch out the stock valve - it doesn't completely close - the hoses are still mildly warm, so coolant is still passing. Not going to work for me, will interfere with working AC once I get to that.

I installed an inline shut off valve on the in hose to the heater core, close it for the summer and open again for the fall, seem to work okay.

[HusseinHolland]

1 hour ago, grannyknot said:

I installed an inline shut off valve on the in hose to the heater core, close it for the summer and open again for the fall, seem to work okay.

I recall reading at a couple of ppl have done so - I'm hoping that with a newer ball valve type, I won't need an auxiliary shut off. I could do that if there is no other way around it.