ok today i installed my heater core. with a new cable operated heater control valve and 4 position blower motor switch. the valve is a pull to open and im using a choke cable to operate it. the switch 4 positions are off, hi, med, low. i then realized i could take the original control valve cable and make my heat / defrost blend door work with it . all of the parts should cost around a 100 bucks. here is the parts list. heater core # 399025 heater control valve murry # 74628 blower switch borg warner #s184 and a universal choke cable kit this is how close the new core comes to fitting in the original holes in the case. so it didnt take much filing with a round file to make it fit in the case. since the new core dose not have mounting brakets on it and i didnt want to void the waranty on it , i tied it in with a peice of 10gauge hard coper wire. then i mounted the case asembly back to the firewall. instaled the blower snout back on it. insalled the new heaer hoses with the new valve. then i made a new panel to hold my controls to fit where my ashtray gose. since i dont smoke and didnt want it below the dash. hooked the cable to the new valve. i removed the original heater valve. and made a filler plate to fill its hole . didnt figure i needed a pic. of this. then i had a brain surge. i figure out i could take the original cable of the original heater valve and make it operate the defrost blend door. im sure something originaly done this but its missing off my car. so i made this braket out of left over choke kit parts to conect it. no modification to anything except making one hole larger on the braket to go over the shaft arm. i then wired the blower switch in on the ground side of the wiring. hooked up the heater hose's to the engine. i hooked the top pipe from the core with the valve in it . to the water pump. which makes it the return. and the bottom pipe on the core to the intake which make it the inlet. that way there will not be any air t****d in the core. i now have fully adjustable heat in my car.
well thanks , that my first decent build thread . its already cold here that why i done that in my ba*****t garage instead of my detached. and this time i took plenty of pictures olong the way.
Damn , I couldn't have done that job any better myself ! I really like the idea of not butchering up the dash and making a simple panel to fit into the ashtray . That's easy to get to and much better than fumbling for the switch under the dash someplace ! I will bet you if it was under the dash you sure as hell will keep hitting it with your leg ! I also like the simple way of holding the heater core in the housing . I am happy yo see you used wire with plastic coating on it . If you didn't the metal to metal wouldn't last very long before it would make a leak from the metal rubbing . Then you thought of a way to make a bracket for the heat / defroster cable to work . Looks like you are set for a warm car while driving in the cold weather ! Now the only question I have that I didn't see in the picture is , when the heater control valve is shut off , how is the water going to by-p*** the control valve to circulate back to the water pump ? The original ones had a 3rd line to complete the circle of water flow from the water pump to the heater control valve and then back . The valve just cuts the flow of hot water from reaching the heater core . You need to check into that one when you want to turn the heat off . Jim
I know about the by-p*** hose but just wanted to make sure it would work OK for you ! Good job on the heater set up ! Jim
as long as an engine has a byp*** hose you can shut off this circut. if a engine dose not have a byp*** hose circut you need a valve that dumps or byp***'s the heater core . after i say that i think about a sbc engine without any byp*** circut . and the valve screws into the intake and just opens and closes, no byp*** circut at all.
I still don't see how a by-p*** hose is going to take the water circulation from the heater lines to the thermostat housing . I always thought the by-p*** was to help the circulation of water if the thermostat gets stuck . Isn't that why they called it the "by-p***" hose ? The by-p*** also goes from the intake to the radiator . The water pump takes the water from the bottom of the radiator then circulates water through the engine then out through the intake back to the radiator . Isn't that how the water circulates through the engine ? So I guess you really don't need a by p*** as long as the thermostat is working OK . The heater control valve just cuts off the Hot side from coming into the heater core thus no heat in the car . So now I am wondering why the Y blocks had that extra hose to by p*** the heater core ? Just something to think about ! Jim
your right , as long as you have a properly operating t-stat you dont need the extra cooling . as far as y-blocks i never fooled with those. i know what they look like , but thats about it . i was born in 68. they were not many people fooling with them until now . as far as my growing up years . and i never see them come in the shop i work in. think about this. too much coolant not controled by the t-stat. can also make one overheat. take a thermostat totaly out. and take it for a drive in trafic. what hapens? most likely it gona overheat because the coolant flows to fast through the system. to cool it properly. that why for race aplications they run the washer disk instead of a t-stat to control the flow. if the car had properly working blend doors like they have in modern day cars . you would not need the heater control valve. they use a series of doors to shut off the air through the core. there is a optimum operating temp. for an engine . you need the thermostat to control the flow. if there is to much not being controled by the t-stat. you wont reach that temp. either being to high or to low.
When I was helping a friend on his dirt track car , we took a bunch of old thermostats and took the springs out and was just left with the hole . Then we cut different size holes in them . Then depending on what track he raced at that weekend we had to change the disc to keep the engine as cool as possible . Those were old skool racing tricks and still work today . People really don't understand that you must control the flow of water/coolant to keep the engine at the best operating temperature ! They also think that if you add pure coolant into the cooling system it will keep the engine cooler ! Anyway I was just wanting to make sure that you didn't need the by p*** control valve type . Jim
********, dose this look close to the f100 core, i need to go dig out my box thats burried in my truck. but if it dont look close i wont .
The Ford by-p*** hoses (Y-Block and others) were supposedly intended to provide "rapid warm-up" - water goes directly from the hot engine outlet to the suction side of the pump. The bad part of that is that when its hot - and the thermostat is wide open - the byp*** still provides a garden hose sized (and very efficent due to placement) way for hot water to avoid your radiator. Nice build up thread - Where did you buy the Murray valve? At a chain parts house we could use to get another one? I'm thinking it would be a good way to do away with the vacuum valve out on the Y-block intake manifold of my bird.
i bought all my parts from oreillys except the heater hose dayco, came from federated/fisher auto parts. murry and four seasons are actually the same co. now . most not all the #s are the same for the 2 of them. its was cheap too.
How much was the heater control valve ? If you have the parts numbers that would help also . When I install my 302 I am thinking on going with the one you used . Looks nice and clean and not all big and bulky like many are . I prefer a manual valve over a vacuum control valve since I know when it's turned off , it's off ! I also don't have to worry about running a vacuum line to it from the heater controls in the car . Plain and simple always works for me ! Jim
the part #s are listed at the top. and i also took there pic with the box # showing. keep in mind i buy at jober price through work. the valve was 9 bucks . the core was 17.48 the choke cable was 10 bucks , the switch was about 17 i think. the good thing about a cable op. valve is you can choose how much flow it has . not just open and closed.
Yes, it looks very much like the stock core in my '56 F100. I'm glad you found a closer fitting core. I just found the first one that had the same measurements and same inlet/outlet sizes and bought it. Now I'm thinking about going to buy the part number you've got just to have a better fitting core. When I flipped mine over to make it fit in my F-100, the tubes didn't line up with the holes in the core housing and the extension tubes I made had to bend upwards to go through the firewall. Looks like the one you have will solve that issue for me and fit like the OE core. What's funny is the 5/8" ID Heater Hoses won't p*** through the stock holes in my firewall, which is the reason I made the 5/8" OD extensions. If this core fits properly I'm going to have my plumber buddy braze on some longer inlet/outlet tubes to p*** through the firewall and eliminate the chance for a leaky hose connection inside the cab. Soggy, green carpet would ****! The other issue I have is I'm using that same Heater Control Valve you have and it's still allowing coolant to flow through the core, making the inside of the cab hot when you don't want it to. Not a big problem when the temps are low, but it's in the 70's during the days and 30's/40's at night around here and it makes for uncomfortable day driving. I'm going to install a shut-off valve on the intake manifold before the heater hose to block off any coolant flow to the core, then crank it open when the temps start getting cooler over the next couple of months. Thanks again for this post, great info!
does anyone know what aftermarket 12V blower motor would work? i tried a few and the housing was too small for the squirrel cage (fan). i have an original working 6V but the wiring is frayed and i would like to upgrade.
not sure on a blower motor might try something gm . i know that in 56 they went to 12v. my car has a 12v. motor in it , but was in there when i bought it. yea those are real toys steel that is. except the tank on the tanker truck not sure how many you can make out. they were my toys when growing up . funny thing is after i quit playing with them my parrents tried to sell them at a yard sale or . most have prices of 50 cents marked on the stickers and didnt sell. bet they would be gone in a heart beat for that price today.
Great post!! Rockabillykat, JeffB2 was kind enough to share a Grainger part number with me the other day for the blower motor (direct bolt-in); DAYTON #1 LWKB 12Volt 3.8 2350 RPM for just under $30 new. I wasn't able to locate that particular one but I did find this one that looks like it would do the same; Grainger # 3LCH7, DAYTON PMDC Motor, 1/3 HP, 2350 RPM 12 VDC, TENV. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/general-purpose-motors/motors/ecatalog/N-9xpZbk2
thanks! jeff messaged me with the part # and i could'nt find it either. but i did find the motor you listed. and not just on grainger there's other stores that sell it..but thanks again!
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