The weather is getting colder here and so it's time to address the leaking heater core and rattling fan in my 53 Chev 3100. I thought I'd post a few photos of the process in case it might help someone down the road. Note that there is excellent do***entation on the web for this that goes into much more detail, so this is just an overview. This is the Harrison heater as it came out of the truck: It was pretty rusted up on the vent side, and so once I dis***embled everything I soaked it in Evapo-Rust overnight. Stuff is pretty amazing, works better then my electrolysis tub. A few shots of dis***embly. It turned out that the fan cage is peened to the mounting hub, and these were loose and rattling. Quick fix with a hammer against the vice and good to go. I sanded everything out and then used Rustoleum Dark Bronze Hammer finish over a primer coat. I chose to order a new core because I wanted to get this finished, and we don’t have a radiator shop here. The inlet/outlet was a bit different and so I modified the case a bit, but kept what I cut out in case I ever want to fix and install the original core again. I used pipe insulation around the core on re***embly to minimize any chance of vibration and rattling. I hate noisy heaters. Couple of stickers to make it look legit, and it’s ready to install: It runs nice and quiet now, and will heat me right out of the truck. Plus, it’s stock and sill looks the part. On to the next project.
Looks great! I just picked up a '54 F100 that has a similar heater with Ford script...so I'll be doing this soon too...
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