O.K. looks like I have to to do the inevitable and replace the blower motor for my heater in my non AC bird. Before I start, can anyone give me detailed instructions on how to do this? I have exlpoded views to go by but don't know where to start. Thanks yet again, you guys are the greatest. I love this site!
Pete M.

i think you start by taking off the hood and RF inner/outer fender. from there it pretty much is right in front of you.

scribe marks on the hood hinge for alignment, keep the fender shim packs in order, and use alot of tape around the hood, door, and fender to keep from scratching them.

http://1968firebird.org/68sm/hvs/hvs1.html

OR...

notice that the above is a really nasty and very tough process just to get to a stupid blower motor.

Another thing that was always done to short circuit the above process is to use your tools of choice to cut a semi-circle in the inner wheel well and bend the flap down. This will give you access to stick your hands in there and unbolt the blower motor. You then pull the old one out through the hole and put the new one in the same way. Then fold the flap back up and tack weld into place.

Either way...have fun.

Dan

So you are the %$#@&^^% that has been cutting those holes in those nice inners!! Why I ought to.... JUST KIDDING. Good idea if you are in a hurry or you are worried about chipping up your paint. It's just about impossible to take off a fender and put it back on without some chips.
Jim

When I first found the "flap" a radiator shop cut in my inner fender many years ago when I had the motor replaced, I was unhappy. A couple years ago when I replaced the heater core and hoses, I was real happy it was there. When a fender has not been off for 35 years, it is not an encouraging prospect to be trying to remove it and then get it back on straight.

A bead of seam sealer and a shot of the factory style undercoating and it is difficult to see anyway.

Please tell me you guys are kidding right? Is there no way to get to it from the interior? Sounds like a huge undertaking. I may have to call my radiator shop and get a quote on that one.

shop will charge an arm and a leg. they will also use the "flap" method. i have often wondered why there isn't a hole in the inner fender with a cover on it. it would be pretty easy to do and look good. too bad it's not factory.

i thought you had to do this for the heater core too, but i was confused.

After all the work I went through to get my inners nicely painted, (sandblasting, priming, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, painting, sanding and then painting again) I don't think I would let any of you near my car. :p I couldn't imagine cutting a hole in it to put the blower motor in. I would go the long hard road and remove the entire passenger side of the car very carefully using lots of tape and blankets and another couple pairs of hands to get it done properly without the non factory installed hole on my far from stock Firebird....thanks for the reminder to put the blower motor in before I put the fenders back on.

Gerry

Just went thru this w/ my buddy and his car....
you have to do the same when adding Vintage Air to a non a/c car.....
he is just fresh as a Bird owner (3 mo.) , and couldnt beleive it when he found out that his "just install the A/C" was delayed quite a bit by us having to remove outer , inner fender and hood to get to two of the bolts to remove the heater box .... ...

Yep, unless I had my car totally apart for a restoration or painting or something where the entire front end was already off...I'd choose the flap method every time. It is never seen and can be hidden to where even the best concourse judges wouldn't know you did it...and they don't care anyway.

Pulling the hood, fenders, front end, etc. just doesn't make as much sense as putting the car up in a lift and cutting a flap that can easily be put back in place.

Me and a friend actually accomplished this by only removing the inner fender and leaving the outer fender intact. This was 10 years ago and I dont remember exactly how we pulled this stunt off, but we did.

I'm dreading this whole thing because my blower motor just went TU (totally unusable) last month. Better just make it a nice weather car and forget about it!

This topic is a year and 8 months old but I thought I'd let people know that I did finally replace my heater motor last saturday.

It can be done without removing the hood or the fender, but you have to remove every bolt holding the inner fender well (including the battery tray), and all of the fender bolts, except the 4 fender bolts in the engine compartment. This is good, because you wont have to align the fender to the hood, or make any fore/aft fender adjustments. After doing this, the inner fender well can be pulled far enough out of the way to get to the motor.

I also found out why my other motor went bad...there was a mouse lodged between the basket and the wall not allowing it to turn!

Time to get a new mouse.

Think you can get a new mouse cheap in a discount computer store!

hope the old one was old enough to have stopped smelling! LOL

How long did the job take to replace the blower motor by unbolting things, start to finish? Eight, ten hours?

Robert

Not to justify why the cars were designed this way, but just about EVERY GM car from this era had this same problem.

Not 8 to 10 hours. Maybe it took about 4 hours, and that includes driving to the auto parts store and back.

The mouse is for sale. 50 bucks. Rare species.

Ugh - I need to get into this at some point with my bird too... Hoping not to find a mouse!

When I bought my car , my blower wasnt working , but found that my blower motor wire was just cut off, an easy fix!

I can pull my blower motor and have a new one in in about an hour, and be driving it. That includes jacking the car up and taking the wheel off and a break to go pee. I have the flap also. Now when I have to replace the heater core there's another time saver. These days time is more prescious than money to me. It gets that way when you get old.

Robert