I had a couple ounces of antifreeze leak out of the nipple below the heater box; luckily the floor mat retained it all and did not get on the carpet. I first thought since I live in Arizona I could just reroute the heater house back into the block instead of going thru the firewall, but the hoses seam to be different in size.

Here are a couple cores I found, do you know if the quality of one is better than the others?

Thanks in advance

Classic Ind.
NPD
Ames

the one from Ames is most likely to fit best.
I remember reading a post a while back of some different ones being sold... maybe it was really for a camaro or something... anyway, the fit wasn't quite right. Ames is strictly Pontiac. The other 2 couldn't hardly tell a firebird from a mustang.

69BirdOfPrey, let me know how this goes. Another great FGFer sold me his core assembly due to mine leaking a bit, but its been lying on the shelf for a few months. The replacement job, once I looked it over, seems to be a mixture of anger, broken knuckles and a wee bit of dynamite!

What a pain this will be, good thing its warming up in Tennessee.

Although I have never done a heater core replacement I understand that it is a real PITA. I also was having some leaking issues and did not want to dive into replacing the core right away. I went to the auto parts store and bought a double hose barb fitting to connect the two sizes of heater hose (one end is 5/8" and the other is 3/4"). This will allow you to bypass the core like you first thought to do.

Good Luck, Bruce

Arizona huh? I when I pulled the motor out, I ripped out the old A/C box, and heater core, since I had no blower anyway, not much need for it anyway. Well, along came a foggy day on a long cruise, so I got one of these, Ebay works ok in a pinch. Kelly

Thanks guys,
I plan on taking digital photos of the process, hopefully not photos of what not to do.

I replaced my heater core before putting the car up for the winter. It wasn't all that bad. I don't have A/C and that makes all the difference in the world. The big key to taking the box out is to not take the fender off to get to the lower right mounting stud. I drilled this out with a 1/4" drill bit. That leaves all the other fasteners accessible. I then replaced that stud with a self tapping screw for the time being until I disassemble for paint in the future (although the screw could be left in permanent). The core was out in 10 minutes. What took me a long time was removing the doors on the box to replace the seals. That required some heat and some gentle persuasion.

Hello fellow desert dweller,

OK, I was writing this before Daryl answered, but...

How apart is your car? You are going to find things will go a lot smoother if either the passenger inner or outer fender has been removed as the blower motor (which installs in the firewall cover) is inside the fender (sort of)

While your in there, your going to want to replace all the foam rubber seals on the air control doors. Unfortuately, you will find one door you can't get to unless you are willing to break apart the spot welded heater box.

You will also likely find a lot of surface rust as the factory did not paint the insides of the boxes at the factory. I found that Naval Jelly was very helpful.

You will also need 3M Strip Caulk to reattach the box and the firewall cover to the firewall.

I had tried a couple places and finally settled on Year One because they had the correct 2 1/2" thick core. The biggest problem I had was getting the pipes to fit through the firewall holes since the core is mounted firmly in the heater box. I ended up reaming the holes to almost twice the dia. to persuade the unit in without bending the pipes. Luckily, the gasket on the firewall was large enough to still cover opening once in place. Now, I've got carpet to replace but right now floor matts do the job!

Jesus, nothing is easy with this car, is it!!? Kelly, no issues with that gizmo sucking all that wattage out of your cig lighter?

P.S. I used the Ames heater core for my non-A/C car and it was an EXACT match to the original one I pulled out.

A couple of things....

You only have to remove the inside half of the box. The blower in the engine bay can remain moutned to the firewall.

The NPD heater core is not the correct thickness. I used it only to get me through until I put the vintage air unit in.

Also, you can get 2 of the 3 doors in the box out without drilling the spot welds. You can drive the hinge pins out (That's where the heat and pursuasion comes in). The third door is reachable still in the box, if you don't have really big hands (please hold all jokes). I used heat to disenegrate the old seal, and then just put the glue on the seal, reached my hand in the box (again, hold the jokes) and replaced the seal.

Stuck your big hand into a murky black hole, not knowing what you'd find? Daryl, you should write a book or two, they'd sell.

This job still sounds like a total pain in the ***, and if done improperly could cause damage to multiple areas of the car. I'll keep my hoses rerouted and just deal with cold mornings I guess.

I re-routed my hoses to by-pass the heater core,had no problems with hose fitment.

David

After looking closer at where I was getting a little dripping it seems to be some sort of spring loaded pin on the bottom of the box inside the car. What would this be for? Is it some sort of release valve?

Thanks for all the posts,
Bob

that's probably the flapper door pivot, and the coolant is finding its way to your interior through the heater box pivot hole.

If it's coolant, and it's inside the car, you need a heater core.

I replaced my core last year and it was not as bad as it sounds. I was able to find the core at the local Advanced auto parts...it was an exact match to the old one. I believe it cost around 40 bucks and no shipping involved