First I want to thank you all for your encouragement and advice during this pain in the A!* project. I hope to NEVER have to do it again. I hesitated even attempting it but through the years on this and the "other" site I have gained knowledge and a bit of bravery to prompt me to try it.

that all said, the difficulty for the heater core itself is minimal, it's the dealer AC in the way that took so long, but thanks to a simple tip I found the Chinese puzzle answer to remove only one bolt holding the right side of the dash in and "tweak" it just enough without bending it to allow the movement of the AC components (evaporator and ducting) out of the way to pull the heater box bolts/motor housing through the firewall. After that the rest went "almost" without a hitch. It took me a total of 10 hours to do this, but if I had to do it again it would now take MUCH less time as I know "the secret".. The only issue I've had was not tightening the heater hose clamp tight enough on re-install (I was just too excited to finish!) When I started the truck and heated it up to pressurize the lines, the hose leaked "just enough" and it channeled through the firewall on the inside of the truck. I panicked at first, thinking the new heater core was leaking! But when I opened the hood I saw it also leaking down the firewall quite a bit. I tightened it, and viola! finished. Because the insulators that were at the firewall were brittle and fell apart when I removed them I am going to silicone the openings around the core nipples to avoid this potential problem in the future. So, here is a link to some photos. I'm not as good as you guys in writing project thread descriptions, but I did put descriptions below each picture. I also didn't post specific photos here to avoid taking up a lot of bandwidth.. Cheers! and thanks again for all your help!
Dak

PictureTrail: Online Photo Sharing, Social Network, Image Hosting, Online Photo Albums __________________

 

Darn, you said you'd never do it again? I was hoping you'd come give mine a try, lol.

I had mine replaced at a shop in December, then they replaced it again in March since it started leaking somewhere. I'm still getting a slight smell of coolant in the cab, but I can't find a leak anywhere... Trying to get brave enough to rip into myself. Mine's got factory AC.

Anyway, congrats on getting it done!

 

Thanks for posting this!

I have the dealer AC on my 73 and my heater core exploded the first time I started her up to take her home, lines have been looped ever since. Looks like I need to budget some additional time for the AC removal and core replacement. At least now I can see what I'm in for before I get into it

 

I hope that happens soon! I would be thankful to see thorough pictures on how to fix that stuff. Mine's got the factory AC tho the PO removed the compressor and bypassed the entire HVAC system.

 

Once I found the magic bolt to remove it went MUCH smoother. Think of it as a puzzle... albiet a difficult one! Good luck!
Dak

 

I had to do that with factory ac. Its much easier

 

Good job,
I'd about as soon my water wasn't pooring in the floor board. Thanks/Robert

 

Dak, did you mainly work through the glove box to do this? Or did you have to remove the giant black box under the dash (with the cables attached to it) to do this job?

 

Do you have a little bit more information on the 'Magic Bolt'? I am going to tackle my heater core this week while i'm off of work. I have a 77 with AC and I am looking for any hints I can find to make it easier. Great post, the pics look helpful.

Thanks

 

For my truck, the magic bolt was the one on the lower right hand corner holding the bottom of the dash on to the "A" pillar on the passenger side. I couldn't get the heater box out no matter how much I fiddled with it. After I found that bolt and took it out, the heater box literally fell on the floor.

 

I'm so sorry I haven't been here to answer the questions!

WPlayer, I worked both through the glove box (after I removed the liner) and yes, had to remove EVERYTHING under the dash, heater boxes, cables, everything!

Yes, wisdum, as earthquake68 said. It was the bolt on the passenger side holding the metal part of the dash to the body. Once I removed that I was able to "tweak" the dash enough to remove the heater box. Remember though, that was for dealer added AC; I don't know the process for factory AC. Hope you had good luck!

Dak

P.S. My truck is gone now.... Burt now lives in New Zealand.... Long story, but it's done. Happy New Year all! :-)