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First of all let me say Hi. I have been lurking for a while so I thought it was time to join. I have both a '78 dent side Super Cab with a 460 and a 2011 King Ranch with a 6.7L diesel.
Now my question
I want to remove the air conditioning from my 78 Super Cab. Rather than just leaving the large empty heater box under the hood can I replace it with a non AC heater box? Will it bolt to the firewall?
Welcome to FTE! Non-AC trucks don't actually have a heater box under the hood like AC trucks do, just an opening for the blower motor and heater hoses. AC trucks have a large hole cut in the firewall that the AC box covers. If you remove the AC box, you'll need to address this. You'd need to patch new sheetmetal in its place; I suppose you could also cut a template from a non-AC truck in a junkyard.
I have removed the heater box and there is a large hole in the firewall. Does a non AC truck have the same cut out in the firewall with a different "plate" over it or is it completely different?
Nope, no hole, and no plate. All the non-AC truck has is an opening for the end of the blower motor to stick through, and two smaller holes for the fittings on the heater core, to which the heater hoses connect. Other than that, the firewall is continuous sheetmetal. There's no universal firewall setup between an AC truck and a non-AC truck; the firewalls were cut completely different at the factory depending on whether or not the truck was to be equipped with factory AC.
Maybe someone with a non-AC truck will be kind enough to post a picture of theirs, so you can see what I mean.
Just in case anyone else was wondering the same thing.
Making A/C cab a non A/C cab
Follow this link and look at post #5. It will explain how to make a A/C cab into a non A/C cab so you can switch back to A/C cab in the future if so disired. -Ed