Hi everyone. I pulled the heater box assembly out of the garage to day, was going to take it to the shop and run it through the bead blaster and have it powdercoated.
Problem is, I don't know if it's for my truck or not. The guy I bought the truck from said it came out of the truck, but they took it off so they could mount a battery tray on the firewall. Yeah, I know.
But he never saw it mounted, so...
Anyways, it is missing the outer shell of the heater core box. So I went on Ebay to see what was available, and some of the ones I see that appear to be identical to mine are being sold for a 56 only. And a few are not. The outer box I need apparently just has a duct with a control lever that directs the airflow, I assume for heat or defrost. Some of the ones for the 56 have a nice face that opens into the cab, with a chrome Ford logo on it and some have what I think I need. Is there a difference between the 53-55 box and the 56? Or is just an option difference, between a heater and heater with defrost? I have found a couple of both at reasonable prices on Ebay, but I'm kind of stumped.

The top pic is of the piece I am missing.

The second pic is of a piece being sold for a 56. It's identical to mine, but the box face is different. I assume this is the heater only option. This one has been more or less restored. I've seen others that have what is painted red in this pic chromed. Looks nice, but if I don't have a defroster...

The third pic is a box being sold for a 53-55.

The bottom pic is just like what I have with what I believe to be the heater/defroster option, and why I'm stumped. Maybe it's for a fresh air/vent? I have no idea.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

I think you are confused with the difference between Fresh Air heaters and recirculating heaters. The ones with the pretty face, like the red one in your pics, is a recirculating heater. This heater was the cheaper of the two but is much prettier. The trim originally was paints d argent, not red nor was it ever chrome.

The Fresh Air heater is so called because it can draw outside air for the heat as opposed to 'recirculating' the cab air. It drew air thru the vent in the cowl.

As far as I know these heaters were the same 1953-56.

 

On the picture in the lower right corner, the damper box that divides the supply air between the floor and defroster is actually upside down. It should be turned the same as the recirc. heater above it.

 

That's the info I was looking for. I saw one on Ebay that looked like crusty, pitted chrome. I guess it was the d argent paint that was crusty and pitted. Now I know what to look for.
Sorry for the rambling, roundabout half baked description. I don't know the F100 terminolgy well enough yet to make myself clearly understood.

Thank you!

 

Yeah, mine is as you say. This was just a pic I snagged off Ebay to help describe what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

This is how mine looks after I repainted it the original colors. The only thing I would do over is to use hammertone black paint. Sorry I don't have a close up of it.

 

That looks really nice, Abe. I really like the looks of that. No doubt it's a better look than the damper box of the fresh air unit. I wonder why the fresh air cost more? Does it work better?

 

Yes, the Fresh Air heater will not fog up your windows like a recirc heater does as it is sucking in humid cab air. The Fresh Air heaters have 4 ***** at the dash. They are blower (hi and low), defrost, Temp (you can adjust the heat level) and air (this I think switches from inside air to outside air). The recirc heaters only have 2 *****, blower and defrost.

But the recirc heaters do look nicer that is for sure.....

 

Ahh. So the fresh air model has 1 switch, and three cable pulls. Where the recirc just has 1 switch and one cable pull. God I love simplicity.

The fun part is going to be finding ducting hose for the fresh air intake. Not something that's being reproduced I would imagine. The defrost duct tubes I'm sure are off the shelf generic flex hose.

 

Check with the girls at Mid Fifty for the ducting. I saw it somewhere...

 

Here is a pic of my heater I recently reinstalled

 

Looking good.

 

mine looked as bad as the one above before I started.

 

the fresh air unit has this connected to the inside of the cab covering the louver. rotate the photo 90 degrees ccw for correct orientation.

 

I think I'm going to make this piece myself. I haven't found anyone willing to sell just that piece, and I can make it pretty easily at the shop. I found and bought a complete fresh air unit on Ebay for 60 bucks plus shipping, with the controls, minus this piece of course.
Once I get it here, I may even copy the fresh air box intake for the one I already have and sell it to make my money back.