Yes. the heater works good. I'm not sure about the H fitting. Like I said, it looks homemade. Not sure what it is supposed to by-pass. I think the vac lines are going to be tricky getting them plugged into the grommet. I sure don't want to have to pull the instrument panel.

 

Great that the heater works good! I would defiantly leave the H fitting them. The H fitting is not a homemade part, you can buy them. When the water valve is closed it allows the coolant to circulate back to the engine. There is also a couple of different valves that have a bypass built into them.
https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-for...-valve.476574/

My van is fuel injected and has 2 small coolant lines that go to a spacer on the throttle body. one of the smaller coolant lines comes off of a tee on one of the heater hoses so I may need to install a H fitting on mine as well.

I see what you mean about the vacuum lines at the grommet. They are quite close together. If you do wind up having to pull the instrument cluster then here is a tip.
On my 88 I can not pull the instrument cluster out far enough to unplug the speed odometer cable. The manual says that I may need to disconnect the cable from the transmission or any straps holding the cable in place under the van or both.. I forgot who told me here on FTE that he puled the radio and was able to reach in and unplug the cable.. That wold be great because if you have to pull the instrument cluster you will probably want to just replace the vacuum line all the way to the selector control anyway.
Hopefully though you wont have to go that far!

 

My compressor is bad, if I decide to replace it, will need the 134 oil for it, not sure what all I'll need, filters, perhaps replace the charcoal filter or evap, don't want to over complicate it, but also don't want to destroy the new compressor either, I haven't a clue how long its been out of operation, it still a closed system, just the clutch wire is cut and belt removed.

 

The input here on FTE has given me a much better understanding of how the vac system works. I looked at the website you listed. One guy said you could simply shut the valve off manually during the summer months. Not sure if I can do that with my van. I looked up heater valves on Rockauto. There are a few different types I think. I'm hoping I can replace the broken vac lines without pulling anything else. I can't do much right now with the cold weather. I'm thinking I may be able to hold on to the grommet with something like thin, long needle nose pliers and be able to replace the lines that way. It makes sense that could be the reason why I never was able to get the A/C to come out cold enough. I'm going to switch the flush and fill valve with a heater valve as suggested.
My van has a one barrel carburetor. I think it is 120-150 hp, probably closer to 120 with the one barrel. It is amazing how much power and torque it has. I have carried some heavy loads with no problem at all. I think the manual 4 speed transmission helps too. Don't see many of them anymore.
When I had the engine rebuilt a few years ago, the cam shaft was replaced with a beefed up version so the engine could breath easier with the heavier loads. I'm wondering with the slightly added power and torque if that caused the fiber cam gear to strip.

 

You know back years ago, we disabled the heat on vehicles in the summer to cool the interior, used a cable adjusted valve, or just a cutoff, ball valve from the plumbing department.

 

Yes, I read that you can use a cable mounted under the dash to a cutoff valve

 

I've seen the Ford truck guys use a vacuum controlled valve to shut theirs off, claim it does a great job making it colder, I don't know which line to T off of for it, I may get around to doing it on my 89, its accessible, my 99 is a headache, have yet to fix the leak losing vacuum inside on it, seems moving the hose inside to a canister was a failure.

 

The advantage to having the factory system working is that you can easily flush the heater core maybe once a month or so.. If you just close a valve and don't touch it until cool weather then you may start gathering sediments and corrosion in the heater core. A NOTE: I took my radiator to a shop to have it professionally cleaned and ask him about a second original radiator we had taken out of my moms 1978 E100 and replaced it with a aftermarket one. He ask me if the old radiator was full of coolant or dry. I answered dry. He said there was nothing he could do to save it. Once the deposits dry and harden they can not be removed!

raye321 , Have you tried moving that grommet to see if it is loose? You cant see it in the pics I posted of the firewall but there appears to be 2 sheets of metal making up the firewall, an outer and an inner. If you notice the round bent out flanges on the 2 circles (one with my grommet in side of that circle) the grommet is through the inner sheet while the flanges are made into the outer sheet. So perhaps your grommet is through a hole in the inner sheet of metal and stationary?

As to the water valve, I would look at the local parts store and see what they have and make sure it is in the open position with no vacuum., NO.. Also check your heater hose size. Some use 5/8" for one hose and 3/4" for the other. Again according to my diagrams, the hose that comes off of the water pump is the supply for the heater core. looking at the diagrams I have, if the heater core lays horizontal then it doesn't matter which hose connects to which fitting on the heater core..BUT if the heater core is mounted vertical with a hose connector at the bottom and one at the top, the supply appears to be the bottom in my diagrams. So you need to know the hose size when selecting a valve. On my 88 i believe that they are both 3/5"!

maples01 , It wold be better if you started a new thread to discuss your issue as it can get fairly involved and wind up being several posts long. I do believe that one day I will convert my ac to R134a simply because of the cost of R12 and as the supply runs out it will only get more expensive

 

Or pinch a heater line for the summer.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/4-Piece-M...ater/999328273

Sixto
07 E350 5.4 178K miles

 

Maples01,
Just buy a retrofit kit and the new compressor if you decide to fix your A/C
You should not need a filter unless your compressor blew up real bad and sent metal thru the system
The older vans had a valve like this

 

 

I'm not going to bother with mine right now, may be a while, I've spent too much just getting it setup for daily driving, doesn't take much to go over budget.

 

No, I haven't tried moving it yet. Good to know on the dia of the hose. Save me a headache.
Make sure I get one with the open position with no vacuum?

 

Correct rye321... Open with NO vacuum!

 

My van had a locked up compressor on it when I bought it. I have no idea how long it had been that way. I do know it was not the original one and it was a reman.
When I finally got one of the suction line fittings separated, I could look inside the tube and it was full or reddish oxidation as far in as I could see. so were the rest of the metal parts of the lines that I could see inside of. That is why rather then to flush the system, I decided to just replace every part. I didn't what to spend several hundred dollars and have the new compressor go out in a year or two..