Evening Ya'll,
Started off today installing some of the new parts we received yesterday. The CoolCat radiator fans made for a nice way to start the day not to mention it allowed me time to contemplate the task of replacing the heater pipes in the bulkhead.
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| New fan and motor, should make a difference with summertime driving |
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| Fans/motors installed on the radiator, these fans move a tremendous amount more air and use less current than the old ones. |
Well, on to the heater pipes, since these run through the bulkhead when they start to leak it's all going to wind up in the passenger compartment and since they are 50+ years old and made of mild non-galvanized steel it was time.
The task was slightly less challenging as I had already removed the heater box for refurbishing but I did have to take off the radiator overflow tank on the fire wall and the windscreen washer bottle to have enough room to work.
I did not have to remove the wiper rack but the dash top has to be off and the center drop down panel dropped down. With the flasher relay and mount out of the way I was able to get my large hands in there without loosing too much skin.
With the firewall cleared then it's a matter of drilling out the rivets holding the 'D' washers in place, there's no magic here, a long 1/8in drill bit helped on some, others a Dremel tool with a grinding disc, others just had to shear them with a sharp chisel.
There are 4 pipes that have to be removed as the vacuum pipe also has to be taken out as it blocks the 'long' pipe. The two upper most pipes are pretty easy to pull out but the vacuum pipe and lower heater pipe run under the center brace and have to be worked out of position by bringing them up to the right upper fender which will give you room to work them out from under the brace and then out through the center access opening behind the fuse panel.
As they say, assembly is the reverse of disassembly....
The long heater pipe goes in first then the vacuum line then the upper right pipe and last the central angled pipe.
All of the pipes from SNG fit perfectly, historically folks have complained about the marginal fitting of pipes but I didn't find this to be the case.
One area that was troublesome was fastening the pipes in with the engine in place. It is impossible to get my rivet 'gun' in places that tight so I resorted to a bodge that can be corrected when/if the engine comes out for 'service'. In the places I couldn't get rivets in I used sheet metal screws that will never be noticed.
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| Have to remove the heater valve as it is wedged onto the end of one of the pipes, it was a PITA getting it loose but working it back and forth eventually 'broke' it loose. |
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| Just a picture of the vacuum line to remind me to reattach the plastic tape. |
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| The old vs new, the new SS pipes should never require any attention and will likely outlast the car given the first set lasted 50+ years! |
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| One trick, run and piece of 'rope' through the new pipe, it allows you to hold the pipe up firmly against the inside of the fire wall when your riveting the 'D' washer to the mount on the pipe. |
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| The shiny new pipes, I didn't paint the 'D' washers, could be painted with a brush if some one so desired |
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| Slightly different view. |
Meanwhile we have the next big project to do when the next batch of parts arrive from SNG.
Cheers,
Lynn
7.5 hours
Those pipes are such a pain to install with the engine in place. I did it on my 69 with the engine in place and some of my rivets were a little weak due to not knowing about the rope trick.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did them on my 68 the engine was out and it didn't have the windscreen in, much easier task and I think I had help from Jan holding the pipes in place as I didn't know the rope trick then either. I can thank JL for that and many others.
DeleteCheers,
Lynn