L320 heater restore

[zenndog]

Well, here are some pics of my heater assembly. At some point someone removed the under dash vent assembly which routes the fresh air into the cab or heater box. Apparently it was in the way of the piece of plumbers tape that holds up the back of the crappy radio they cut up the dash for.:(

 

I think that is what this pic was supposed to show

 

 

 

at least they kept the vent assembly

 

 

The vent assembly being taken out for the radio strap is very silly because the vent routes the air from the cowl vent and is the only way to close the vent. So basically air blows constantly on the back of the radio and on a cold morning you can,t stop the air. Oh, the humanity!!!! More to come

[MikeRL411]

At least you have the heater core. They are very hard to find in decent condition. Time was you could buy it over the counter at the dealer for $17 but that was a very very long time ago! They can be recored if need be.

[zenndog]

An extra heater core came with my truck. I can't remember which core I used but I will be posting pics here in a couple of weeks. When I compared the two cores I chose the better looking one and took it to a rad shop to test it, it had a leak near the bottom of the core where the lower tank was soldered. I had to remove the valve for them because they didn't want to be responsible for it and then they took it apart, cleaned everything and re-soldered it. Cost around 50 bucks I think. I wish I had the pics but they are in LA, i hope so when I get them I will post them.

 

On a side note, if any of you other 320 guys have a picture of the way in which the vent assembly attaches to the heater assembly, please post it, I assume it is a piece of duct stretched over the irregular side but I secretly hope I am missing some trick little piece of sheet metal, that someone might have an extra one......:lol::lol:

Edited August 5, 2009 by zenndog

[zenndog]

Here we go, the parts were powder coated satin black.

 

 

The vent flap screws on to a shaft which is captured in the vent housing. The flap has a lot of slop which may be remedied by the material glued to the flap for a seal but I decided to rig some sort of stop. I hope this description and pictures make sense. If not, I guess I won't quit my day job.

 

 

 

 

Here is a nylon bushing that I cut a notch in and clipped on to the shaft to take up the slack

 

 

 

I don't know if this will hold up but I bought some of that self adhesive felt for padding furniture to line the edge of the flap. When I get back down to LA I will see if it lasted through the heat while the truck has been parked

 

 

 

I bought some button head stainless screws for the face of the vent

 

 

I bought a pack of cable stops and had to modify the closest one to work. All I had to do was make the hole for the cable larger so the cable that comes out of the heater assy would fit through it.

 

 

 

The cable stop fits into the lever on the driver side of the vent assy. Here is the lever reattached to the assy.

 

 

Here is everything back under the dash

 

 

The same side with cable from the heater attached, The picture is twisted. So sorry

 

 

In this pic of the passenger side you can see one of the two mounting bolts which are 1/4" fine thread

 

 

In this picture you can see the missing link, If anyone has the part that attaches the vent assy to the heater assy on there truck or car I would love to see a pic. I thiught maybe It was just a standard heater/vent duct stretched over the oval hole in the vent assy but the round hole on the heater and the oval hole on the vent are different diameters.:mad:

 

 

Sorry for the bad cell phone pictures but that is all I have right now.

 

I have the caps for the vent levers, when I get them on I will take a picture of the dash with the vent assy intsalled

Edited October 4, 2009 by zenndog
forgot to add the end

[67411sss]

Do you want a copy of this:)

 

[zenndog]

Do you want a copy of this:)

 

 

It would be really cool if someone could scan the parts list and post it:lol:

 

Or somebody whos heater works in conjunction with their vent/defroster could post a........

 

 

PIC!

 

A picture of the part/duct in question still in place under the dash

Edited October 5, 2009 by zenndog

[67411sss]

I'll see what i can do:D