69 Charger AC Heater Box Rebuild Questions

[mike337]

I just started taking apart my AC Heater box.  What a complete mess inside the box!  I already ordered the rebuild kit from Detroit Muscle.  Anyone else rebuild their AC box and have info on replacement parts like a heater core for an AC box, or how to test the vacuum canisters?  Any words of wisdom or experience would be appreciated! 

Thanx,
Mike

[y3chargerrt]

Classic auto air has nice repro heater cores.

[mike337]

Thanx, I'll give them a call.

Mike

[Chatt69chgr]

Old Air systems out of FT Worth TX had the ac heater core.  I got mine from them.  But they may have sold out by now.  So as far as I know, Classic Auto Air would be the only other place.

[StockMan]

I chose to test my my AC/heater box + entire dash assembly outside of the car before installation.  At that time I had the motor running outside of the car on a modified k-frame mounted on the garage floor with tranny attached.  I had my core and evap tested by my local auto heating & air shop, they did find some issues they needed to repair.  They replaced the internal heater hose as well which was rock hard.  There is one vacuum line that supplies the entire setup so with a single vacuum source one can test all the pods assuming you have access to your heater/AC controls to use in the test.  The vacuum controller on your control panel can sometimes be a problem.  I ended up needing one as there was a vacuum leak between a couple of the options (but not external to the unit).  I was lucky and found a brand new NOS one.  I'm not sure if they make these new yet.  I needed to make some adjustments to the mounting of some pods to make everything work smoothly.   Bench testing this thing saved major head aches.  Take a couple of quick pics of the linkages before you tear it down.  The one thing I didn't test ended up being a problem now that its in the car and that is the hot water control unit.  Mine is a ranko unit that has an internal rubber plunger style valve that is leaking a bit.  There are places that rebuild these.  I can't find any used ones.  Another thing, make sure you use the correct size and type of o-rings when re-mounting the copper heater hose that join the box to the firewall.

[Chatt69chgr]

The vacuum controller mentioned is available new from Chrysler.  The plunger mentioned with the rubber piece on it is not available.  The only person that rebuilds this item is the guy in california that rebuilt mine.  His name, phone number and address has been mentioned on here recently in another thread.  I don't recall what it is.  If you can't find it, I will look at my stuff and post it.  May take a while to find.  He will replace the gasket under the copper pipes that you attach the heater hoses to also.  You can probably rebuild this part one time as it was never meant to be taken apart so you want to do it the right way the first time. 

[mike337]

Thanx for the info guys!

Mike