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Move heater hoses


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Anyone ever reloacte the heater hose penetrations in the firewall? This is on a 240 and looks like the heater hoses are going to hit right into the back of the head.

 

From the engine bay it seems like it would be a simple matter to hole saw two new holes, patch the old ones and reroute the hoses. Just not sure how what kind of obstructions I will see under the dash.

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I admit with the JTR mounts and tall covers, it's pretty tight, with an HEI distrib. To run a small distributor and move the engine back more, the hoses would be really hitting the valve covers. But I used the stock location of the heater hoses. I found a really long heater hose that has a tight 90 deg turn on one end and a few more inches of hose after the bend. Info from my web page: http://alteredz.com/cooling.htm

 

"Heater Hoses: Dayco 80407 - This is a long straight hose with a 90 degree bend at one end. I used one for each hose, with the 90 degree bend at the heater box/valve. Plenty of length to reach the front of the engine."

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I had the same taught doing my V8 conversion. I use the stock heater, heater valve and fan. The problem I found was that the heater valve I located so close to the firewall. I have included links to some photos I took prior to disassemble my car.

DSCN0364.JPG

DSCN0365.JPG

Please not that the hose coming through the lower hole curves up and goes on the brass fitting on the heater valve. The hose has been disconnected from the fitting on the photo. The hose coming through the upper hole goes directly on the heater element. Please note that the fan and fan housing is removed on the photos.

 

I found no relay good way of moving the holes. Going inwards they would collide with the heater box. Going outward they would collide with the fan box.

In the end I left them as stock. Here is a picture of my engine bay now. It is a bit cramped but it works. I have the engine in the JTR position.

DSCN07051.JPG

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Man. Such good info so quickly.

 

First off, nice car ThomaZ. Gives me something to shoot for. The pics you took will save my fat behind from trying to bend down under the dash.

 

I am fabricating my own mounts, roughly following Mark's write up. Trouble is I am using a TKO trans, which has the shifter located 3 1/2 inches farther forward than a T56. I need to push this thing as far back as I can.

 

I just lowered the engine into the bay for the first time this afternoon. No mounts yet. Just hanging the engine with bellhousing from a lift. From what I can see the lower hose in particular will hit directly into the back of the head. Maybe I can get it lower, but I don't believe I can get it that low.

 

I already have 8 feet of braided heater hose and new grommets that I was planning to use. But I think the overall job will look better if I locate the penetrations somewhere near the battery and bring the hoses along the outer fender. Can triple up some type of mounting rail and hang the wiring harness on it too. Those bulkhead plates Bartman listed look cool. I have some old holes duct taped over where I think the PO had AC. So I will be patching the firewall anyway.

 

This carbed LS2 is going to be slick. GM moved a lot of the junk away from the back of the engine when they went from the LS1 to the LS2. Losing the fuel injection got rid of a bunch of other obstructions. The LS2 PCV system is even reworked, so there will be almost no hoses on the engine. I am going to get this thing so far back that I might have to leave the engine lift plates on.

 

To give you some idea, I need to remove the stock brake/clutch line mounts that go over the top of the tunnel cause one of the bellhousing bolts is hitting them. Clutch is on the drivers side now and was planning on routing the right front brake line along the new cross member anyway. So that only leaves the rear brake line to re engineer. Even getting it this far back I may need to trim the center console up to the ash tray. The good thing is the steering shaft clears everything by a mile.

 

Looking like a lot of work right now.

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