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Rebuilding the heater and vent mechanicals


bjhines

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Nice info bj. I didn't see any vacuum dashpots like on my 260's. Do the older ones not have any dashpots or is it only AC ones that have them? My service manual does not show them on the heaters without AC. Since I don't have AC now, I'm hoping I can do without the dashpots.

chris

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Great pics. looks like your doing a great job. now i know what I'm going to use on my flaps. I'm in the process of doing my own right now. I am actually wiring servos to open/close all the flappers for me and having my freind print me a circuit board to control it all. It's looking like it will all work out pretty smoothly. I will have to post all my pics when i get done with it all. it may take a while though, its been half done for long time now.

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We are talking about a heater here. The "Hotness" is going to be the same from an aftermarket system.

 

I would grant that the original unit is heavier than it has to be. The real trick would be to use the low volume aluminum heatercores from more modern cars. I would make the heaterbox itself out of vacume formed plastic. Of course stick with the hand operated controls for lightweight.

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We are talking about a heater here. The "Hotness" is going to be the same from an aftermarket system.

 

I would grant that the original unit is heavier than it has to be. The real trick would be to use the low volume aluminum heatercores from more modern cars. I would make the heaterbox itself out of vacume formed plastic. Of course stick with the hand operated controls for lightweight.

 

Sorry I should have said a higher BTU and blows at a higher CFM. Dont get me wrong, I like what you did. Looks real nice.

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Great info, I just finish rebuilding mine. Question for you guys, do you have any picture of where the spring for the flap goes? I have 3 boxes and none have the spring.

 

It is the same king of spring as the one one the Fan box.

 

Thanks

Dayz

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  • 2 years later...

It was asked earlier in this thread but since it wasn't answered and this thread is stickied I thought I'd ask it again so everyone can get the info they need: What about the vent hoses? Anyone know of a good replacement?

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I never answered that because I don't know what you are talking about?

 

vent hoses;

They are all plastic, ovalized on one end, and usually pretty flexible. They are not exposed to sunlight. I suppose they are somewhat prone to getting kicked by people's feet. I have more than one set of vent ducting to choose from, but I suppose they might be hard to find replacements for. I have seen that most are missing the vinyl-tape that was originally used to seal them. Replace the tape and add some extra to fix your original hoses.

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My hoses are all gone, One hose was still there when I got the car but it was basically disintegrated. I suppose I'll have to just measure the i/d and rummage around in the junk yard. I was hoping for a source for new replacements is all.

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  • 5 months later...

Hey guys,

I usually don't have much to add here, but I dug through the catalogs at work (Advance Auto Parts) and found a part number that works great for duct tubing for behind the dash. Dorman #96002 (can be ordered from Advance, or google it... amazon.com even carries them!). I purchased two of these and was able to replace all my hoses. They fit the ducts nice and tight and make the small radius turns perfectly. I used zipties as a hose clamp of sorts, but it isn't really even necessary. Also, home depot has foam weatherstripping for around 4$ that I used to connect the blend door housing to the evap housing and evap housing to the vent system. I just reinstalled my dash after doing a similar job as the original poster here. I have great flow through the vents and no more nasty cigarette smell!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just finished cleaning up my heater, but I am now missing the cable retaining clip that goes on the short cable on the left side of the box. See picture. Are these clips available?

post-178-047333900 1292316675_thumb.jpg

Edited by Miles
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  • 5 months later...

I recently killed the "squirrel cage" in my 260 and since it's already hot here in Phoenix, I wanted my A/C blowing again PRONTO! I also hoped I would find a newer motor/fan that would move more air than my original! I ran to the local pull-a-part looking for a Honda blower.

 

Our fans spin counter-clockwise as you look at them from the passenger seat (clockwise from the shaft side - which is how all fans are rated - but that's "backwards" to how you're normally looking at a fan under the dash. You're usually looking at it's butt-end and have to turn it around in your mind...). Virtually no one uses a fan that spins clockwise anymore... It's not the motor, you can make the motor spin either direction. It's how the squirrel cage is built.

 

I pulled a Honda blower then spent nearly an hour looking to see if I could find something else. Virtually everyone else but Honda uses a blower that spins the wrong direction - even Nissan...

 

Finally I happened upon a 1999 Kia Sportage: It's blower spun the right direction, 3-bolt pattern, same size as the Honda blower in every respect except the squirrel cage is slightly wider. I took it up to the counter and went out to the lot to get my original blower out of the Z. Confirmed that the bolt pattern looked close, and that the squirrel cage WAS larger in diameter, but about the same width as the 260Z unit. For 10 bucks, I took it...

 

It's NOT a direct bolt-in fit! But modifications were actually slight:

 

- I had to enlarge the hole in my blower housing a little to get the newer squirrel cage in. (but, I've been using aircraft snips for 25+ years so cutting round holes in sheet metal is not a big deal) I was able to leave the original mounting nuts in place.

 

- The mounting holes were off ever so slightly. The "mounting plate" of the Kia blower is plastic so it was easy to elongate each of the holes so the mounting screws would fit properly. Probably about an eighth inch (1/8th in.) per hole...

 

- Like many newer blower motors, it has a "vent" or "cooling" tube built into the housing (to circulate air around the motor?) - I drilled a hole in the blower housing to provide air to this tube...

 

Fitment of the cage in the 260Z blower housing is good - it fills the housing nicely but isn't close enough for anything to rub. The electrical connector is a direct fit into the Kia blower AND polarity is correct! Wiring consisted of pushing the 260Z connector into the side of the Kia motor. It has more vanes on the cage and I feel like it moves quite a bit more air. I don't have anything to actually measure that though...

 

It's nice to have another option (or to know that the Honda blower will also work in 260's/280's with a little massaging, as it's nearly identical to this Kia blower). I also think it's cool that I (or the next owner of this Z) can still revert back to the stock blower...

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