Who can tell me about replacing my heater core?

I have found that my heater core has a tiny leak. How difficult is it to replace? Is it one of those long drawn out jobs or is it pretty straight forward?
Thanks for the help,
Randy

 

I wrote a story on here somewhere about how to replace this without pulling the fender. Does require partially (300 degrees)hole-cutting the wheelhouse with 1.25 inch bi-metal holesaw.

Search the forums for the story.

 

Geez, again I'm still amazed that the engineers did this. I know the engineers hadn't planned on these cars outliving most of the parts, but my 69 Riv has a 2 piece box and the heater core takes all of an hour to swap. It was a last minute design change, so at least on my model that thought about it.

 

Do a search for "heater core removal".

Good luck.

 

Ouch Baby, Very Ouch!

The book tells you to start by removing the front outer fender.

Then the inner fender.

Then the heater/AC box. There is ONE bolt you can't get to without tearing the front end apart.

Then you can go inside the car and get the heater box out.

I just saw some advice from Joe Taubitz on how to avoid all of that. Do like Doo Wop said, search the forum for heater core removal.

If you go the whole front removal, replace the heater fan motor while you're at it.

 

Here we go again!! The manual says to remove the fender, but if you look at the plastic cover over the assembly on the inside of the car, you will see in the bottom right hand corner, a round emboss. If you drill a 5/16 hole through the middle of the emboss, you will take out the stud that requires the fender removal. Then follow the directions in the manual and you can pull the core. When reassembling the unit, a little dum-dum in the hole will disguise what you did, and the three remaining bolts hold the assembly just fine.
:beer :beer :beer :beer :beer :beer :beer :beer :beer
ou: ou: ou:

 

Hey,

That's even easier than the way I did it (I think?).

 

Thx For The Tip

Used your tip on drilling out the bottom right corner stud. Worked great. Only a couple of hours to do the re & re on my heater core today. That was on a 70 with a 350 and air.

Took out the passenger bucket seat and passenger kick panel as well. Made it a bit more "roomier".

Thanks again...great tip!

 

Guys,

I've copied and made a "sticky" of this thread in the FAQ section. Great advise from The Old Guy!!:beer :beer