I'm slowly pulling apart my Electra parts car. How do I access the heater core? I'm hoping it's from the engine side. It will get put aside for my LeSabre.
As depicted in the diagram above that Erik provided; Remove glove box, then from the outside, remove the nuts holding the inner case to the cowl. Leave the outer case on, it has a gasket seal. Remove the cables, unplug the resistor, and take the one bolt holding the defrost plenum off, and carefully undo the bolt holding the bottom diffuser and carefully remove it, (it'll be brittle and the tabs snap easily) and then carefully work it free from the inside of the car. Once the box is free, the heater core is inside of it and it may be secured by two clips, or bolts, I can't remember what it was on the 69. It's going to take you at least an hour and it may be back breaking considering you're spending a lot of time lying on a seat or the floor of the car. If it's an A/C car, there's more to remove, the vents and and doors are all run by vacuum. Generally, an A/C core is bigger than the standard one, as is a Canadian production car. So it may not fit the heater box you have. Check and see if the Electra core is the same as the LeSabre, - it may not be considering those are two different body families. Check out Rock Auto, these cores are still fairly cheap to buy new, which is the only way I'd ever change one, too much risk in reusing an old one IMHO.
Ugh, upside down on the floor is exactly what I'd rather not be doing. I don't want to waste this core though. The one on my LeSabre leaks. Both are A/C cars. There is a radiator shop a few towns over, and my plan is to get at least one core working/sealed. I haven't checked recently but Rockauto hasn't had anything for me in this area... maybe other sources do? The Electra is a C-body, and the LeSabre is a B, but the cars are very similar.... same dash.
