Heater Hoses HELP!

[CAPNZ]

Man I could just cry! I got my 73/454 about a week and a half ago and have been fixin' small stuff on this immaculate Vette ever since.Only 38K miles. (This is the year we were married). I even got a Member Subscription to help the board out and to enable me to upload pictures. Heck, from all the help I've gotten so far from the kind people on this board I would have spent hundreds at the GM garage.

OK........while I was putting back the high fan relay I noticed 2 heater hoses next to the A/C hoses. (They were tucked behind them on the right fender side.) They weren't connected to anything and the ends are towards the radiator and about 1 foot away from it. They seem to be connected to the bottom area of the heater box though. I can see indentations where the clamps were at the open ends. Thank God they weren't cut short just removed.
I ordered some books today from Corvette Central but I don't know if they'll show me where these hoses go.

Please someone give me encouraging news. I WILL NOT CAPITULATE!

TIA
"Jeff"

P.S. People Search For Happiness. Corvette People Create It!

 

[Space Cowboy]

Here is a heater hose diagram for your 73. I don't know if this helps you or not. Its sound like someone bypassed your heater box for some reason. You are lucky they weren't disconnected at the box or you would have to pull the whole passenger dash out to reconnect.

Space Cowboy

Man I could just cry! I got my 73/454 about a week and a half ago and have been fixin' small stuff on this immaculate Vette ever since.Only 38K miles. (This is the year we were married). I even got a Member Subscription to help the board out and to enable me to upload pictures. Heck, from all the help I've gotten so far from the kind people on this board I would have spent hundreds at the GM garage.

OK........while I was putting back the high fan relay I noticed 2 heater hoses next to the A/C hoses. (They were tucked behind them on the right fender side.) They weren't connected to anything and the ends are towards the radiator and about 1 foot away from it. They seem to be connected to the bottom area of the heater box though. I can see indentations where the clamps were at the open ends. Thank God they weren't cut short just removed.
I ordered some books today from Corvette Central but I don't know if they'll show me where these hoses go.

Please someone give me encouraging news. I WILL NOT CAPITULATE!

TIA
"Jeff"

P.S. People Search For Happiness. Corvette People Create It!

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

Jeff,

There is most likely a good reason why the heater core was bypassed. Most of these cars have outlived the normal life of the original core, so beware. You don't want to flood the interior with hot antifreeze.

Changing the core on a big block with AC is a, well ah, best send mom and the kids out of town for week so they don't get hit with flying tools and go deaf with cuss words.

 

[joe1975]

It does sound like a busted heater core,and they just bypassed it

 

[CAPNZ]

GREAT!
GRRRRRRRRRRRR!
The diagram Space Cowboy was kind enough to provide doesn't really show where the ends connect to. It looks like it's by the A/C unit in the diagram.
Also, is there a way to check to see if the core is indeed bad? The carpet is like brand new and I don't want the inside flooded.
TIA
"Jeff"

 

[bossvette]

I have the same problem with my winter beater, the heater hoses are disconnected I am going to flush out my system and fill it with plain water and then check for leaks. but that is my beater many C3's are running around with the heater core bypassed simply because it is a PIA to change.
the first thing on the assembly line is the heater core and the car was built around it

the other ends go to the water pump and the intake manifold, you will either find a short hose connecting the two in a loop or the openings have been plugged.

 

[Space Cowboy]

Sorry for the poor diagram, but thats all that was available online. One hose goes to the intake manifold (which is your heater core inbound hot water). The other hose connects to your water pump (which is the return into the cooling system).

 

[CAPNZ]

HMMM????
Indeed, (I think). I looked at it again for the 100th time and there's a hose from the rightside of the water pump going to the top of the manifold. So, the long hose would go to the water pump and the shorter one to the manifold. IMO someone just by-passed the core.
Thanks
"jeff"

 

[CAPNZ]

DON'T LAUGH,
Here's what I'm thinking to try. I'll take a ballon and stretch it over one side of the heater hose and take my air compressor and fill the ballon from the other hose via the core. Then I'll quickly plug that hose and see if the ballon deflates. If it does, IMO the core is bad. YA TINK IT'LL WORK??????

TIA
"Jeff"

 

[Space Cowboy]

Sounds like a logical approach to me.

I'll put $20 down on it

DON'T LAUGH,
Here's what I'm thinking to try. I'll take a ballon and stretch it over one side of the heater hose and take my air compressor and fill the ballon from the other hose via the core. Then I'll quickly plug that hose and see if the ballon deflates. If it does, IMO the core is bad. YA TINK IT'LL WORK??????

TIA
"Jeff"

 

[lnirenberg]

DON'T LAUGH,
Here's what I'm thinking to try. I'll take a ballon and stretch it over one side of the heater hose and take my air compressor and fill the ballon from the other hose via the core. Then I'll quickly plug that hose and see if the ballon deflates. If it does, IMO the core is bad. YA TINK IT'LL WORK??????

TIA
"Jeff"

In a hot water home heating system (which is similar in the sense that it has a heat source circulating a liquid medium to room radiators that are the functional equivilant of a heater core) contractors pressurize the systems with air with an inline pressure gauge attached and leave it over night to make sure the system holds pressure, so in that sense your on the right track. I don't think a balloon has a enough lbs of pressure however.

Another angle, I like you live in the northern US, but even up here it gets rather toasty in the summer and I assume your beast sleeps in the winter. In the year I have owned my small block I have never had a day that both the car was on the road and I needed heat. I would assume a big block puts out even more cabin heat than mine. Devil's advocate of this view is safety/welfare angle of needing defrost but I haven't had a day I would actually drive my car (and I have driven it about 8000 miles since I got it)when a slight cracking of the driver's window wouldn't clear that up quickly. Worse case its a good project for the winter as now is the season to drive till you drop.

 

[CAPNZ]

NOPE, the vechicle won't be driven in the winter!
I/we just got it. It'll be stored @ October.
My goal is to get it ready for NCRS judging that's why I want these problems fixed as per factory standards. As a side note, I blew into one of the loose hoses and antifreeze and water blew into my ear and face! So, there's still water in the core, albeit with no pressure and I don't see any water inside. So I think I'll blow the water out with a compressor and do some checks. Maybe a rubber glove instead of a ballon. GEEEZ, I'd hate to rip this all apart. Maybe the heat was on all the time and some knucklehead did this??????
"Jeff"

 

[Space Cowboy]

knucklehead is a good term. I have no idea how many owners my 68 had previously, but each one of them should be beaten and flogged! They totally bastardized the old girl. I've sunk in a ton of money to get her back in to better shape than when she rolled off the dealership parking lot.

 

[CAPNZ]

Mick, Can I do most of this work from the inside? I got the passenger panel/dash off. I really don't want to rip the whole heating box off the firewall.
TIA
"Jeff"

 

[jdp6000]

If you can see the core box you are half way there. I've changed a core. Its not hard. To remove the core box...Two screws inside and one outside (no one seems to find this one first try) up high on the passengerside. Disconnect the electrical connection, hoses, cable, etc.Take the core box out. Open it up. Replace the core and reinstall. It takes a bit of a twisting motion to get the core box out.

Jim

 

[gmjunkie]

If you can see the core box you are half way there. I've changed a core. Its not hard. To remove the core box...Two screws inside and one outside (no one seems to find this one first try) up high on the passengerside. Disconnect the electrical connection, hoses, cable, etc.Take the core box out. Open it up. Replace the core and reinstall. It takes a bit of a twisting motion to get the core box out.

Jim

The heater core is easy!! I REEELy love to do Evaparater's on C-3's!!:eyerole :eyerole junk!!

 

[rponfick]

Instead of a rubber glove or baloon, go to NAPA and get one of their rubber caps. You hold them on with a screw clamp. I think they are even designed to cap off heater connections. I did it on my 81 Chev pickup, where for some reason they routed the heater hoses to the radiator itself. I changed the connections to the regular spots on the water pump and intake manifold, but had to cap the openings in the radiator somehow.


You could cap one of the brass heater core openings with one of these rubber cap and temporaily put a small section of heater hose on the other to give you room to work with. You can put a pressure gauge or some type of fitting on the end of the heater hose to allow you to pressurize with your air compressor or such. Be careful to not put too much pressure on it.

 

[CAPNZ]

Thanks guys, Does the core box come out on the inside of the passenger side? Also what rubber cap do I want to ask for? I'm sure NAPA will ask.
TIA
"Jeff"

 

[rponfick]

I think the heater hoses are 5/8" and 3/4", so pick whichever one you want to cap at the heater core, and leave the hose on the other one to pressure up.

 

[CAPNZ]

OK:, got the core out,(it WAS a leaker). The padding/sound insuation is really chewed-up now. Anyone know where I can buy new stuff? MAN, this thing was a bear to get out. I had to cut the hoses off the in/out tubes of the heater core. Had to jack the car up. I had @ 1/2" area to get the clamps off the bottom of the core. So I gets a new core, (Made In China), from CC. Tried to fit it into the bracket and the one pipe comes loose! So know I got to sweat that back onto the core! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
I'll need some gaskets, which I'll order Monday. I would like to get that insulation/sound-deadener replaced. Anyone doing a 73/454 w/AC I'll tell ya how to do it.
TIA
"Jeff"