Taking A/C off
They should be MORE than happy to recover it for free. The going price of a 30lb. can of R-12 is well in excess of $600 the last I heard....That's like $20 per pound.
If your planning on ditching the factory A/C heater box and replacing it with a non-A/C box I have some advice for you. The firewalls are different between the A/C and non-A/C cars and the boxes bolt up a little differently. You have to add the support rod that's inside the r/s fresh air box and you'll only have 2 bolts holding it against the firewall. The blower motors are different too and your going to have a nasty gap when you bolt in the non-A/C box. You'll need to fabricate a new blower motor opening cover. Test fit the box too as you'll either have to weld or plug 2 bolt holes that will be left un-used after the swap.
This is how it looks when you mount the non-A/C box. Not exactly a clean swap, huh?
I took the factory opening cover and modified it like this. Now your going to flip it over and mount it from the INSIDE so the box has a solid contact with the edge of the firewall. You'll need to install and trim the metal spacer tubes that go on the blower motor studs under the flipped plate. This is easy to determine with the help of a friend to hold the box while you measure and mark the spacers to sit flush with the firewall.
I then made a new surround to mount on the firewall around the blower motor. The piece on the left is notched so you'll clear the wiring exiting the side of the blower motor. The left piece is mounted backwards from the inside, the piece on the right goes on the outside like stock. These 2 pieces sandwich the firewall and give you a solid mount. I also made a new foam gasket from some packing material I got at work.
With everything mounted you'd be hard pressed to notice the modification once everything is installed. The studs have to be trimmed about 3/8". I'll run a tap over the threads, cut it, and bevel the tip. Run the tap off and your ready to spin a nut on.
And that's how I hacked a non-A/C heater box into a A/C firewall car. :cheers:
They should be MORE than happy to recover it for free. The going price of a 30lb. can of R-12 is well in excess of $600 the last I heard....That's like $20 per pound.
If your planning on ditching the factory A/C heater box and replacing it with a non-A/C box I have some advice for you. The firewalls are different between the A/C and non-A/C cars and the boxes bolt up a little differently. You have to add the support rod that's inside the r/s fresh air box and you'll only have 2 bolts holding it against the firewall. The blower motors are different too and your going to have a nasty gap when you bolt in the non-A/C box. You'll need to fabricate a new blower motor opening cover. Test fit the box too as you'll either have to weld or plug 2 bolt holes that will be left un-used after the swap.
This is how it looks when you mount the non-A/C box. Not exactly a clean swap, huh?
I took the factory opening cover and modified it like this. Now your going to flip it over and mount it from the INSIDE so the box has a solid contact with the edge of the firewall. You'll need to install and trim the metal spacer tubes that go on the blower motor studs under the flipped plate. This is easy to determine with the help of a friend to hold the box while you measure and mark the spacers to sit flush with the firewall.
I then made a new surround to mount on the firewall around the blower motor. The piece on the left is notched so you'll clear the wiring exiting the side of the blower motor. The left piece is mounted backwards from the inside, the piece on the right goes on the outside like stock. These 2 pieces sandwich the firewall and give you a solid mount. I also made a new foam gasket from some packing material I got at work.
With everything mounted you'd be hard pressed to notice the modification once everything is installed. The studs have to be trimmed about 3/8". I'll run a tap over the threads, cut it, and bevel the tip. Run the tap off and your ready to spin a nut on.
And that's how I hacked a non-A/C heater box into a A/C firewall car. :cheers:
