Downgrading from AC to just heat

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hemitheus

hemitheus

19? Plymouth Scampenstein
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Taylor, MI
What would I need to gather if I wanted to rip out my original AC system and replace it with a heat only system. What can be kept from the old system? Anything to be made aware of in doing the swap, be it wiring or vacuum hoses or ????

Thanks
 
hemitheus said:
What would I need to gather if I wanted to rip out my original AC system and replace it with a heat only system. What can be kept from the old system? Anything to be made aware of in doing the swap, be it wiring or vacuum hoses or ????

Thanks
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I am doing the same thing on one of my 70 swingers ....score a non A/c heater box and the cables and controller .......the firewall is different so plan of some welding, cutting and fab work.

you will have some problems mixing and matching ...either you use all 74 stuff throughout or all older stuff throughout ...which we will have to brainstorm if you use the 69 dart dash
 
Ive done this and nothing from the A/C system will work. Like Rani said, find a complete set up. Heater box, controls and cables, Just makes things easier. As for the firewall, the same spot the heater tubes from the A/C box exited will work with just the heater box, but the hole for the blower motor is much larger.

The stock A/C box had 3 bolts that held it in place, none of those holes will be used so you will have to plug them. The only thing that help my heater box in place was the 4 studs from the blower motor and the J hook for the fresh air intake.

There is a trim ring that come on the non A/C cars that you will also need. I picked mine up on here. It is almost big enough to cover the hole from the old blower motor, I just did that on my car instead of welding up the firewall with a patch panel. If you want some pics I can get them for you.
 
I took the whole assembly out of my dart 15 or so years ago.

To defrost I open up the vent windows , and enough heat comes thru the firewall to keep me warm enough until it gets below freezing.

And it never gets driven in any cold or weather anyway
 
straightlinespeed said:
Ive done this and nothing from the A/C system will work. Like Rani said, find a complete set up. Heater box, controls and cables, Just makes things easier. As for the firewall, the same spot the heater tubes from the A/C box exited will work with just the heater box, but the hole for the blower motor is much larger.

The stock A/C box had 3 bolts that held it in place, none of those holes will be used so you will have to plug them. The only thing that help my heater box in place was the 4 studs from the blower motor and the J hook for the fresh air intake.

There is a trim ring that come on the non A/C cars that you will also need. I picked mine up on here. It is almost big enough to cover the hole from the old blower motor, I just did that on my car instead of welding up the firewall with a patch panel. If you want some pics I can get them for you.
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Yeah, if you could post up a pic that would be great Thank you

GEO said:
I took the whole assembly out of my dart 15 or so years ago.

To defrost I open up the vent windows , and enough heat comes thru the firewall to keep me warm enough until it gets below freezing.

And it never gets driven in any cold or weather anyway
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Aren't you concerned about the safety of that?
 
Here are the pics. You can see a small gap at the top of the round trim ring for the blower motor. I had to make a second plate that installs from the inside around the blower motor, then installed it thru the firewall and used the round trim ring to sandwich it tight. I had to do this because if you use just the trim ring it will move around.

View attachment IMG_20140817_171959_989.jpg

You can see the heater lines and the 2 silver caps that is where the A/C lines went thru.

View attachment IMG_20140817_172011_980.jpg

If you need other pics let me know.
 
I "don't get" this whole procedure. Why can't you just tear apart the original heater / AC, gut out the stuff you don't need for AC, reconfigure the doors if need be, and use it as it was otherwise?
 
Reason I didnt use it was because the A/C box is 2 different pieces, A/C coil and heater core in one section and blower in the other. Also everything is vacuum operated. I gutted all of my vacuum lines so I dont have any issues with vacuum leaks. I prefer the cable operated stuff. It is also very heavy and I didnt want all the extra weight myself.

Its really not that hard of a swap to do, just took some trial and error to get it all figured out.
 
67Dart273 said:
I "don't get" this whole procedure. Why can't you just tear apart the original heater / AC, gut out the stuff you don't need for AC, reconfigure the doors if need be, and use it as it was otherwise?
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X2 That's exactly what I did in my '74 Sport. Everything works just fine. Vacuum hose is pretty inexpensive. I put new hoses on everything for only a few bucks.
It is a pain in the a$$ getting that heater box in and out so I put a new heater core in while it was out.

Ted
 
GEO said:
What safety concerns , the heat just radiates thru the metal firewall and all holes have been covered
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I misread what you said. I thought you had open engine compartment air going into your cabin area.

straightlinespeed said:
Reason I didnt use it was because the A/C box is 2 different pieces, A/C coil and heater core in one section and blower in the other. Also everything is vacuum operated. I gutted all of my vacuum lines so I dont have any issues with vacuum leaks. I prefer the cable operated stuff. It is also very heavy and I didnt want all the extra weight myself.

Its really not that hard of a swap to do, just took some trial and error to get it all figured out.
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^Straight has it straight... HAHA. This is the very reason why. Plus the non AC stuff is smaller. I want to clean up the look and reduce weight.
 
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