rebuilding the the front heater box

[cawvin]

[zak99B5]

[Bman]

I want to provide information for a double/single cab heater box rebuild, because not all T3's are alike. For starters the double/single cabs (DC/SC) come stock with a 3 lever climate control as opposed to the typical 4 lever seen on campers and tintops; all information below is for watercooled and diesels, sorry Aircooled Nation, you'll have to search elsewhere.

Here is the stock DC/SC climate control plate, note the graphic on the right, see how the 3 lines indicate that there are 3 levers? I just learned that too.

Next to know about is the bottom of the DC/SC box, the Passenger Compartment Vent Flaps are non existent, this is because the DC/SC does not have passenger vents in the ceiling. The photo below shows my DC box on the left and a tintop 83' box on the right, the passenger compartment vent flaps are clearly evident on the right hand box. This part of the heater box sits on top of the air scoops in the body of the dash, fresh air comes in above the outside grill and is funneled through those vents and into the door, B column and into roof vents. On the DC/SC this fresh air hits the coolant core and is either used for the defrost and/or sent through the under dash hoses to the vents on the extreme right and left of the dash.

Alright so bust open that heater box, save those tabs and hopefully no one has glued your box together...?!?!

Old motor and core:

underneath the core is what I call the core cage:

I pulled this aluminum "cage" out and gave it a good wire brushing. Next i spent considerable time cleaning the plastic heater box itself, i used green cleaner to get years of dust and dirt out, luckily I had no rat or mice vermin to clean up after.

The new blower motors come with a plastic connector housing, so I just had to sodder on a female connecter and plugged in the new motor and coolant core:

Here is a good time to change the resistor if you wish, just pop the metal flanges out from the side of the resistor to take out.

Next lets talk about replacing the foam on the flaps, if like me this has never been done for your 30+ year old rig, its worth the $12 investment to get 1.25" x 3/16" (.25") self adhesive camper tape to complete this job, your here anyway right? A word on getting those flappers out, for the DC/SC footwell flapper, mine was just floating and as such inoperable and easy to "fall" out, more on that soon, the defroster flapper can come out by pushing on the plastic "hinge covers" from the inside, they are held in by an expanding flange, be careful and forcefully push the defrost lever and hinge cap out to release the flapper.

Here is a photo of the 'hinge caps," the tall one is the defrost lever that the cable connects to:

Once you get them out, use a flat screwdriver to pop the flat black plastic holders out, clean the surface with paint thinner, steel wool, dry, cut your camper tape to fit:

Give yourself plenty of overlap on the long edge to ensure a good seal. While fitting you can mock place the flapper to check your trimming and fit.

Here is a flap with new foam, I could have used a bit more overlap on the long edge:

Now a note on the DC/SC footwell flapper. Not sure about you, but my Doka is HOT during the summer, and the reason for this is that I never had a means of closing off the footwell vents to prevent hot air from heating the cab right at our feet. It was so bad I was in the habit of stuffing rags in the vent to drive with sandals on. My footwell flapper was inoperable, because it was floating and was never held properly in the heater box channel to provide leverage for the cable. I believe I was missing a piece to my heater box to provide that levearge. I considered using the 83 heater box which had a solid build around the footwell flap, but then I would have to change the whole climate control system to a 4 lever operation. I wanted to leave it stock, so this is what I did:

I cut up a positive battery shield, of hard plastic, and inserted them into the channeled sides of the footwell flap area:

I did this to all 4 hinge points. To hold the plastic in I doubled up on the thin plastic in the channels for a snug fit.

So now my heater box is all rebuilt, after another round of interior cleaning I closed it up and used OEM box clips all around.

The DC/SC boxs fit over a floor bound air tunnel that at the dash looks like this:

The HARD to source lower heat/tunnel cover looks like this:

this cover is hard to find, I pity the owner who has a messed up one and wants a new, also found on diesels. I would love to see this 3D printed.

The back of the cover with old foam:

Again, remove that old foam, clean up your parts and add new foam:

This is how you want the heat cover to fit over the floor mounted tunnel:

a nice tight fit.

While your doing this, yes dash out, its a good Idea to replace the heater valve and heater valve cable that is outside the passenger area and behind your radiator fan. Replacing the heater valve is not too difficult, but it will result in yet another coolant bath. Iused 3 in 1 oil to lube up all my cables before installing, a slow process of dripping oil into the cable housing.

That is my DC/SC heater box story, I still have my dash out so I can't give you a review of this hard work yet, as I need to do some wiring before re-installing the dash. I hope someone finds this useful, I sure would have before attempting.

On-on!
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Steve M.]

Good timing! I just did my box last week. Now I don't have to post a thread on the in's & out's of it!
(I also have the DC/SC heater box.)

I do not remember seeing what type of foam you used, but I used the foam tape that you can buy in Home Depot for insulating hot water pipes. It is adhesive backed so if you wire brush clean the metal plates of the flaps it sticks really well to the bare metal. I did not put the plastic cover plates back onto the flaps that I assume were originally there to hold the foam in place as the adhesive works really well. Time will tell if that was a mistake.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Armacell-2-in-x-30-ft-R-1-Foam-Insulation-Tape-TAP18230/100539553
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[Steve M.]

If I may add some photos and things on mine so it's all in one thread to keep the "searching" down a little bit.

If you live in an apartment and no outside garden hose to clean the box, both half's of the box will fit into a bathtub so you can soak them to loosen up the years of dirt. I poured half a bottle of "409" into the tub, it left enough dirt on the bottom of the tub so it must of worked. A shower nozzle on a flexible hose reaches down to rinse them off easy enough.

The mounting screw on the top left of the box located behind the Brake Vacuum Booster is difficult to reach - it would help you if you had a long shafted Philip's screwdriver to reach it before starting the job!

There is an overlooked mounting screw that comes in from the radiator side that will prevent you from taking it out!

I use hose restriction clamps on the hoses to prevent loosing coolant. These came from Harbor Freight. I think I spilled 2 drops of coolant before getting a paper towel on the ends of the hoses.

There should be some coolant in the core itself so before I removed the hoses I pulled the box and tilted the opposite end down so none spilled out.

Before you remove the cables it is not a bad idea to mark the travel of them. Sometimes if you replace a cable with a new one and it does not have the indentations from the hold down clamp getting the outer sheath just right will change the throw of the cable.So you can use this to measure from the hook end to the end of the sheath.

_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[Steve M.]

This should be in the Mullendore Port Thread for the fan bearing, but anyone pulling the box apart and not replacing the fan motor might find this a good time to do this.
Original Mullendore Port thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=395661&[url]highlight=mullendore+port[/url]

I replaced my fan motor with a new one because it was starting to squeek. I did not want to drill an hole as does work in the Mullendore Port thread. I knew I was opening the box for the flap foam so had in mind an alternative for lubing the bearing.
If I found a cap I could put over the bearing I could at least protect it from dirt and if I added a tube to it I could get lubricant onto it.

This is the problem environment that the bearing has to cope with.

You might notice there are 4 holes in the frame that holds the bearing. After you clean the dirt off!

So I started by sticking small zip-ty's up through the holes.

Then used a Coke bottle cap because it fit just right and drilled a hole
through it for a tube.

I didn't have a tube so improvising I used one of the old ventilation lever cables. It has the inner tube for the cable and the outer sheath. I pulled the inner tube almost all the way through it because the inner tube is almost the same size as one of the spray tubes you get on can of spray Tri-Flow. The spray tube will fit inside the outer sheath so you can spray the lube without making too big a mess...I hope!

Now with the cap in place over the bearing I found that the way zip-ty's lock would make a untidy result so I had 2 zip-ty's coming up through the holes and on the other 2 holes had the zip-ty's going down through the holes.
So the 2 going up would connect to the locking head of the zip-ty's going down.

Then I took the loose end from the "down" zip-ty's and brought them back over the top and tucked them under the crossing zip-ty's holding the bottle cap down.
Now using 2 more zip-ty's I locked them onto the 2 loose ends going under the crossing zip-ty's.
Pull them all tight and the caps is secured tightly. Cut off all the loose ends with a flush-cut dykes and it is a neat finish.

So the with motor back in place I could route the tubing up through the housing to the dash. (You have to drill a hole in the top half to feed the tube through.)

I chose to bring it up though the defroster vent on the driver's side. You could just do it so it comes out under the ash tray and it would be hidden, but I also use the dash organizer tray and this covers the ash tray opening.
No pictures of that yet. Had a hurricane to deal with so rushed in getting it done.


It's a new fan motor so in my lifetime I do not think I'll have the bearing problem again.
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[Gnarlodious]

Read about my solution using 3D printed retainers:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=677390

[Bman]

Gnarlodious,

Thanks for the add, those retainers are excatly what I was missing. Is anyone printing these for sale? I do not have access to a 3D printer...but then again, my fix was easy and cheap too.

Here is a photo of the retainers:

_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Slimvest]

Would it be dumb to use a "known good" heater core when rebuilding everything? I intended to pressure test it, but knowing it's still 30 or so years old, seems like a gamble.

Thanks for all the step by step photos, everyone. I've put this chore off for a long time.
_________________
'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[Gnarlodious]

I used a “known good” heater core from an '85 California van and it hasn't leaked. Also the blower motor had not been used much.
_________________
Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[Steve M.]

GoWesty has the "right side" heater vent shaft retainers for about $3.49 ea.
The "left side" is sold out.

http://www.gowesty.com/product-details.php?v=&id=24574
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[Steve M.]

[almo]

I am curious did anyone not put back the black plastic retainers on the flap doors after using the camper tape? Doin my flapper/foam right now and that stuff sticks like crazy. Is there a need to put the black plastic plates back on?


Cheers
_________________
San Francisco/Mayo Ireland

1986 2.1L Westy 2wd 4-spd Sold!!!!
1987 2.1L Westy syncro
2005 Subaru legacy 2.5Gt Wagon 5sp MT

[dhaavers]

^^^ I know I did...belt & suspenders, I s'pose...

Sticky only lasts so long, but friction is forever...

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[almo]

Lol good point
_________________
San Francisco/Mayo Ireland

1986 2.1L Westy 2wd 4-spd Sold!!!!
1987 2.1L Westy syncro
2005 Subaru legacy 2.5Gt Wagon 5sp MT

[Bman]

[djkeev]

Put the foam on, now get out your awl and propane torch, heat the awl and push it through each hole for the tabs. It melts the foam around the hole.

Works perfectly!

Dave
_________________
Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[IdahoDoug]

I did not put the tabs back on. I have done two this way. I agree with the "friction is forever" comment, however. Well said.

Doug
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[SyncroChrick]

Thanks for all the great info. I am almost done taking the entire box apart and so far did not manage to break anything.

The only remaining part are the 2 flaps for the front defrost. I am not able to see how to take these apart, although it does seem like it could be.

Anyone has input on exactly which plastic parts I need to remove (nothing is glued so far on this box)

Thanks!

[SyncroChrick]

all right I got it...answer to myself: there are 4 little tabs on the other side of the box for each cover panel.

I think the shaft could be removed too but it's not needed and I am not taking any more chances...this is as far I am going...



Now time for a run to Home-Depot to get the seal