1986 A/C-Heater air flow, not right

tbowker

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@tbowker That last picture is the door I made a hinge for. I used either a few small hinges or one strip of hinge (piano hinge?) that I cut to fit. I recall adding some sound deadening material I had laying around to fill any gaps on the hinged part.
Okay, thanks. I was hoping that was the one you were talking about. Next question. How did you get that duct work open? I'm in the process of taking the dash apart and I know I'm dreaming when I think I'll know where they all go back.
 

BlindAmbition

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I had the entire dash and AC system out to add sound deadening. The ducting splits apart, be careful with the clips/snaps so you don't break them. There may have been staples or something as well, it's literally been years since I had it open.
 

tbowker

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Okay, so I'll continue taking the dash apart. On the third picture of post #9, I have my finger pointing at a hole in the heater core housing cover. Do you remember if there was some type of lever sticking out of it? In several of the pictures that show the heater core, there's an opening just to the left of the core. I'm wondering if that hole was there to manually operate a lever to close a door so that the cold air doesn't have to fight the hot air bleeding off the heater core.
 

BlindAmbition

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I'm not sure, I'll see if I can get pictures tomorrow morning. I put a shutoff valve on my heater hose in order to block off flow in the summer
 

tbowker

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Good plan. I think I'll just go that route, much easier than trying to build a door mechanism. Thanks.
 

Old Goat

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Here are some Heater/AC repair links I saved



Link to the new seals etc...


Hope some of thee help.


Goat
 

tbowker

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Here are some Heater/AC repair links I saved



Link to the new seals etc...


Hope some of thee help.


Goat
I've said it before but I can't say it enough. You sir, provide the absolute best links!!! That is exactly what I need and thankfully I stopped last night before I took the dash completely apart. A thorough description plus pictures. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 

MIDNIGHT RIDER

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This picture is looking from the engine compartment through the open evaporator core housing. You can see the lever connected to that gray door; I'm thinking that should have some type of hinge connected to it. Right?
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Those doors are notorious to break and then flop around; and, once broken, you have little if any defrost air movement.

For the current time being, I have my broken door completely removed.

When I know summer is here to stay, I have a piece of "eve flashing" (super-thin Aluminum that builders use to trim out the eves) slid in behind the glove box that I slide out.

With the sheet slid in between the two pieces of the air duct, it blocks off the dash vents and forces all the air to go either up to the defrost or down to the floor.


With the sheet slid out, almost all the air comes through the dash vents.

I have to remove the glove box to make these changes.

If I have the dash vents blocked off and it happens to get warm enough for A/C, plenty of cooling air comes through the top or the bottom, just not in my face where it feels the best.

There is an excellent write-up on how to re-hinge that broken door at fordtruckenthusiastsdotcom.

The original hinge was an almost through slice in the plastic that was a break waiting to happen; I plan to make my hinge out of heavy leather so that it will behave much like the original.
 

tbowker

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There is an excellent write-up on how to re-hinge that broken door at fordtruckenthusiastsdotcom.
I saved that link last night and once I finish removing the rest of the dash to get better access, I'll be putting on a replacement hinge. I also plan to remove the necklace, spent shell casings and other debris that found its way into the duct work.
 

Old Goat

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I've said it before but I can't say it enough. You sir, provide the absolute best links!!! That is exactly what I need and thankfully I stopped last night before I took the dash completely apart. A thorough description plus pictures. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You are very welcome.

Goat
 

tbowker

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Not that I'm wishing myself older, but I can't wait until I'm retired. I have so many projects and this pesky job gets in the way of my life. This is taking far longer than it should. Okay... enough sniveling.

So I've managed to produce my copy of the vent door mod from the link that @Old Goat provided.
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I have some foam strips that I'll attach to both sides of the door and then see how it fits in the duct. More to follow.
 

IDIBRONCO

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Not that I'm wishing myself older, but I can't wait until I'm retired. I have so many projects and this pesky job gets in the way of my life.
I can perfectly understand the feeling. On the other side of the spectrum, I knew an older guy who swore that he had more free time before he retired. From the outside, I could see why. He'd sit in the house drinking coffee until 10 or 10:30 in the morning, he'd come back inside for lunch around 11:30 or so, go back outside around 1:30 -2:00, and finally be done for the day by 5:30 or so. Still, I don't understand why he couldn't see things like that.
 
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