Do I Keep My A/C Heater Box when Missing All A/C Parts?

[CDN72SE]

So my 72 is optioned for A/C, when I was younger I swapped engines and ditched all the A/C engine stuff (yeah I know  . My original heater box is in desperate need of a rebuild. Years ago I bought the DMT and have looked at many resto articles on these boxes.

Should I just rebuild the box and throw it back in? Should I be switching to a non-A/C box?



I won't be driving in the winter so heat is not too important and I have never had working A/C in either of my Chargers.

[green69rt]

I don'st have an opinion about to AC or not to AC but you need some kind of heater box, no matter where you live.  You need some kind of window defoger/froster.   

[CDN72SE]

Yeah that's true the rad fluid has to travel somewhere. I also omitted the heater water valve, so I don't need to put that back on.

[Nacho-RT74]

A/C and Heater firewalls are diff so I guess a heater box won't match your AC firewall.

About the hot water needing to run somewhere. In Vzla where a heater is not really needed ( not at least on 90% of the country ), the engine outlets to heater were simply sealed from factory. We got AC cars with heater and stuff installed thought but at least MY 74 had the outlets sealed. The funny stuff is all the installation was in there, even the hoses. You could even see the hoses plugged into the outlets but when removed the hoses, outlets from water pump were sealed LOL. I THINK i was the first who made to run hot water into the heater system on my car 35 years later LOL. Meaning with this, you can seal up the outlets for heater system and won't affect anything.

The heater system on the AC box works allmost exactly the same than the just heater system. On 3rd gens at least so I would rebuild the AC box and install. Then would decide what to use... just heater, just AC or both.

Lot of old cars in Vzla ( not only Mopars, any brand actually ) gets the AC-heater box system installed yet into the cab but nothing of both systems on engine bay.

[Nacho-RT74]

BTW and IMHO, it is GREAT to have everything in the car still in working order and if you ask me, your are getting deep enough into your car to have some missed &/or not in working order. I'd install everything back. Heater is easy, just hoses, heater valve wire, valve itself ( valve is the harder and expensive part on a 72 if you want the correct one ). AC can be a bit harder to get, specially hoses and brackets except if you get from a donor, but can be done later step by step. Just the belts setup will change. RV compressor and condenser are easy. Condensers are available new repro in fact. The valve at firewall is available new too, ready for r134 gas in fact if you want to upgrade same as the dryer. BTDT, I got them from rockauto to R134 gas.

Classic and Vintage auto air sell both also the AC engine bay setup made for the car if you don't wanna run the RV compressor but the Sanden and prefer to go for the easier, not needing to go for the original parts hunt, using the original cab system yet. But what can I say! Open the hood and see the original stuff working adds a wow factor. And RV compressor is good, just heavy and steals some extra HP from the engine where the Sanden steals less.

[CDN72SE]

A/C and Heater firewalls are diff so I guess a heater box won't match your AC firewall.

About the hot water needing to run somewhere. In Vzla where a heater is not really needed ( not at least on 90% of the country ), the engine outlets to heater were simply sealed from factory. We got AC cars with heater and stuff installed thought but at least MY 74 had the outlets sealed. The funny stuff is all the installation was in there, even the hoses. You could even see the hoses plugged into the outlets but when removed the hoses, outlets from water pump were sealed LOL. I THINK i was the first who made to run hot water into the heater system on my car 35 years later LOL. Meaning with this, you can seal up the outlets for heater system and won't affect anything.

The heater system on the AC box works allmost exactly the same than the just heater system. On 3rd gens at least so I would rebuild the AC box and install. Then would decide what to use... just heater, just AC or both.

Lot of old cars in Vzla ( not only Mopars, any brand actually ) gets the AC-heater box system installed yet into the cab but nothing of both systems on engine bay.

Thank you Nacho, for the explanatory reply. I think I will go ahead and rebuild it, I know I will have to learn some news skills with the repairs I will have to do. Unfortunately the donor/replacement box I bought years ago got damaged in shipping.

You are right I would like everything back to how it was if possible and yeah those valves can be expensive, though I think the one I have I can clean up and re-use.

I'm a windows down kinda guy so I think I would be okay without A/C, the only time I may care is if it was really hot out and I was wearing a suit, lol

[Nacho-RT74]

A/C become mandatory in Vzla due two reasons:

-Personal safety going hard. This made a requirement to drive with glass rolled up to save you from get a gun on your head and get robbed or kidnapped... on at least 50% of the times at least, because if the guy(s) wants to go for you, it won't matter if you get the glass up or not, and just having an armoured car will save you

-When it rains, rains REALLY HARD, so the only way to keep the glass out of internal fog is the A/C turned on.

about the valve... good luck... but if needed I THINK they can be rebuilt nowdays.

the brass units are available yet. Not exact bracket thought, but I made to interchange the bracket on my car. Had to make a full dissasembly and reassembly job to reuse the original bracket. My valve was never used but after 35 years without use but on the engine bay enviroment it was damaged inside

[john108]

I don't know how applicable this is to this post, but here goes.
1968 Charger R/T.
I rebuilt and installed the heater/AC box.
I don't know if or when I complete the rest of the system.
I plan on installing the original AC compressor so all the belts and other engine components fit properly.
I will install the water lines but probably, not now, the rest of the AC components (just plug ports).
I just plan on not connecting electrical to compressor clutch, so it just free wheels with the engine.

If anyone sees an issue, please comment here, or I can start a new post.

[b5blue]

The plan for the 68 will work. You can get repair parts from Classic Auto Air's Tampa store anytime so just leave it out and boxed up proper. (If not needed.)

[green69rt]

I don't know how applicable this is to this post, but here goes.
1968 Charger R/T.
I rebuilt and installed the heater/AC box.
I don't know if or when I complete the rest of the system.
I plan on installing the original AC compressor so all the belts and other engine components fit properly.
I will install the water lines but probably, not now, the rest of the AC components (just plug ports).
I just plan on not connecting electrical to compressor clutch, so it just free wheels with the engine.

If anyone sees an issue, please comment here, or I can start a new post.

If you are going to leave the AC box in but not use it then I would find some way to plug the freon lines and purge them with inert gas (nitrogen, helium) to prevent corrosion.  Same with the water lines although they would probably be ok for a few months.

[john108]

I made a typo:
I will hook up the heater/water lines but not the freon components.
The compressor will just be in the OFF position all the time.
It appears that other components (power steering pump, alternator mounting) interweave (common bolts) with the AC compressor.

[DanielRobert]

I just rebuilt my a/c box for my 72....One thing to check for is that the doors and rods aren't rubbing the housing anywhere. I had to grind two areas where the box warped slightly and rubbed a blend door and a vacuum rod. Don't forget to use a vacuum pump to check that theyre all working in both directions.

[CDN72SE]

Thanks for the advice DanielRobert, I saw your question about the blower motor wheel.

[DanielRobert]

yeah and I'm having trouble....the blower motor came from ebay as well as the wheel but the shaft is too short for the wheel. So, I picked up a used wheel and that is hitting the core when motor is mounted....I'm stumped

[CDN72SE]

Here is my heater water valve, I guess I could just clean it up.

[CDN72SE]

My original heater box is in the middle, the top is one that I bout about 10 years ago that got damaged during shipping.

Bottom one I received last week, was really scared to buy it because eBayer's seem to be useless at packaging fragile and/or hard to get parts. Won't get into it now but it was all smashed up and useless as is as well. I really don't understand people.



So I am just going to try and fix up my original box, I'm tired of seeing all these boxes and parts lying around my basement.

Here it is:





Does have some cracks and chunks missing, don't care if it is perfect just want to make sure the fixes are strong and no leaking.

Started using some Goo Gone and a blade to strip the left over glue and gasket.

[CDN72SE]

Just received my replacement heater control valve and NOS bracket.

[DanielRobert]

mine.....My water valve is a little different than yours...I can't post a pic ...we'll see if it'll let me in a day or two.

[Nacho-RT74]

My water valve is a little different than yours...

73/74 is a brass piece. So maybe some 72 could get that one, or maybe replaced for the brass one later.

[CDN72SE]

My car is a July 71 build, some parts are a bit different on mine I think.