Heater Reinstalled

It's ALIVE!!! The rebuilt heater is back in the Volvo. I filled the cooling system with the first gallon of antifreeze and water, fired the engine up, and everything worked! The heater blower works ... on both speeds, high and low. The little green light in the heater control housing works! The car started up - which I'm extremely happy about ... although it's been idling rough. I might have let the fuel sit for a little too long without any fuel preservatives. It's either that or perhaps its idling rough because of a partially filled cooling system? I'm not sure if there is a "correct" method of replenishing coolant - I did what seemed logical to me. First, I set the heater temperature control to high (lever all the way down) to ensure that coolant gets into the heater core. Next, the initial fill was done via the radiator. Once the radiator was full, I then filled the coolant overflow bottle to the "Max" line, removed it from the mount and held it above the radiator to fill the hose connecting it to the radiator with coolant. The coolant overflow bottle was then reattached to its mount and recapped along with the radiator. Finally, the engine was started and the water pump did the rest. As the engine takes up coolant from the radiator, by some miracle of fluid dynamics and pressure, the radiator just sucks what it needs from the coolant overflow bottle. Subsequent refills are then done via the coolant overflow bottle as the the entire system gradually fills up on coolant.

Before:

After:

So far, I've completed 2 rounds of filling coolant, setting the heater temperature to high, and running the engine to normal operating temperature to flood the cooling system (radiator, engine, heater core) with coolant. By days end, I've used up 1.5 gallons of premixed antifreeze and water, but I'll give it another go tomorrow to see if it'll take more. The following are some before-and-after photos of the bottom half of the heater box from the interior of the car:

Before:	After:
Before:	After:

Here's a photo of the heater controls with the lights on. This light comes on when the parking or headlamps are on. They were not working before - in fact I didn't even know they existed! All I did was clean up the bulb housing and ensured that it was properly grounded. This bulb does not have a separate "ground wire". It only has a single "hot" lead. Grounding is done by ensuring proper contact with the heater control housing. From the research I've done, this green light only existed in the 1972 onwards ES models, which leads me to believe that some previous owner must have swapped out the heater control housing - bonus for me!

Heater Controls With Light:

All Pieces Back In Order:

Heater Rebuilt

At long last, the heater box has finally been pieced back together after being removed from the Volvo for almost 2 months! In summary, the entire unit has been sandblasted to remove old paint and rust, coated with POR-15 rust preventative paint, heater core flushed and checked for leaks, blower motor rebuilt, have all hardware replaced, and finished off with new seals and gaskets. Below are the before-and-after photos. Notice in this 1st series of 4 photos, the metal plate housing the defrost outlet has been repainted cast iron grey.

Heater Front - Before:	Heater Front - After:
Heater Front - Before:	Heater Front - After:

This next series of 4 photos show the rear of the heater box. All hardware have been replace with new ones (screws, washers, etc.)

Heater Back - Before:	Heater Back - After:
Heater Back - Before:	Heater Back - After:

The following photos show more detail work. The first shows the condition of the floor vent (before restoration) from the inside of the heater box. Here you'll notice the rust on the inside walls of the heater box as well as the corroded vent latch. The 2nd photo shows the defrost vent with new seal and restored vent latch. 3rd photo is the same floor vent in closed position. 4th photo shows the new drain tube which diverts any condensation from the heater out of the car via a drain hole in the floor panel.

Heater Floor Vent - Before:	Defrost Vent - New Seal:
Defrost Vent - Reconditioned Latch:	New Drain Tube:

In this final series of photos glorifying the heater box, the 1st shows the heater core being reinstalled. Later, the edges of the heater box was given an application of high temperature silicone gasket maker before the two halves were reattached. The 2nd is of the repainted plastic defrost outlet. The metal plate surrounding the defrost outlet has also been repainted cast iron grey. 3rd photo shows a vent spindle painted in POR-15 silver and reattached with new hardware. 4th photo - shows a new "D" style clamp washer securing the vent spindle on the opposite end.

Heater Core Reinstalled:	Repainted Defrost Outlet:
Vent Spindle With New Hardware:	D-Style Clamp Washer:

Heater Blower Motor

The final piece for the heater blower motor is done! I've been waiting for the back plate of the blower to be returned from the sandblasting facility, and now it has 2 coats of the black POR-15 rust preventative paint on it to match the rest of the heater box. I'm just waiting for one more component of the heater box to be completed before reassembling the whole contraption. See the big difference in the before-after photos below:

Before:	After:
Before:	After:

Heater Control Valve & Heater Fan Motor

I finally have the heater control valve and the heater fan motor sorted out. I've been working on these two components for weeks, a half-hour here, a half-hour there - just whenever I have the time. The foam gasket had melted all over the heater control valve causing a tremendous mess, and the pipes had been painted over. Quick work with the Dremel rotary tool revealed a pleasant surprise - copper pipes on the heater control valve! All the moving parts and internals were also cleaned up using electronic contact cleaner and Q-tips. Why the electronic contact cleaner? There are no electrical parts in the heater control valve, but the electronic contact cleaner was all I had so I decided to give it a try. It works great, especially in dissolving the melted foam away. All it needs now is some machine oil on the moving parts and it's good to go.

Heater Control Valve - Before:

Heater Control Valve - After:

A few weeks ago, while disassembling the heater core, I discovered that the capillary sensor cable from the heater control valve was broken. Turns out that this heater control valve must have been a replacement unit at some point in the Volvo's life as it has a capillary sensor that is still in tact. The first photo above shows this capillary sensor cable with the "bulb" on the end. The theory is, the capillary cable has ether in it which expands as it exposed to heat, and thereby toggling the valves to open or close slightly to regulate the flow of heated coolant through the heater core. Well ... I've read some feedback on the 1800list that this whole contraption never really worked that well anyway in "automatically" regulating heat, and you're better off just regulating it manually via the heater control cables. I decided to put this to the test and submerged the capillary sensor cable into a pot of water over the stove and slowly heating the water to a boil. Yup - doesn't work at all! Don't bother routing it back inside the heater box where it originally belongs. Just roll the capillary sensor cable up into a neat coil, and tuck it out of sight when replacing or reinstalling the heater control valve. You'll pass out from heat exposure long before the heater control valve decides to work auomatically - case closed!

Heater Fan Motor - Before:

Heater Fan Motor - After:

The heater fan motor - now this thing was a piece of work! Everything had siezed up! The fan would not rotate and there was a thick layer of dirt on everything. I emptied half a spray can of electronic contact cleaner into this sucker before things started moving again. Q-tips ... lots and lots of Q-tips - that's all I have to say. I need to get some machine oil in it to lubricate the moving parts and I won't know for sure if it's going to work until I hook it back up to the car, but I have a feeling this one's going to be a winner!

Heater Screws, Nuts, And Bolts

Bought a whole bunch of stainless steel screws, nuts, bolts, washers, and radiator hose clamps for the heater box from the neighborhood Ace Hardware store. This store is turning out to be a great source for miscellaneous restoration hardware! I was even able to find replacements for the nylon bushings that I lost. The original nylon bushings were used to secure the heater vent spindle to the heater box ... and I didn't actually lose them, as I know exactly where they went - disintegrated during the sandblasting process when I left them attached! The original bushings are no longer produced of course, but the replacements that I found for them are called "expansion nuts". They are made of rubber with the metal "nut" part embedded in one end as depicted in the photo below on the right. I found that the size 8-32 were a perfect fit both on the outer diameter for the holes in the heater box as well as the inner diameter for the spindle. The nut part had to be cut away from the expansion nut, leaving only the rubber sleeve for the vent spindle to freely thread through.

New Hardware for Heater & Radiator:

Customizing New Spindle Bushings:

Pictured below is the half-painted heater box showing the 2 holes on both ends for the vent spindle. The photo on the right shows the installed modified expansion nut with the spindle threaded through. With some new flat washers and "D" style clamp washer to hold it all in place, it should be good to go!

Holes for Heater Vent Spindle:

Retrofitted Replacement Bushing :

Painting The Heater Box

The following are before-and-after photos of the heater box after sandblasting. The POR-15 rust preventative paint adheres best to bare metal so instead of wasting weekends sandpapering the old paint by hand, I paid a shop in town $30 bucks to sandblast the heater box and the air intake duct. That grey finish on the heater box after sandblasting isn't any kind of coating - it's what the bare metal looks like.

Heater Box Before Sandblasting:

Heater Box After Sandblasting:

The night before, I had to "MacGyver-up" some home-made daubers to paint the insides of both the hinges for the defrost and floor heater vents. Cannibalizing the foam from a regular foam brush, I glued the smaller strips of foam to a bunch of wooden coffee stirrers from Starbucks, clamped the ends with clothes pegs and allowed them to cure overnight. Worked like a charm! The photos below show one of the vent hinges, the donor foam brush, a dauber being cured, and a finished bunch of daubers.

Home-Made Daubers:

Home-Made Dauber in Action:

During the sandblasting process, I left the nylon bushings for the heater vents on the heater box, and these ... I found out the hard way, disintegrated in the process! I'll have to fashion up some sort of replacement to get the vents to work properly as the original parts are no longer available ... and have been for a long while! I was only able to paint the insides of the heater box this weekend as I have to wait for them to dry before I do the outsides. Besides, I'm running out of POR-15 and have to order a fresh batch. The good thing is they sell the stuff in a "starter kit" that has a 4 oz. can of POR-15, 2 small bottles of marine clean and metal-ready, a couple of brushes and a pair of latex gloves - just enough product to do the entire 3-step rust-stopping process for the small jobs that I've been tackling.

Nylon Bushing for Heater Vent:

POR-15 Curing in the Backyard:

Air Intake Baffle & Radiator Fan Shroud

I started this weekend's project by repainting the plastic air intake baffle (that diverts air via the cowl vent from the hood of the Volvo to the heater box) and the radiator fan shroud.

Air Intake Baffle - Before:	Air Intake Baffle - After:
Radiator Fan Shroud - Before:	Radiator Fan Shroud - After:

Heater Seals & Gaskets

This is what $85 bucks worth of rubber seals and foam gaskets look like. On the left, from top to bottom is the heater flap gasket, defrost flap gasket, gasket for heater control valve, and the drain tube for the heater box. Right down the center are the three rubber bushings for the radiator mounts. On the right, from top to bottom is the seal for the cowl air intake duct, seal between the heater box and cowl intake duct, and lastly the gasket for the blower motor. The heater box and cowl air duct are currently in the shop being sandblasted to stip off the old paint. I'm hoping they'll be ready by tomorrow so that I can have them repainted this weekend.

Radiator & Heater Core Restored

Just got the radiator and heater core back from the shop. They were cleaned, checked for leaks, and painted. Aside from being rather clogged up, there were no leaks. Here are some before-and-after shots. I even bought a new cap for the radiator.

Heater Core - Before:	Heater Core - After:
Radiator - Before:	Radiator - After: