Cascade Crew

Al Hasse · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 4:52 pm Post subject: A little interior work

I decided to dig into the heater box of the 92 and see what's up with the blend doors. Using the box kurfbird sold me as a guide, I think I've found the problem. There are two doors on a common shaft which had come unseated on the bottom of the box. These two are the lower zone and the heat/defrost doors, misaligned doors bound up and air flow was all wrong. One of the tabs (with screw hole) had broken of the cover of the box near the shaft, allowing it to pop out of its hole. I have a temporary (semi-permanent Laughing

) fix with zip ties to hold the two pieces together. I'm at the point now where reassembly starts, but that's for tomorrow and Monday.

Here's what I look like now Shocked

flea · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:06 pm Post subject:

I'm confused. Are you saying that its not supposed to look like that??
Cause if thats what your saying then mine has got a problem...

cameron7710 · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject:

i hate having to deal with the heater box since i replaced my heater core last year im to big to fit under the dash Laughing

Al Hasse · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:26 pm Post subject:

flea · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:33 pm Post subject:

I'm 5'9" 220. checking fuses sucks. I got to where it is faster and a whole lot easier to just pull the whole fuse block and look for the bad one.
BTW on a related note, any one that wishes to replace the headliner, really, honestly, and no joking here, disconnect the battery before trying to pull retaining clip from the dome light. Otherwise you will be trying to shove yourself under the steering wheel AGAIN. And for a short fat guy like me its ugly.

Al Hasse · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:52 pm Post subject:

This is the box I got from kurfbird. Those two doors in the center are what were messed up. What fun it was to line up that shaft all the while lying on my back with feet over the seats Shocked

BTW, if anyone needs a heater core, there is on in this box. It's airtight, but has something rattling around (scale) in the tank opposite the inlet/outlet tubes.

Richster · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:16 pm Post subject:

OMG...AL... you wild man you!
Just looking at the tear down is scary, and me at 6'4"...no thanks!
it's all i can do to try to be a Contortionist under the dash, let alone
rip the thing apart...Ouch!
It looks like you have it in control, and on it's way to new life! Thumbs up

Nice job! and great creativity on the zip ties!

Al Hasse · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:25 pm Post subject:

Thanks, sometime in the not-so-near future I may be using the cover from the other box I have. It has all the tabs for the screws to secure it to the other half, but that means a little more disassembly than today. What's more fun is I have about 10 times more wire in there than the average 3rd gen and they all get in the way. Tomorrow, I get to figure out where they all go again Shocked

but fortunately most are tagged or have a unique connector.

Richster · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:48 pm Post subject:

Well the crew down here tells me that you are the electronic KING!
El-Kingo...of...Electronico's...ElDaMan of Wires'by~da_handesfullest! Very Happy

chevymad · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 1:02 am Post subject:

My heater has exactly the same problem Al. I can pop that shaft back into place.. and it stays for awhile.. Then pretty quick the defrost barely works and the air keeps coming out of the vents. I looked at the repair.. but didnt want to tear the whole dash out to get to it.

Al Hasse · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:54 pm Post subject:

Well, my not-so-near future ended up to be the very-near future. After I got it mostly together, I had hardly any defrost and air blowing all over. So I tore it apart even farther and replaced the piece that the door hinge shafts are attached to. What a job Shocked

and I thought a heater cor was tough Laughing

Now I need to reassemble everything and hopefully have it all work Cool

This is the piece I had to replace, it fits between the heater box and the vent/defrost ducting. There's supposed to be a tab on the lower right for a screw to secure it to the box, with the free play by the broken piece, the hinge shaft kept popping out of its slot in this piece.

This is where I'm at now, lots of work to go on reassembly...

Al Hasse · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:46 pm Post subject:

Before getting all together, I checked out how the HVAC system works. Still some problems, but the doors operate smoothly. Selected to defrost, no other air comes out - good, selected to heat, air comes out the vents - not so good, selected to vent, air comes out the floor and defrost vents - not so good. I vacuum checked the doors and they operate with the actuators. Only thing left is the vacuum selector switch which came from the junk yard quite some time ago. Is there a difference in these switches between A/C and non-A/C cars? This thing acts like it skips a few modes.

I have most of the dash back together now. The console is still out, so that's for tomorrow or weekend after dyno Cool

flea · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:06 pm Post subject:

no not weekend after dyno. I was looking forward to seeing that car in person. Yours is perhaps the best looking car I've seen in a long time, I use it for inspiration on mine I was really looking forward to seeing the color in person.

these people can help Smile

Al Hasse · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject:

You'd have missed out anyway. Plan was to bring the red 89 all along to see what little gains I get after minimal modding. Razz

This one makes most of the gatherings hosted down that way, and since I have a habit of making it to almost every one, you'll have your chance Razz

flea · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:21 pm Post subject:

well ok then. but that purple one gets me all excited. Don't get me wrong I like mine too, but it looks a little like Shrek is all.

83Z28BlackBetty · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:59 pm Post subject:

HAHA Nice one Al! I need to do something to mine in the future. I don't think my box switches between any of them! I'll be sure to consult you for advice with i tackle that project.

For now i'm just trying to keep the thing running Laughing

~JAKE

Al Hasse · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:57 pm Post subject:

I figured out what was wrong!!! Very Happy

But I still need to find a vacuum switch. the thing installs two ways, one of which is correct Smack!

I just temporarily checked mode operation and air comes out correctly for each mode. I'll assemble the rest tomorrow and worry about that vacuum switch when I pick one up.

Al Hasse · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:48 am Post subject:

It's mostly together now. All of the console is in with HVAC, Stereo headunit and all covers. Still need to put the dashboard on and the passenger side hush panel (knee bolster??). Everything works!!! Only issue I have with HVAC is when on HEAT and want to go to DEFROST next door, I have to go back to VENT first to get the doors to operate (small leak I suspect). Other than that, all modes work properly Get down and Boogie!

What's left other than that is to get my radio presets, memory functions, and audio levels back to where they were.

blue89 · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:38 pm Post subject:

Woot! Nice job. I don't envy you at all. I think if that ever happens to me I'll just an aluminum dash in....

Al Hasse · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:41 pm Post subject:

All together now. Works like a champ. Now I'm sore in places that I forgot I had places Laughing

Real test comes in the morning when I drive the 20 miles to Kingston to go to work.