Mileage: 88,493
The A/C Duct Housing is one of those parts that always gets broken in Firebirds. I don’t know if it has something to do with the location, the original construction, or just bad engineering by GM. It seems the front mounting holes break away from the rest of the case and crack the plastic around them. Mine was no exception to this defect. In fact, mine had been repaired previously by melting a star washer into the plastic were the original mounting tab would have been (see below picture). This part is reproduced and is about $100 from any of the major part suppliers. However, I had a couple ideas in my head that would allow me to repair my current piece and save about $95 doing so.
First, I got the entire unit cleaned both inside and out. Next, I took two paint sticks and two small C-clamps and sandwiched the hollow area of plastic where the mounting tabs are located. Then, from the inside of the unit, I sprayed a low expansion aerosol spray foam into the hollow area. When the foam did expand, it expanded out the cracks around the mounting tabs and into the actual box.
The spray foam didn’t expand far enough into the duct to even justify trying to trim it. After the spray foam dried, I took my rotary tool, and cut a small 1/8” slit into the plastic/spray foam around the original mounting hole. This 1/8” slit is just wide enough to slip a fender washer into. I then took hot melt glue and glued the fender washer to the case and filled in all the cracks. I finished it up by painted the fender washer and hot melt glue black. I also installed new foam insulation around the opening to the heater box. When everything was dry, it looked as good as new. I’m not sure how it will hold up, but it seems to be a huge improvement over what was there and it only cost me a $5 can of spray foam!
2 comments:
Photos complete with your Diet Mountain Dew!
Can't do a car project with refreshments!
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