Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (Heater Box & Heater Core Assembly)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

The heater box itself was a mess.  It was covered in 31 years of dust and grime plus had residual coolant in it from when the heater core was leaking.  After I spent a couple hours scrubbing and cleaning the heater box, it was time for reassembly! 

 

I purchased the new heater core from O’Reilly Auto Parts for $25.99.  It slipped right in without any problems.  I used some high temperature, high density foam pipe insulation I got from Home Depot to duplicate the deteriorated foam on both the inlet and outlet tubes of the heater core seen HERE.  As I continued with the reassembly, I replaced all the foam gaskets and seals with self adhesive foam insulation strips I also purchased from Home Depot.  The last thing to get replaced was the brittle red vacuum line sticking out from the top of the heater box seen HERE.  After about an hour of reassembly and refurbishing, I had the heater box back together and ready to be put back in the car!

Since I was very close to getting the heater box and heater core back in the car, I need to evaluate the heater hoses.  They both had to be cut off the heater core since they were original and very brittle.  After cutting the ends, there was not enough length to reconnect them.  Since I had everything out and apart anyway, it made total sense to just replace the hoses too!  I went with the regular standard black heater hose that I purchased from O’Reilly Auto Parts.  To be totally factory correct, you would need to find heater hose that had three small grooves running the length of the hose.  Not many vendors carry this hose (Ames Performance Engineering does!) and they usually charge about $5 a foot for it (you need two, four foot lengths to do both hoses!).  My total cost for the heater hoses was a little over $10!

Since I still wanted/needed to flush and fill the coolant in the Trans Am, I decided to reinstall the heater box and new heater core and just not hook up the heater hoses.  I didn’t want any of the crud that was possibly in the coolant system to get stuck in the new heater core and ruin it, so we would just bypass it when we do the flush and fill.  The installation went about the same as the removal, a lot of rotating, pushing, and pulling and it slipped right in!  I reinstalled all the bolts and nuts that hold the heater box to the firewall, hooked up the vacuum lines, and hooked up the temperature control linkage.  It was nice being on the road to getting the car back together!

Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (Heater Box Removal & Carpet Colors)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

Now that the inner fender well is out of the way, I can actually move onto the task of getting the heater core out.  The heater core is held inside case called the heater box.  The heater box is behind the dashboard and takes up about 40% of that area.  It contains two vacuum actuators that control vent doors and a linkage that controls the temperature blend door.  All of the duct work that directs the air in the car is attached to the heater box.

I have to admit, I didn’t do a very good job documenting the removal of the heater box with pictures, but I will do my best to go over each step.  The first thing that needed to come out is all the vents.  These ran under the entire dash board.  They probably all didn’t need to come out, but since I was replacing the carpet, I figured it would be easier to have them out of the way.  Next, you have to disconnect the three vacuum lines and the temperature control linkage.  Next, disconnect the heater hoses running to the heater core from the engine.  Finally, you need to remove about six or seven bolts and nuts actually holding the heater box to the firewall.  Some of these you access from the inside of the car, the other you access from the engine side.  After you get the heater box removed from the firewall, you need to rotate, push, and pull and the heater box can be removed from under the dashboard!

 

After the heater box was removed, four more screws held the heater core back plate on, and another three which held the blend door panel assembly in place and the heater core could be pulled right out.  You can see by the pictures below, the heater core was in bad shape!

 

After I pulled the heater core out of the heater case, it marked a good point in this project; all the disassembly was complete!  After the heater box was removed, I set up the box fan again inside the car to finish drying out the firewall pad.  I used a couple scrap pieces of wood to hold the pad away from the firewall so the air would get behind it.

 

I also took this time to start checking out the carpet I purchased.  Over a year ago, I bought the replacement carpet I needed from F-Body Warehouse in Dunlap, TN.  I purchased the “Carmel” colored carpet because I knew I didn’t have the lighter “Camel Tan” colored carpet in my vehicle.  When the “Carmel” carpet came, it was not a good match, so I returned it and got the “Camel Tan" color.  This wasn’t a 100% match, but was closer than the “Carmel.”  Well, after I got the original carpet out and hung it up, I started to look at the areas that were covered up by the console and trim pieces and have never seen sunlight or dirt.  After a short evaluation, it was obvious the “Camel Tan” was not going to be the correct color either.

The above carpet samples were provided to me by Auto Custom Carpets, Inc., which is the company that manufactures the molded replacement carpet for the Trans Am and almost every other vehicle on the road today.  The samples are (from left to right): #7037 Camel Tan, #854 Carmel, #7087 Doeskin, #7295 Medium Doeskin.  Since none of these colors were close, I called ACC and they had me send them a piece of my carpet which they will compare against the colors they have to offer and send me back the samples that matched the best.

Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (Inner Fender Well)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

With the interior totally removed, I shifted my focus to the heater core.  The main instructions I was using were again from my Trans Am Forum, 78ta.com, and can be read HERE.  After reviewing these steps many times, I determined the next step I needed to take was removing the right side inner fender well.  This involved jacking up the car, removing the wheel, and removing about 12 bolts and nuts.  I also loosened the bottom of the actual fender, which involved two more bolts.  After the fender itself was loose, the inner fender well could be rotated out and removed from the car!

After the inner fender well was out of the way, you have total access to the blower motor, heater core hoses, and heater box bolts!  I think it was a good call on removing the inner fender well!

Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (Carpet History)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

After finally getting the carpet out, I felt that simply throwing it away before I got the new carpet installed would not be a good idea, so I decided to hang it from the garage shelving to get it out of the way.  When I did, the part of the carpet that is between the two rear seat buns flopped forward and I noticed a label on it.

 

The label was actually the manufacturers identification label from when the carpet was produced/installed originally back in 1979!  I removed the label and saved it along with a piece of the original carpet.

Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (No More Carpet)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

Even though most of the interior was out, I still needed to get the carpet removed.  Before getting the carpet out, I opted to remove the driver’s side kick panel.  This doesn’t need to be done to get the carpet out because the old carpet will slide out from under it and the new carpet will slide right back in, but this panel was one of the panels that was faded and needed to be re-dyed. 

Actually removing the panel was easy, but getting the emergency brake out of the way so the panel would come off was a real pain.  It consisted of removing two bolts on the inside (one of which was hidden), one nut, two nuts from the engine side of the firewall, and the release cable.  Even after all of that, it wasn’t totally able to be removed, it was just loose enough to swing out of the way and remove the kick panel.  I also removed the transmission gear indicator light wiring harness and the vacuum actuator cover from the passenger side kick panel, but left the panel in place.

Now that the kick panel and wiring issues had been dealt with, before I remove the carpet, I wanted to make sure and take some good pictures of the way the original carpet was cut and installed.

 

 

 

The next step was an easy and rewarding one, pulling out the old carpet!  You can see how faded it really was if you look at the areas around the edges and where the center console was!  After I got it out of the way I did a quick evaluation of the carpet pad.  As I assumed, the carpet pad directly under the heater core (passenger side foot well area) was soaked with coolant.  The firewall pad was also damp.  So, to get this area dry, I removed the carpet pad and cleaned up the area under it.  I then set up a small box fan to get some air movement in the foot well area.  The soaked carpet pad was allow to spend many days drying in the sun and with a box fan blowing on it.

 

I was really happy with how far I got with the disassembly just after two days working on it!  I never would have guessed it would have gone so easy!  Now that the interior is out, I can start on the heater core!

Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (Tear Down)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

I didn’t really have a set plan when I started this project.  I knew I needed to disassemble the interior and replace the heater core.  I figured the best plan was to get everything interior related removed and out of the way so I wouldn’t make a mess of anything when it came to removing the heater core.  So, on a rainy Father’s Day weekend, I started to take apart the 31 year old interior of my dream car!

 

I had a system figured out how I would take my time with each part I removed, carefully photographing it, bagging and labeling the hardware, then storing it so it wouldn’t get damaged.  This system worked great!  The other advantage I had was that I had read so many posts on my favorite Trans Am Forum, 78ta.com, I was almost like an old pro and this was the first Trans Am I had taken apart!

The disassembly went in the following order: rocker panel sill plates, seat belt seat retainers, seat belts, front passenger seat, rear lower seat buns, center console, front driver’s seat, T-Top corner trim piece, rear seat back, rear headliner window trim, upper seat belt covers, coat hooks, interior sail panel, and the lower rear interior quarter panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep!  That is one of the original build sheets for my car!

 

I was very pleased to find one of the original build sheets for my car, safely tucked into the rear seat back frame by some nice automotive assembly worker from Van Nuys, California!  I am very fortunate that this is the third complete build sheet I have for my car.  The other two came with all of the original paperwork when I purchased my car from the original owner.  I carefully removed this copy and placed it with the others.

The entire disassembly of the interior (minus the carpet and front kick panels) only took about three hours.  It went very smooth, everything was well documented, nothing broke, and there were no surprises!

Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (Game Plan)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

I know.  It has been almost three months since I have posted.  It’s not like I haven’t had stuff going on, because it has been a great summer, but I just haven’t had a ton of time time to update my blog.  As I type this it is actually August 19th, 2011 but it shows that this post is in June.  Why is that?  Well, in order to best document my massive Trans Am project this summer, I need to do it in chronological order, and since this is the first post of the series, I need it to be first!  Get it?!

 

As I have mentioned a few times before, the heater core on the Trans Am was leaking.  This was causing coolant to leak on the inside and outside of the vehicle.  After driving it a couple times this year, I came to the conclusion that as much as I didn’t want to, I needed to stop driving the Trans Am and fix the heater core.  The main issue with this repair is you have to disassemble a good part of the interior to get to the heater core itself.  This lead me to my next problem.  The interior on the Trans Am is 95% original, (only the headliner had been replaced prior to me owning it) and in very good condition.  However, after 31 years, it is beginning to show its age.  A few of the plastic interior panels had begun to deteriorate and become “chalky,” some other panels were faded and needed to be re-dyed, the carpet was worn, and the seats could use new upholstery.  So, since I was taking a good part of the interior apart anyway, I figured I might as well do the interior restoration I have been putting off for a couple years now!  The nice part is that I have been obtaining all the parts that I would need to do this over the past couple years!

 

Here it begins!