69GMCLWB 396 A/C Question

[Wildbillvette]

Hello Guys,
Was going to install heater cutoff vacume valve on inner fender of my truck.
Looking in my shop manual it looks like its not supposed to have one. THere are no holes in the inner fneder but it has been replaced. looked on the heater control switch and it has a port or thee vacume hose to the valve but then again it has beeen replaced as well. There is no vacume line running from the control to where the valve would be on the inner fender. Anyone have a really original 69 396 w a/c that can tell me if there should be a heater control valve to shut off the hot water to the heater core when the A/C is turned on? I looked in my assy manual and 68's dont have the valve 72's do but I cant figure out what year it was added. I dont want to instll one if it wasn't there originally. Thanks in advance for any help.
Bill

[Longhorn Man]

I've had a 70 and a 72 with a/c a d they both had that cutoff in place.
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[FirstOwner69]

My original 69 Chevy CST/20 2WD has a 350 and A/C. I'm not sure if the 396 would be different in regards to the valve. I'd think not. Mine does have a valve. It is not attached directly to the inner fender. Rather, it just lies on it and is held tight by a heater hose clip that is used to hold the heater hoses tight to the inner fender adjacent to the valve. I bought a clip like this from Classic Industries. The clip is not screwed to the inner fender. It has two tabs on the back that are spread to secure it in a 5/16" or 3/8" round hole (I don't recall which size). I believe the 70-72s use a different valve that allows it to be attached directly to the inner fender. I'll attach a picture I took before I started my restoration. You can see the valve and clip (both rusty) just to the left of center near the bottom of the picture. Sorry it's not a better shot. I hope this helps.

[Wildbillvette]

Thats Great! DO you have any closer pictures of the valve because the one I got is the one with a bracket to attach to the inner fender and I would liie to find one like yours! Thanks again for the reply,
Bill

[FirstOwner69]

I don't have any closeups of the valve itself. The truck is now in pieces. I could take one in a couple days (the truck is 150 miles from me). However, my valve was replaced about 35 years ago. As I recall, the replacement valve had a slightly different appearance from the original even though it was a GM part installed by a Chevy dealer. For my restoration I bought a new one from Classic Industries. It is somewhat different from my current valve, but it looks like the pictures in most of the parts catalogs. I bought it 3 months ago for $29.99. They now list it at $60.99! I'll attach a link, but shop around. For example, LMC has an illustration of a valve that looks the same for $26.95. Their part number is 32-0653.

Link to Classic Industries part: http://www.classicindustries.com/truck/parts/17153.html

Link to LMC's part: http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/full.aspx?Page=118

One other thing. If you look at the picture I posted, you can see the vacuum line pass along then under the 3/4" heater hose from the water pump. it attaches to the side of the top of the valve which is partially hidden by the 3/4" hose. The main difference between my valve and the new ones is that the vacuum line enters fron the side of the valve body vs. entering from the end.