64-66 Heater Upgrade - Thrift Air -to- Deluxe

[Frizzle Fry]

Actually, it should be better than deluxe when done since I went with a stronger blower motor than orig.

So my trusty ol' heater stopped blowin hot air in EARLY JANUARY

Me being me couldn't just replace the blower motor ....no I had to tear the whole thing down.

One thing led to another, and through research on this site (some good and some bad advice, but we'll get to that), I ended up converting my Thrift-Air box to a Deluxe heater.

What's the difference?

Four (or five?) basic things:

1. Deluxe has a larger heater core
2. Deluxe has an extra air flap in the box to bypass the core (allows for temp modulation)
3. Deluxe has the three-lever control panel rather than the single twist/push-pull know of the thrift-air
4. Deluxe has a cable-operated defrost/foot-box lever
5. Deluxe has a larger blower motor? (research suggests)

Heater core diff:


Air Flap:
Thrift (no flap)


Deluxe:


Thrift Dash:


Deluxe Dash:



Since I had a Deluxe dash panel and plenum laying around, all I needed to do was to figure out how to add the air-flap, bigger core, and bigger motor to complete my conversion. Simple right..? (notice it's now late March )


Start the tear-down:


This rusty plate is the block-off plate used on Thrift-Air heaters to force the air through the heater core. The Deluxe version is movable via cable:




Another view of the block-off plate:


Here you can see the upper cast AL piece has been made for either small or large cores. In this case the small hole is opened for the non-deluxe core:










Re-form block-off plate on brake:


Welded to SST rod:




Test-fit of Deluxe core after opening the upper:








Deluxe plenum and controls - pics for reference:


























Control levers blasted, sanded, and ready for electro-plating:








Raw plating before polishing:




After a very quick polishing:




Another thread suggest you can use a late-70's to 80's A/C blower motor/fan. Well that didn't work for me. Fan was too tall (and plastic).

Here's what ended up working for me (and powerful)
Motor and fan P/N's:


Now the motor shaft was too long, but I used a combination of the fan's set-screw (enough to hold alone) and a nut/washer as a spacer to snug it down with the nut:


The assembly fit the housing like a dream:


Blasted parts ready for paint:








SPI Epoxy brewing:




Hung up to dry:


Reassembly:








I picked up all new stainless hardware at Ace. I'd come this far...




















New gasket RTV'd on:


Back in the truck! I had been working far too many hours at work since Jan and was tired of the cold commute, so I installed it without the Deluxe control panel and plenum just yet. But WOW, this thing puts out the heat!!! (and it's the best looking thing under the hood )


I'll update as the rest of it comes together.