Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

Today I found another heater box. Unfortunately Mel at ClassicBowtie didn't have one and after calling around and not having much luck I called All American Classics in Vancouver and for the first time ever they had what I wanted and more importantly they had it at a price I was willing to pay. First time in over 20 years of calling them.

I got a heater box out of a 67 $82 out the door. Unfortunately the Gunther who removed it cracked it but all the tabs are intact.

If anyone needs some 67 specific items I believe I got the first part off the truck. It is a low option truck so it has painted wing windows in okay condition. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it as they guy wanted me to make my decision so he could move on. They don't let you pull your own parts. Unfortunate for me as I wouldn't of cracked the box.

All in all it's not bad and definitely better than what I had. It got a bit of rust but I'm sure that will buff right out.

And of course the obligatory mouse nest complete with Hazelnuts.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by HO455

I got a heater box out of a 67 $82 out the door. Unfortunately the Gunther who removed it cracked it but all the tabs are intact.

Back in '95 I hit a deer in White Fang on US 80, doing 80 at night between Bisbee and Tombstone. Trashed my grille and D/S Headlight. Regulator burned out right after I got home to Tucson. Also thought Distributor shaft was bent, and Alternator fried with the Regulator. Neeeded new Batt too.
I found a good grille on a '68 Suburban at Jeff's Auto Parts in South Tucson [now long gone] for a good price. But they scared me how fast the junkyard kid used a cutting torch to dissect the '68 body to get my grille. It mounted very nicely on my '67 Sub. Only a small heat burn down low, under the Pass/Side parking lamp, where he wasn't careful. Biggest issue was discovering the Parking Light bucket pigtails were different. Rather than splice and solder, I reused my '67 buckets.
I was sorry they trashed a clean body '68 Suburban to get one part. I also got a clean tailgate [w/ SUBURBAN chromed badge] off that '68.

[HO455]

I just having to remind myself they didn't go to college and they're doing the best the can.

But now on to yesterday's progress. I disassembled and cleaned the replacement box. Getting the inner flapper out took some looking around here on the forum. But I eventually found a single post saying drive the pivot pin out of the flapper. So I used a small pin punch to get it started then I used an old extra long drill bit I got at a yard sale last year. Today it paid for itself by driving the pivot pin out of both heater boxes. (I disassembled both the new one and the old one as the new one has a pretty rusted inner panel. Photo #3) Photos #1 & 2. Green arrow pointing at the long bit I misused as a pin punch.

And lastly fresh from the sandblaster the tin bits. Ugg, more of the demon rust to do battle with.

[HO455]

Back on the box, I sanded the damaged areas with 80 grit then cleaned everything good before applying fiberglass resin and cloth. There were a couple of tabs that had some cracks so I V-ed them out in preparation for repair.

I used a cheap Evercoat kit from the local hardware store. I coated the areas with a good amount of resin trying to get it down into the cracks before laying the cloth over the surface.

The hole in the second photo is kind of odd. When I was scraping the remains of the rodent nest out the putty knife just pushed though the fiberglass like it was wet cardboard. My theory is that the urine from the rodent somehow dissolved the fiberglass. Has anyone else run across this phenomenon?

Anyway a bit of grinding with the Dremel removed the sketchy fiberglass and after putting some masking tape on the outside I was ready to make a mess. It's been a lot of years since I did any fiberglass work and I'm sure I didn't magically become neat and tidy with it. That is the reason there are no photos of the laying of the fiberglass.

[HO455]

After photos of applying the fiberglass. The last photo is of the outside of the box where the hole was. I ended up with 2 air bubbles or voids in the resin. I had to grind them out in preparation for the next step.

The 3rd photo shows how extensive the damage was. It didn't seem so bad when I first started cleaning but by the time I was done with preparing the area for repair it revealed that there was actually a 1/2" by 2" piece that was loose and could have been easily removed. Getting the resin into the cracks along with the mat and resin on the inside fused the pieces of the box back together.

[HO455]

With the structural issues repaired it's time to get things smoothed out and ready for painting. I used Kitty Hair as a filler putty to fill the low areas. Once that was done I used a bit of old school glazing putty to fill the pin holes and slight depressions.

The last photo shows the repair to one of the cracked tabs.

I would have gotten it painted today but my prep solv apparently evaporated out of the can. Now I know what tomorrow morning is going to involve.

https://www.evercoat.com/product/kitty-hair-quart/

[HO455]

I used Ospho on the interior panel and the inlet adapter piece. Unfortunately Ospho comes with poor instructions so it should always be used as per these directions from SPI.

http://www.spiuserforum.com/index.ph...ze-ospho.3973/

Photo shows the pieces after 24 hours and before replying Ospho and rinsing.

I also prepared the area on the cowl by using a Dremel to grind the rust pockets out. One favorable thing here is the rust pitting is from the engine side of the firewall. I inspected the back side with a mirror and there is only light surface rust there.