Necessary to take off hood for heater box removal?

[Vanhalen1985]

Trying to get the heater box out of my 72 and don't see any other way then to remove hood. Should I continue to remove hood or is their a trick I'm missing? I'm nervousness about it not lining back up if I remove it. Non AC.

[Sean1985]

I'm pretty sure you have to. I had to remove my hood hinge to access one of the bolts on my 67. And if it's not necessary it makes it a whole lot easier

[davepl]

If you do have to remove the hood, drill tiny 1/8" holes through the hinge and into the hood (in a place you can't see much). Then when you go to put it back, you can stick an awl through the hole to align the hood to the hinges.

[lha1992]

Pretty much you have to remove the hood. An oh yeah you might have to drop the inner fender too.

[FRANKENSTEINC10]

I had a much easier time with the hood off and the fender out of the way.

[AirSpeed]

I've pulled the heater box out of my 72 and my 69 with removing anything other than the bolts holding it on. Mine came right out with no issues at all. Didn't have to remove the hood or losen the fender at all.

[briank]

On my 70 I got away with dropping the pass side inner fender liner....its a bear, especially if youre hands arw big.

[KyFarm]

Originally Posted by FRANKENSTEINC10

I had a much easier time with the hood off and the fender out of the way.

this was my experience as well

[davepl]

But the best quality heater core you can. I should have had my factory one rebuilt, the one I got from LMC is cheaply made. Maybe NAPA has better stuff. But it's sure not a repair I'd like to make too often.

Also the new one I got was less substantial than the original so I had to "shim" it or pad it with wedges so it didn't rattle or move inside the heater box.

[Tx Firefighter]

I work alone so pulling a hood is a pain for me. I usually just prop the hood up with a prop rod of some kind and fold a blanket up and shove it between the cowl and hood, then remove the hinge. The prop rod holds the hinge up and the blanket protects the paint on the hood edge.

[lha1992]

Originally Posted by davepl

But the best quality heater core you can. I should have had my factory one rebuilt, the one I got from LMC is cheaply made. Maybe NAPA has better stuff. But it's sure not a repair I'd like to make too often.

Also the new one I got was less substantial than the original so I had to "shim" it or pad it with wedges so it didn't rattle or move inside the heater box.

DONT DO NAPA OR AN OF THE PARTS HOUSE BRAND CORES! Bought a napa one for my 72 tried installing it an the holders that hold the core in place would not fit right at all an was super tight an prolly woulda punctured the aluminum core so I went to action auto parts which you know got bought out by baxters an they had a Four Seasons copper core that looked like the original Harrison one an fit excellent!

[64chevtruck]

I just removed the heater box/Habi-trail from my 70 gmc today, comes right out just remove the bolts and screws from both sides, then stick your hand behind the hood hinge and push the heater box straight towards the driver side, It will slide right out.