[V8] Heater Box Removal....AAGH!!!

[Klein, Nathan P]

The story continues:

Spent a cold and rainy Friday afternoon and evening getting apart the
heater box and exchanging the heater core.

Got it in, got the box back together, and ran out of daylight.

A beautiful Saturday came, and it was time to reinstall the box.  Much
to my amazement, it practically dropped in. Hooked up all the vacuum
lines, plugs, hoses. Started it up.  Well, needed a jump. Started it up
again.  Belched some smoke (hasn't been driven in almost two months),
but fired up.  You gotta love the unmistakable sound of a V8.  Sounded
good with the engine cover off.  It sounded even better after my alma
mater won a few minutes earlier.  :)

Then I smell antifreeze again.  Smoke from the bottom of the engine.
Look under the car, and it's bleeding antifreeze.  Not as much as
before, but still leaking.

"Crap," I thought.  Could it be the hoses are shot, and the exploded
heater core wasn't the whole issue?  What else could it be?  How much $$
are we talking?  

Agitated, I kick back and wonder what the car could possibly be worth in
this condition.  Or what I was going to have to spend tracking down and
fixing this problem.  Maybe it's the end of the road with this car and
it's off to the salvage yard.  Mope around for a few minutes,
contemplating the oil under my fingernails.

Decide to just call it a day, clean up, and head to the bar.

Sunday came, along with a cooler (and hurting) head.  Went back and made
sure that I clamped everything properly, and sure enough, the bottom
clamp leading to the heat exchanger was a little loose.  Three turns of
the scrwedriver, and I started her up again.

VROOM!

A few minutes went by.  No smoke or leaks.  10 minutes went by.  No
smoke or leaks.  Drive her to Autozone to get a bottle of gas stabilizer
(3/4 of a tank of two month-old gas is not good).  Put it in the tank.
No leaks.

HVAC is working properly.  Mad impressed about that.  Reassembling all
of the flaps, springs, levers, etc. made me mighty nervous.  Head for
the interstate.

Get on the interstate.  I've been driving a noisy Mustang the last two
months, so you forget how vault-quiet these things are.  I thought that
I was accelerating slowly, until I look down and I'm clocking 80 MPH.
It feels great.  Drove 50 miles with no problem.  

By now it was running very smoothly.  Although: it's still running a
little hotter than I'd like (got to about 110 degrees at a LOOOONG red
light).

Now I just need to get the little trim bits in place again.  WHHHHEW.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Nathan

-----Original Message-----
From: tlum at flash.net [mailto:tlum at flash.net] 
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 2:53 PM
To: "Klein>;<nathan.p.klein at lmco.com>"@mailgw3.lmco.com
Subject: Re: [V8] Heater Box Removal....AAGH!!!

Hi Nathan,

The box is attached to the firewall with an double adhesive gasket that
makes it difficult to lift out of the compartment, so it helps if you
run a rt. angle pick all around the perimeter of the heater box.  You
can use Home Depot 3/16 inch foam tape to replace the seal.

Have fun,

Tony
'83 urquattro
'87 5000tq