Yep, I replaced my heater core the other day…. What fun! It really wasn’t that bad thanks to Eric’s write up on the cool cats site. I couldn’t have done it without that. I never would’ve found the nut above the steering column. I didn’t have to remove my console. I just took the top bolt out of my shifter handle and laid it back and lifted the dash and laid it on top of the shifter. I can see how it would be a much more involved job with a floor shifted auto trans. The shifter would definitely have to be removed and the console would have to be removed to get to the shifter. The only place where mine differed from the cool cats write up is where it says there is a 3rd bolt below the heater box near the tranny tunnel. My 86 TC didn’t have that. It has 2 studs that go through the firewall and are attached on the outside with nuts (circled in the pics). My 87 sport is the same way so it’s not just a TC thing. If you’re doing a heater core on an 86-88 non ACC unit look for these studs on your firewall.
Freakin Ford just had to line the flapper door with foam… Idiots! I couldn’t remove it or dry it very well. Geuss what it’s soaked with? That’s right, antifreeze! So even though I have a good core now I still get to smell antifreeze for the next 6 months until it totally dries out… goodie!
Anyway, enjoy the pics…
i just removed the whole assembly, and through it in the trash. :dunno:
I've done it twice.I hope I never have to do it again.
Heheh, I get off work at 5am... It's been pretty cold already (even in TX). I need my heat! It's bad enough not having AC in the summer.
Some people have reported not having that lower bolt on the casing. I know my car ('86 5.0, manual a/c) definitely had it, which is why it was included in the article. Figured it's better to put that in there and be wrong on a few cars, than for someone to say, "Hey, I did everything you said and the heater box still won't come out! You suck!" Because, as you know, people can be rather large idiots when it comes to taking things verbatim from the Internet. ;)
I also worked with the NATO guys to get full instructions from Turbo Coupe owners. It's more of a homogenization than anything, but again, it's better to cover all bases in my opinion. Anyhow, I'm glad it worked out for ya. That's what this community is all about.
I spent a few minutes looking for the following brace when I replaced the heater core on my cars.
(http://www.coolcats.net/tech/troubleshooting/images/bolt6.jpg)
Nowhere to be found. :hick:
As an aside, both of my cars 85/87 3.8L had the third fastener in the MVAC box.
I have the third nut (jeez, that sounds SO bad) errrr bolt. It won't tighten all the way just gets somewhat snug then spins back off if you try to tighten more....
That's weird, these cars are so random in the way they were put together. Maybe it's just a difference between how t-birds and cougars were assembled whether you end up with the 2 firewall studs or the "3rd nut"...