I just received a new evaporator from Late Model Restoration and the thing doesn't match the evaporator that came out of the car. The new one is too big to fit. WTF???? I bought an evaporator off Vinnie before I bought this one. His evaporator was the same dimensions as the one that arrived today and wouldn't fit either. He was nice enough to take it back from me.
My car has ATC. I wonder if ATC cars use smaller evaporators than manual temp control cars, or something. I just don't understand this. It shouldn't be this hard to find an evaporator that fits. :(
There was a factory ford NOS evaporator the other day on Ebay for our cars. It was less than $50.00 plus shipping.
I'm nervous about trying to buy it Vinnie. I'm afraid it won't fit for whatever reason.
So you can see what I'm dealing with here, I attached pics comparing the evaporator that came out of the car with the new one that's supposed to fit, but doesn't. The pictures clearly show that the old evaporator is taller than the new one. What might not be so clear from the pics, is that the old evaporator is a good half inch thinner than the new one. The old one is also about an inch shorter (lengthwise) than the new one.
I'm shocked I'm the first person here to have these problems:considering how many guys here have replaced their evaporators. My car is a Turbo Coupe and the only thing I can think of that would cause all these problems is the fact the car has ATC. I've seen it said before on here that our cars are supposed to use the same evaporator that Stangs use. That must only be the case if you have a MTC-equipped T-Bird, or Cat.
Hrmmm...I've never heard of a difference before.
FWIW, I did a quick check and discovered that, at least on Auto Zone's and O'Reilley's sites, there is a different part number for a Cougar/T-Bird vs. a Mustang.
Don't know anything beyond that.
I don't know about the evap but when I replaced my heater core it did not want to fit either. I had to do some serious rednecking to get it to work properly but it wasn't nearly this bad.... This doesn't seem right. If your parts store carries them in stock, I would ask them to bring me a Mustang one and a Tbird one and see if either one are the right size before buying...
Thanks for looking that up Eric. That has to be my problem. I read that Stangs and our cars use the same evaporators so many times, I took it as gospel. They MUST be different. I hope anyone who plans on replacing one in the future sees this thread and saves themselves all this grief. At least I know now what the problem was.
THANK YOU Eric!
My local Auto Zone can have one there for a T-Bird in 2 days. That's what I'm gonna do. That way I can take the old one with me to verify the new one matches.
Well, I did some digging and found out that our cars take a Ready-Aire 6119N Evaporator. Other companies like Everco sell it under the part# 54551. Be warned! Everco part# 54531 evaporators DON'T fit our cars. Advance Auto and Auto Zone seem to only carry evaporators (part# 54531) for Mustangs. They claim they will fit our cars, but the will not. Thanks to Vinnie's help, I found out that Ready-Aire 6119N Evaporators are available on Ebay for less than $40! These units are designated as fitting T-Birds, Cougars and Mark 7's. When I checked this part# for fitment on Mustangs, I got a "will not fit" reply, so that must be the right part.
Thanks again guys for your help. I'm SO glad it looks like this problem is solved. What a night mare!
Only Ford, in its infinite wisdom, would put a different evaporator in a T-bird/Cougar/Mark VII than in a Mustang...
Keep us posted on the final outcome....great reference information.
I agree Thunderjet. It's crazy that Ford would complicate things like that unneccessarily.
Rod, the one I bought off Ebay should be here this week. I'll definitely let you know how it works out.
Well... I went to a boneyard today that had an 88 Cougar and learned something the hard way. I pulled the dash out of it and removed the top half of the HVAC box, because the lid that covered my evaporator is too small to cover the hole I cut to try and fit the larger evaporator into my HVAC box.
When I got home with the top half of the Cougar's HVAC box, I could see that it was different than the one my TC came with. The HVAC box from the Cougar appeared to be properly sized to accommodate the Mustang-style evaporator I sent back to Late Model Restoration. Apparently, T-Birds and Cougars with manual temperature controls use a different evaporator than Cats/Birds with automatic temperature controls. The Cougar I found today had manual controls.
Ain't that some Sh•t????
I'm gonna have to head back out tomorrow and hunt for an ATC-equipped Cat/Bird. :(
Then I'll have to re-sell mine. WOO-HOO !!!!
I saw that you already created an ad for it on the big Stang forum. :)
So Electronic Climate Control equipped T-birds and Cougars used the Mark VII style evap and regular T-birds and Cougars used the Mustang style evap? I *guess* that makes sense.
Heck yeah. Get that thing a home !!!
Yea. That seems to be how ford did it. Same car, two different evaporators were used.
I hope you find a home for it soon. I'll tell you what surprised me. I had that dash pulled back and HVAC box out of the Cougar at the boneyard in no time. I'll be even faster next time.
Stands to reason the evap's would be different between manual and EATC systems...everything else is, lol.
Wish I still had my old EATC setup stuff...I would have gave you the evap, for the cost of shipping. Ahh well, can't beat a new one. Glad to see that you're getting back in business. :)
I'm so pissed!!!! The evaporator I ordered off Ebay that's described as fitting T-Birds, Cougars and Mark 7's is the same one everyone else has sent me. It's the one Mustangs and manual climate control Birds use!!!!!!!!!!!! I've wasted $45 f@@@@@@ dollars in shipping evaporators back to sellers because they're the wrong one. Since I have the heater box out of the car, I wanted to put a new heater core AND a new evaporator in it before I put everything back together. Because of this BS with not being able to find the right f@@@@@@ one, I had to drive 150 round trip miles to get a new lid for my heater box from a junk yard.
If you have auto temperature controls and your evaporator is bad, take it from me. Fill the piece of s@@@ with concrete and roll your windows down. You won't be able to find a new one.
Umm... What I think I'm trying to say here guys, is that I really need a hug right now. :(
Look on Ebay for someone selling Mark VII or Turbo Coupe parts. Send them a private message and ask if they still have the car they're selling the parts from, then ask about the evaporator.
I'm just gonna clean the old one the best I can and reuse it. The one I get from someone else wold probably require more work to clean than mine would.
This is NOT good news. Cuz I just ordered the evaporator core from RockAuto for my EATC TurboCoupe!!!!! I sure hope it is the right one.
Take it to a radiator shop and see if they can re-core it.
Well... The nightmare continues. I found a leak in my evaporator today when I was cleaning it out. Looks like I'm gonna have to get the used one out of the Mark 7 I saw at the junkyard the other day and clean it out. :(
Well, be patient, it'll work out. I hope the Mark VII piece will work.
Will do. :)
Vic, I just received my NEW evaporator core from RockAuto.com. Check it out!
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i153/jdschrader/TurboCoupe/TC039.jpg)
I can't tell from the pic. Does it match the one from the car? Which one did you order from them? They have 3 different ones to choose from.
It was RockAuto Four Seasons 54551...
1988 MERCURY COUGAR LS 5.0L 302cid V8 MFI (F) OHV
FOUR SEASONS 54551 A/C Evaporator Core 67.79
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i153/jdschrader/TurboCoupe/TC038.jpg)
It was RockAuto Four Seasons 54551...
1988 MERCURY COUGAR LS 5.0L 302cid V8 MFI (F) OHV
FOUR SEASONS 54551 A/C Evaporator Core 67.79
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i153/jdschrader/TurboCoupe/TC038.jpg)
The evaporator I ordered from the Ebay vendor was a "Ready Air" brand, part # 54551 unit. I ordered the 54551 because 54531 evaporators are for Stangs and MTC TBirds. That me off I ordered the correct part # and STILL didn't get the right one. Thanks for updating me, but I installed a used one today I got from a Mark 7. I bought it and cleaned it yesterday and installed it today. The car is all back together now, so this nightmare is behind me. THANK GOD!
I'm glad things went smoother for you than they did for me.
That is great for you. What did you do for the foam surround?
I just left the foam surround on the evaporator since it didn't require too much external cleaning. I blew it dry and then used "A/C Flush" to clean the inside of it. I blew out the passages and then put it in the box. I used NAPA-brand seam sealer to seal up the lid. Don't use Advance Auto's, or Auto Zone's seam sealers. They're much harder to work with.
I checked the box the (wrong) evaporator came in. It is a 4-seasons evaporator, so I should have gotten the same one you did Shredder.