heater/ac unit rebuild. HEAT works! need cable help

[1971ford]

here is the rebuild process with pictures.

here it is right after i took it out of the bed of the truck after i got home from the junkyard:


a little bit of outside wiping (im going to give it a good scub to get the stuff that is hard to get off later)


this is the backside of the cover right after i took it off and before i cleaned it up.


the guts ( nice to see that its all there) i tested the fan and it works great!


the rusted thingy that was in the unit that i took apart


the newer looking thingy in better condition off of the stuff left of the old unit that was in my truck. so i put it in of course after i got new clips


the rusted parts that i didnt use (i had better of the same parts)


the guts with a little surface rust


the guts after sanding primering and a quck layer of paint


my truck got to see it all!


its not completely back together yet though. the cover is still off because i am getting new foam to cover the defroster doors because the old stuff is shredded. so all i have to do is bolt that on and then figure out how to wire it up. ill get started tomorrow on tracing wires.
thats it for now.
stay tuned! im going to need help. i just know it

[1971ford]

hey, what do you know, its a question! how surprising.
keith, i have some questions ( others may know and answere also, i was just reading keith's rebuild)
i was reading your rebuild on a identical unit and you said that your were going to reuse the evaporator but replace the hose things coming off of it for cautiousness. should i do this too? why replace them for caution? if i should repace where do i get them?
my evaporator looks fine and i am going to reuse but just dont know about the hose things from reading his rebuild.

oh and keith you might know this,
the gear on the vent adjuster, isnt touching the gear on the fins to make them move. i tried bending the middle vent bar with the adjuster on it, but couldnt because the fins were in the way, plus i dont want to break it. and tips?

thanks!!

[fordman]

i bet he meant the hoses to the compressor and the dryer. as far as adjusting those vents gears be very careful they aare fragile. the holding clips are not on those very good and could get broken and then youd have what i have junk vents.

[1971ford]

are you talking about a clip holding the gears on, or the clip that holds the whole vents in? because when i was taking the vents out, none of the screws would tighten back in so i used some super glue . the vents still go up and down and everything, there just in there for good now.

[fordman]

the clips that hold the vents in. i messed up one of mine when i had it apart.

[1971ford]

oh, my clips are perfectly fine. i just had to super glue the scews in tight.

[1971ford]

sort of a update: i organized the wiring on paper

from the looks of it, i dont have much to do! i though it would be worse. all i need to do is but a plug, a few end peices and some wire and hook it all up. should be done by this weekend. cant wait!
i checked out all my wiring and this is what i came up with. i printed the 69 ac heater diagram that is on this sight and i highlighted in orange the wires that i have. if the wire is cut (most are) then it ends in a T in the scaned picture. the wiring tawards the top i mostly have, i just didnt have enough time to trace (it was night when i was doing this with a flash light.)
here is the scan. i also i highlighted the switchs/plugs that i have.

[seattle67]

Ryan, you never fail to impress me. Good job!

[dbarker]

No kidding, your heading pedal to the floor towards an amazing truck that you will have brought back to life on your own.

That is something to be VERY proud of, especially at your age.

[flyboy2610]

You are going to have one nice truck by the time you are old enough to drive!
But perhaps the best part is the time you are spending with your dad. Enjoy those times. They pass so quickly.

[1971ford]

thanks for all the kind words!
i was planning on selling the truck a while back, but now that i have put so much time and the truck is turning out so nicely, and i am learning so much new stuff about cars, i have decided on keeping it hopefully until i can pass it on to my future kids.

oh and here is a small update:
i traced the wires out of the ignition and have the final draft of the highlightingness. the thing that troubles me the most, is that there is no yellow wire coming from the fuse box. here is the updated version. oh and where it says"not there" above the two plugs(letter A), are those plugs just on the 69 which is what diagram is of, or should the plugs be there on my truck? there arnt any plugs like that.but the wire just goes straight on to the ignition. AND where the question mark is, i couldnt find the splice (pretty sure its there though) but the wire goes into a bunch of tape in the right color and comes out in the right color sooo... its probably spliced somewhere in there like it should be.


oh and once i get the heater hooked up to all the wires and the new wires ill be putting in, i need to get a new ac compressor belt because my ac compressor is missing one.
it seems that when the PO took out the heater/ac he didnt want any of the extra wiring so he cut it all. oh well. shouldnt be too hard to get it all back together from looking at that diagram.

thanks guys!

[1971ford]

i was looking through the list of favorite sites that i had and i found this link. i just noticed that this one is heater and the other one is ac.
http://www.fordification.com/images/sch ... heater.jpg
well i printed this one out highlighted what i have just like the other one and noticed that EVERYTHING was highlighted exept for the little thingy on the end of one of the heater wires that screws into the firewall!!!
wow. that tells me what almost all the wires that hang loosesly under my dash are for! im excited.i didnt bother scanning since on ly one tiny thing wasnt highlighted.

i just noticed something. since all my wires for the heater arnt cut(except for the little scewythingy that goes into the firewall) can i go plug all the heater stuff up since i have it all ( i can find a little screwy thingy that goes into the firewall) and test out my heater without plugging the ac wiring up ? (id hook up the control cables as well)

and id have to put the heater hoses back into my truck but wow i can wait to test it.
it'll work right? without the ac wires....

[dbarker]

It should work without the AC wires, so long as you can power the blower and control it. Watch for leaks, nothing is worse than superheated coolant spraying everywhere.

[basketcase0302]

Ryan,
First I'll jump on board with those that have complimented you! Sure wish my son had taken an interest in learning to work on our trucks like you have. Truly an admirable thing in this day and age!:thup:

I'm an A/C guy, I don't have the factory A/C in my truck but have worked on a few of them.

i was reading your rebuild on a identical unit and you said that your were going to reuse the evaporator but replace the hose things coming off of it for cautiousness. should i do this too? why replace them for caution? if i should repace where do i get them?
my evaporator looks fine and i am going to reuse but just dont know about the hose things from reading his rebuild.

I would recommend at least pressure testing the evaporator while it's out of the truck as they're usually a pain in the rear to leak test once they're in the truck. A pressure test on the evaporator can be done several different ways. And yes, the hoses should be replaced. They typically have flare ends at the compressor and the evaporator that start leaking after years of use. If you can't find OEM replacement hoses, you would need to know the flare sizes at evap and comp.

Also in this picture:



Somebody please tell me if I'm wrong but there appears to be a damper missing, (attaches to the metal rod in the previous pics that has the bends on it). This damper is usually made of metal and I've seen them rust out before.
The damper typically does one of two things you might find important:
1)It changes the supplied air direction from defrost to blowing through the vents facing the driver.

or...

2)It changes the return air intake to the evaporator from being taken from outside or from inside the cab only.

Hope this helps.

Basketcase/Jeff

[1971ford]

hey thanks for the help! ill try to get the ac hoses replaced and how do you pressure test the evaporator?

when you say damper do you mean the blade that is on the rod in this picture?
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/Sk ... 0014-2.jpg

if so, i reused the rod and blade. im glad i havent put the the cover back on yet. now that i know i need to do a few more things.
thanks!