I was wondering if someone would beable to tell me if the duct work piece for the fresh air heater is supposed to slip inside of the end of the actual heater box.

What I see is it would be really hard or impossible for the duct work piece to go inside of the heater box. But I don't see how the fresh air would be affective because of the large gap around the heater and the duct work piece.








The left side of the above picture goes through the hole in the kick panel of the cab. The right side is what goes up against the heater box.

Does anyone know how the two go together?

Thank you!

 

Blaine; I have the recirculating heater, but after looking at parts book.
The front and back half of the heater as seen in the first two pictures are assembled incorrectly. The front half, the portion that has two round holes (defroster ports) point up and to the center of the truck. The rectangular port of the rear section points to the kick panel and is where the part in the third picture connects.
PS to answer your specific question there is a rubber collar that connects the two parts of duct work. Not available from Ford, according to the catalog. (body group number 18489)
Clear as mud???
Good luck in your quest.

 

Teddy is right. I salvaged mine out of a wrecking yard complete, as mine was built w/o a heater! Amazing to me even in Calif.
There is a rather thick rubber sleeve that connects to the fresh air fitting. I suppose you could use some wide black vinal tape or find an inner tube the right size to cut up. But Judging by the work of art done to restore that heater you're looking for show level orig. equip. I'll have to see that truck!
I go w/ whatever works and looks decent.....oh yeah and cheep!
Speaking of cheep, when I needed to get a new core I looked around and found an in stock (cheep) one for a later f100 that fit fine but had to mod the tubes a little to fit the firewall holes. Much less $ than a exact repl.
Hope the truck has the defroster connectors @ the dash, those were a bear to install.

 

Those pictures were taken just after I got a ton of parts back from being powder coated. I think I just put those two pieces together however I was holding them so I could store them at the time.

A rubber collar answers my question. Thank You!

Here is a link to my project thread on my truck, go to the last couple of pages to see what it looks like now:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...ml#post6759525

A rubber sleeve answers my question Thanks.

I think I might have a few things in mind to use as a rubber sleeve. I might look at it today.

"Defroster connectors @ the dash" Do you mean the hook/wire that goes on the cardboard defroster vent or no?

 

Ok I got the heater bolted up today but there is a little bit of a fit issue. The neck on the heater doesn't match up to the collar on the kick panel. I will have to double check to see if the heater has bolted up tight to the fire wall. Because the collar and the heater hit one another and I need the heater to go back another 1/4" inch. The heater seemed to be really solid and tight against the firewall. I couldn't move it when I pushed and pulled on it. If the heater can go back another 1/4" I might have to grind off the collar a little bit because of a serious clearance issue.

 

Probably an obvious question, but is the firewall pad you have there holding the heater out from where it needs to be?

By the way, that powder coating sure is a nice finish.

 

I recall years ago questioning, I believe, NumberDummy about the availability of the rubber sleeve. It came as part of the heater kit, and is/was not sold separately. A piece of an appropriately sized inner tube, placed on as you install the heater, should do fine, as previously mentioned.

Me, I pieced in some black duct tape. Now we're talking Hillbilly.

 

I would have to double check but I did cut a plenty big hole in it for each of the studs and spacers. But maybe one side is causing a problem. But even the collar is an issue because the heater kind of goes inside the collar on the back side. So even if I were to be able to get it to go back another quarter inch it will hit the inside of the collar.

I was thinking about taking the collar out altogether and mocking up just the heater and taking a few measurements to see where it sits in relation to where it is now.

Thank You, I am very quite happy with how the powder coating turned too.

 

Kinda funny this thread came up just right in time for me .... thanks Blaine !

I just bought me a set of fresh air vents and louvers for my `60. Because I never had those I even did not know how they look like and fit into the kick panels. When I bought my truck more than 20 years ago the kick panels were totally rotted and during restauration I just formed some "openings".

So the pics posted here helped me a lot to understand. But there is one question left : how on earth do the cables coming from the dashboard connect to the vents and how do they route through (?) or beside the louvers to the inside of the fresh air channel in the kick panel ?

Sorry for hijacking your thread Blaine, this was just too inviting ....

Thanks for any input, Tom

 

No Problem At All

I will even help you out with your question.



Your talking about these vents correct?



The cables for those route through the hole just to the right of the drivers side vent cover as in the above picture.



And the hole just to the left of the passengers side vent cover as in the above picture.

I believe the passengers side cable also goes over the top of the heater?

 

Blaine, you are quick ..... and very helpful, thank you.

Yes, I see the holes and now the penny has dropped ....
And there are small brackets to hold the end of the cable. I also see the interior part
of the kick panel is kinda moulded for the vent. Guess this means some extra styling
work on my truck to make the vents fit and work.

I´m also thinking of making my recirculating heater a fresh air heater.

OMG, what have I started ....

 

Your Welcome

I wanted to say that I did a little more checking on my heater and found out that the firewall cover was NOT an issue with the fit in my previous pictures. The heater was infact bolted tight against the firewall, so that is all the farther back it will go. I also mocked the heater up in my old junk cab to see if it fit any better and I think it actually fits worse.

There are a few factors to take inconsideration in how it fits. I could try a little shorter spacer on the studs that go through the firewall. But I noticed that the tubes on the core have that bend in them and a shorter spacer might cause a conflict with the firewall. And then there is the side to side issue. The only way I see to fix that is to file down the duct work piece.

I haven't done anything yet other than just looking at the issue at hand. I kind of want to think about how to go about fixing this. But I was thinking about maybe trying a 1/4 inch shorter spacer first and see how it lines up with the duct work piece and go from there.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Thank You!