ALFAGTV6.COM

[Murray]

Project No.1 for this winter is to return the heating/AC system on my 86 GTV6 to its former glory.Step 1 was to deal with the seizing bushings on the blower motor.This I have done and it sounds like a jet turbine .Next I'll clean up the rat's nest of wiring and improve the quality of the connections.On the old BB I read a post (I believe it was from Greg Gordon - the Drag Racer ) which reads as follows:

"There is no easy way to do it, realistically you need to remove the whole heater box. The good thing is while you are there you can make some huge improvements to your heating and air conditioning for almost no money. Just use foam insulation to prevent air from bypassing the heater core and a/c evaporator by shoving it between those parts and the side of the heater box. "

Can anybody suggest exactly where this foam should go ? Between the sides of my evaporator/heater core and the heater box there is very little room due to all the bent tubes.Plus my way of looking at it is that these tubes are either hot or cool so why not let the air being drawn by the fan go through them ? The only way I could forsee doing this would be by using building foam in an aerosal can and I'm hesitant to try this.Anybody got an opinion ?
Excuse the crappy photo.

[Greg Gordon]

Hi Murray
Thats exactly where I put it. I just used seat cusion foam, whatever fits....as long as it can't catch fire.

[Murray]

Thanks Greg.Now can anyone suggest what the advantage of blocking off these areas could be ?

[Hippo58]

Hi Murray,

As Greg says in the above quote you put the foam on the sides to prevent the air bypass the heater core.

In order to get the hotest/coldest air, the air(!) has to pass from the aluminium fins of the core (logicall). That path is very restrictive though and quite a lot of the total amount of air passes from the sides of the core which is MUCH less restrictive. Although the pipes at the sides are indeed hot/cold the efficiency of this path is nowhere near to the path through the aluminium finned core.

I hope the way I explained it will be clear to you. I haven't done that myself yet. But it is on the cards in the near future.

Petros.

[Murray]

Yes Petros your explanation is perfectly clear.Thanks.I'll go ahead and give it a try.

[Terry Johnston]

In order to replace the bearings in the fan do you need to remove the heater box from the car. I am hesitant to do that as there is a good possibility that I would break the heater valve which I do not believe there is an easy replacement. Terry

[Murray]

Terry if you look at that valve the wrong way it WILL break.My suggestion is to pull the dash and leave the heater box as is.Dash removal is easy (I'll gladly guide you through it) and once it is out access to the fan motor is fairly easy (except for the clips which hold the assembly together.Having the dash out also gives you a great chance to check and clean up wiring connectors.I also decided to clean the AC evaporator and heater core as well as replace a bunch of gaskets which had turned to powder.The "bearings" are in fact bushings and in my case one of them was seized on the motor shaft and had spun in the housing.I was able to free it up ,lube it and voila like new.

[jrreeve]

I second Murray's notion of the fatally flawed heater valve. DO NOT TOUCH unless you feel like getting creative with a replacement. I'm stuck with a manual in-line heater valve and its no fun! I wish we could find a place to make these things!

Rob
'84 GTV6

[Murray]

My dashboard removal steps were as follows:

A) Remove the three main instrument clusters as well as the centre guage pack.I suggest you tag the wires to make it easy to re-connect them.

B) If you have a Tropic-Aire system you must first remove the plastic cover over this unit which hangs down under the glove compartment.Panel is held on by two screws,one on the right-side kick panel and one into the heater box enclosure.Next there are two small bolts which fasten up into the glove compartment.Remove these and the aux.cooler will drop down.If you don't have Tropic-Aire you're on your own ? I assume the parcel shelf would have to be removed.

C) Remove the two screws which attach the heater box console to the dash.

D) Remove the two defrost swivel vents on top of the dash (These pull out with a good tug).Once you have these out you'll see two of the bolts which attach the dash to the firewall/front cowl.I believe they're 12 or 13 mm.Remove these bolts.

C) Under the dash there are the two remaining dash bolts.One is above and to the left of the fuse panel and has a bunch of important ground wires attached.Tag these so you don't miss any on re-assembly.The other bolt is on the right side above the L-Jet computer box.

D) There are a couple of relays which are attached to the dash frame to the left of the steering wheel.Lie on your back and using a good light look up and you'll see them.These need to be removed from their attachment points but their wiring can be left alone.

E) You can now wiggle the dash out of its position and manouver it out.The vent hoses for the outer eyeball vents will still be attached but will pull off as you yank the dash out.The steering wheel does not have to be removed but should be placed in its lowest position.

Now you have open access to all the wonderfull stuff that has been sitting under your dash for 20 years rotting and overheating.! You've earned the right to guzzle some beer or wine while you carefully inspect all the connectors for signs of trouble.Remember don't look anywhere near the heater valve because it will instantly start to leak

I recommend that you check the dash mounting brackets while you have it out.These things are held on with rivets which loosen over time and allow the dash to move around and squeek.I gave mine a shot with the MIG welder and they are rock-solid.

Once you're at this point removal of the heater fan motor should straightforward but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

[Terry Johnston]

Actually have done it a couple of times. It really is a piece of cake paticurally when compared to the 164 (which is a nightmare!!!)! I'll have to put some insulation in the heater box area sometime in the next few weeks. As far as the fan bushings is there a after market replacement part for them? Too bad some engineering type out there has not developed one. Slightly different topic I have a sanden air con compressor in my 83 (non tropicaire) and have replaced the cylinder thing (can't remember its name) but still have the orginal condensor. Performance is still less than adequate. Does it make sense to put a modern condensor in? I believe on the tropicair there were two driers as the drier was inadequate.


Terry Johnston
CA 1983 GTV6 (original owner)

[Murray]

Terry quite a few BBr's have had success installing modern "parallel flow" condensers on their GTV6's. Poke around the old site and you'll find some valuable info. The "cylinder thing" is called a Receiver/Dryer. On the Tropic-Aire car there are two "evaporators" one in the main heater box and one in the supplemental blower enclosure. Have you converted to non-R12 refrigerant?
By the way what I was going to do with my blower motor bushings was try and source some small ball bearings and mount them to the motor case. Fortunately I was able to restore the bushings and they should last a while.

[Terry Johnston]

Being both environmetally and politically incorrect I have kept with R12 in my GTV6. I had converted my 164 to 134 when I lived in the SF Bay Area but not that I am back in Utah I reconverted it R12 as the 134 was pathetic when temps got to above 90. 95 to 105 is the norm July though mid Sep in Northern Ut. Terry

[Murray]

Your fortunate being able to get R12.Here in Canada you'd have to deal with someone in a back alley to get it I used 134 and it was mediocre at best.Last summer I switched to Freeze 12 which is some magic potion and it dropped my vent temperature by 5 oF -making the system almost acceptable.

[Terry Johnston]

I had sometime this weekend and took the dash out (really only a 30 min job). I wanted to get to the fan motor and put insulation in. With the dash out how do I get to the motor? It appears the heater container is 2 parts secured together by 4 clips and there are 4 8mm nuts that secure the box to the firewall bulkhead. Is it possible to get the the fan motor this way. Due to the fragility of the heater valve I don't want to take the whole box out. Terry

[Murray]

Terry your next step is to remove the upper heater box cover.Remove the nuts securing the box to the firewall and then remove the 6 clips (There are two more at the rear).I have read that someone else was able to open the case "clamshell style" by leaving the rear clips on but I wanted full access and removed mine.You'll have to lie on the floor and use a long screwdriver to pop these rear ones off Make sure you mark all your wire connections to the heater/AC controls as they can be confusing to re-assemble.