hey guys currently doing another LS swap. 90 Camaro with a turbo 5.3l/ T56. only thing is this time im trying to keep a/c and heat ( i usually get rid of all of that stuff). ive been doing some research and come up with both answers but need wanting input on what actually works.

1. As far as the heater lines. ive seen it done both with and without a heater control valve. is it needed or not?
2. Is there any special way to wire up a Sanden A/C compressor to the factory 3rd gen stuff?
3. Is the vacuum ball needed?

any help is greatly appreciated.

heres a pic of the current setup. waiting for my buddy to have a open spot in his shop so he can build my headers.

 

My 84 did not have the heater control valve originally so i did not include it. Hawks made a nice guide for swapping in ac that may be helpful to you. Pm me your email and i will sent it to you. As for the vacuum ball I did keep that. Initially when I got the car running again I had no heat. But that was because the selector valve in the dash failed.

 

The HVAC controls in your car are vacuum operated. The vacuum ball keeps the HVAC controls stable when the engine can't provide vacuum.

If you don't have a heater valve then the AC air charge is going to have a temp rise when it passes through the heater core.

 

Hopefully this helps

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KAA...w?usp=drivesdk

 

The earlier cars did not have a heater valve so what changed? Or do the earlier cars not cool as well as a result of it passing through heater core?

 

If you don't have the bypass valve the AC just has to work hard to cool the air since it passes over a hot/warm heater core since coolant will be flowing through the heater core.

 

alright awesome. thanx for the replies. when i got the car with the 3.1l it did have a factory heater control valve. so i guess ill just hook it up. someone threw away my vacuum ball so ill either have to find another stock one or find some kinda aftermarket one that i can hide somewhere.

 

just took a look at this. guess thats for a stock ls1 style harness/ ecu. im running a holley terminator x. i believe it also has a request signal. ill have to check but i imagine it should work about the same.

 

I just order this electronic servo controlled bypass heater valve from Old Air Products. It's a little pricey but I saw a video on FB from a guy who installed one in his IROC/Ls3 and it worked very well for him. I'll report back once it's installed.

https://www.oldairproducts.com/produ...ater-valve-kit

 

Here's what I don't like about that piece: It's made of plastic. So is the factory piece.

Between myself and my fiance (we both have '89 Firebirds), we've had FIVE heater valves fail.
And by "fail," I don't mean that they stopped switching, I mean that they broke apart and lost gallons of coolant with no warning.

Plastic parts do not belong in a cooling system, I don't care what anyone says.

My/ our swap will definitely have heating and A/C.
The A/C is no problem, I'm going to have custom hoses made.

The heater valve is a different story. I need something to cut off coolant flow to the heater core, but I can't cut off flow through the heater circuit, either.
I've found this all-metal, 4-port heater valve, but it's manually operated.
I could probably tie that into the blending door cable, but I'm not sure how well that would work.

Has anyone heard about drilling a hole in the water pump, in the thermostat area, to allow hot coolant to go over the thermostat on LS swaps?

I've heard mixed reviews about blocking the heater lines on LS engines; some people say it doesn't do anything, others say it causes overheating/ higher temperatures.

There are lots of metal two port heater valves on the market, but that means that you will have to cut flow through the heater circuit when not in use.

 

alright. interesting options. thanx for the advice.

 

was doin some searching found a couple different options.

this ford ones says its "metal" and its vacuum operated.

heres a cable operated one:

and then stumbled across this interesting BMW actuator one. looks like its got a 3 wire setup. probably one power or ground and 2 signals for each actuator. just dont know the size of this thing.

 

You posted the second link twice

 

Great post Mike. I'm deff sub'd to this one. I have neither in my car right now. Got me a handy brand new LS1 Compressor and OEM bracket, but literally that's it. No lines or anything else (for now).

Car is looking fantastic too. Keep up the great work. Cant wait to see the car when it's done!

Daniel

 

opps. this is the BMW one.

fixed it in the original post.


thanks Daniel. when were both done and stuff we gotta do one if the 3rd gen cruises.