Ok, here is a quick rundown on how to do the heater valve deleted.

It is pretty basice, first you might want to drain the system of coolent, unless you like to mop up the garage floor.

then remove the heater valve. the two hoses that are located at the rear of the pass. side head need to be joined.





Next you need to plug the line that T's into the pipe running along the frame rail.



Once you've done that, you can plug the vacume line if you want, and you are done.

Hope that helps everyone who had questions about how to do this.

-- John

 

Thanks Dewey. I will make this a sticky for the time being so those who needed this info can get it rather quickly.

 

....or you can completely remove the pipe along the frame rail. Plug the opening at the top of the radiator (right below the radiator cap), then use an NPT fitting at the top of the water pump (removing the blockoff plug). Run heater hose from the water pump to the inlet side side of the heater core (pipe closer to passenger side i believe), then run heater hose from the other side of the heater core to the back of the intake manifold (NPT fitting). I think this is a cleaner look and you are able to remove more stuff from the engine bay.

 

yes, but then you still have a hose going from the front of the car, to the rear. which is what i was trying to avoid. i wanted easy access to pull the valve covers, and access the plugs.

 

Okay, I see what you are talking about now. I guess I can get that plug for the steel line at an auto parts store?
So, just cut a little piece of the hose coming from the pipe, to the valve and put that in between the heater core fitting and the intake fitting, right?
Oh yeah, if you wanted to go with vjo's route, wouldn't the plug from the water pump fit into the radiator and vice-versas? I guess you would need a longer hose to go from the other heater core fitting to the water pump though. That's the way my carbed 83 S/E was set up.

 

heater still works correct?

 

Yep still works, just lets coolant flow thru the heater core at all times.

 

Is this better for the engine? Right now my heater doesn't even work in the first place. Would this maybe fix it?

Bruce (90RS305)

 

Is it better for the engine? I dont think it would help or hurt, it could cool a little better being the heater core is just like a radiator. Yeah it may help your heater, its possible tho, that your heater core has got trash in it, when was the last time you flushed your system?

 

I did it a few months ago, I know for a fact I need a new radiator though. Guess I'll just have to wait and save up for a better radiator before I worry about anything else...

 

so, what am i missing . . .why would someone want to do this ? just for aesthetics ?

 

I flushed my system, took the heater core out, put new water pump on, 195 stat, my heater still doesnt get hot hot. But its warm enuf now lol

 

good job. I plan on doing this while keeping the valve. I really hate the way those hoses sit on top of the valve cover, really crappy way of running things if you ask me.

 

Basicly adam just to get rid of it off of the valve covers, and if you broke the valve, you can be cheap and not have to buy one

 

ahh, i see now

succinctly put and straight foward. . .just the answer i was looking for . . .thanks deepstage

 

I did what vjo said, except I ran hose from the intake manifold to the core and then back to the rad.

 

You probably have a fried heater core. I would take a look at that before you see coolant in your passenger seat. It can get ugly.

 

Well, I like the sound of that! Next question....where do I find it?

 

The heater core is under the pass side dash just behind the firewall. Takes around 45 mins to many hours to change it, depending on how its done. You could probably take the heater lines off and reverse flush it to see how bad it is inside.If alot of garbage comes out or nothing flowes through at all then its definatly time for another one.

 

Well thats bloddy awesome! From the sounds of it this would explain a lot of the problems my car has (i.e. car heats up VERY quickly with A/C on, no heater working, unable to cool car down with heater on, ect, ect...) Definetly sounds like something I should no be working on myself. Damn just one more thing I have to spend money on!!

Bruce (90RS305)

 

Yes, basically. You get rid of one of the alien lookin things, then if you delete your AIR you can get rid of the other. Finally, if you get your AC out of the way then your pass side is very open and looks a ton better.



That was my setup a little while back, its quite a bit more clean now, I'll try to snap some pictures too, but that wont be for a while.

 

Here is a shot of how i have to do it with the wieand intake on.



I had to go up to the front also, since there is no tap into the coolant on the backside of the manifold.

 

If your radiator is leaking and your coolant is low, the heat will only blow out luke-warm at best.

 

Anyone have a pic of their stock radiator where the heater hose connects to, or where they plugged that area when they deleted their valve?

 

if you do it they way i did, you don't have to plug the radiator. the peice that plugs into the radiator, is the tube that runs along the pass. side frame rail. there is a T junction that you have to block off (in the pictures above), but you want coolent flowing throught the line from the radiator.

 

Too late, already got rid of all that crap. I'm running a hose directly from my stewert pump to the core. Just wanted to see how everyone plugged the stock radiator.

 

Whats the best way to plug the line that T's into the pipe running along the frame rail?

 

I know this topic is kind of ancient, but does anyone have a picture of the heater valve removed as per vjo90RS8's suggested method? Thanks!

 

This is an old photo but maybe you can get the idea. By the way the only reason I did this was because the alum radiator that I was using at that time did not have the fitting on the rh side for the heater hose.

 

Which car is that? Alternator is on the wrong side to be an RS...

 

I think DM91RS just found a more creative way to delete the AC and AIR without delete pulleys .

 

ahhhhhhh i c

 

Yessir.......now it has the a/c unit back on there and it sucks to work on it now in that area

Geez look at that friggin mess around the a/c just to keep my butt cool.....

 

Dbl

 

Hrm, I think I see what you did, but let me make sure. The hose from the water pump goes to where? the left or right hose tube on the firewall? And the fitting on the intake manifold, would that be the front or rear fitting, I have two... Thanks!

 

Frank...try this pic

 

I know it's an old article, but I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that the coolant fitting on th intake manifold (rear/pass side) connects directly into the outside heater hose connection on the firewall, and the other nearer the distributor just stays connected to the radiator? (with T capped off at frame rail) Intake to firewall, radiator to firewall and that's it? PLEASE confirm I got this one right or wrong. Billc

 

As you can see, I've a TBI powered 305, with the heater outlet at the rear of the intake manifold. I've got the hose to the radiator in the stock outlet. That leaves me with the one inlet/outlet connection on the firewall and the one on the intake manifold. Connect em?

I'm using the Edelbrock water pump, it hasn't got the plugged heater hose outlet on the casing so these are really the only options I have....

 

Yep........you got it. That's how mine is connected now exactly.

Have you checked out WWW.CascadeCrew.com

Check it out as there are some pretty cool cars and people there including the starter of this thread...... Dewey316. These guys are willing to help you anytime.

 

There we go.

a GA boy, pluggin' the crew.

Gotta love that!

 

I just did it to my 92 and it looks wayyyyyy better. Does anyone know why GM even concocted this design? I had an 82 years and years ago, and it for sure didn't have that octopus heater valve.

 

My 83 did not have that vacuum actuated valve and all either. I did notice however, that even in the summertime, it seemed like there was always heat coming into the engine compartment.
Most likely that was because of the constant flow of coolant into the heater core. So this was probably GM's attempt to try to remove that heat by keeping the heater core closed, until needed.

That's my take on it, of course I a probably totally wrong, and in that case, someone will come along and tell us all exactly why this was done.

 

That last post makes an ineresting point. If your car is old you may want to rebuild your heater box or you might get constant heat. My 68 Cougar had this issue when I did the same thing to it and you always had heat. I rebuilt the heater box with new seals and it was fine. As to the hose from the water pump, if you eliminate that hose the Caprice water pump does not have that connection so it would be a clean install rather than plugging stuff (well, my caprice doesn't anyway...I was gonna use an astro pump in a pinch and it had the place for that hose which mine didn't).

 

did u drill and tap a hole for the temp sensor in the therm housing or can u buy them like that? its sweet.

 

The housing can be found on a number of auto's. I know that my wife's 84 Z28 has one like it. I just had one laying around probably from a V6 swap into a Monza years ago.

 

damn i should get one, my current setup if u can see streches the wire out a bit too much

 

I have A/C. It works awesome. I want to keep it.

If I do this mod... will it blow hot air all the time, even when the A/C is on?

 

No, It will pass coolant thru the heater core at all times, the flapper that seperates the hot air from the cold air, will still function.

 

thanks for the quick response! I'm deleting the AIR system and bypassing the diverter valve today! I'll post pics later this evening.

 

Yeah man I have done mine and it really cleans up the look of the engine bay and everything is working good on my car still

Bill