here i drew a picture of how it looked before, and how i routed it now. does this look correct?

 

That wouldn't be very wise. It would hook the hot water from the back of the intake to the cold water intake of the pump, thereby giving the water a path to circulate around in that doesn't pass through the radiator. Not a great idea usually.

If you want to get rid of the valve but keep the heat, then hook the manifold to smaller one of the heater core nipples (5/8" hose), and the heater fitting on the radiator to the larger one (3/4" hose). If you want to do away with the heat altogether, just cap them all off, and don't hook anything to anything.

 

can u draw me a picture of what your speaking of? im a visual learner and i dont understand **** if i have to read it. i would appreciate it alot!

 

Here you go.

 

*edit* thanx!

 

oh, and should i leave the hose from the radiator cap'd off?

 

That's how I have mine.....

 

What does the heater valve do? why would you want to remove it? will it cause any problems when routing it like above?

 

They crack, leak and malfuction with frightening regularity. The factory uses them so that when you turn the HOT/COLD selector on the dash all the way to COLD it doesn't just stop drawing air through the heater core it actually bypasses the coolant flow around the heater core using that spare set of lines, completely elimiating any chance of having hot air blow out the vents.

Reality? GM vehicles have been running around for decades without this little device. Ditching it can clean up the underhood appearance quite a bit with few ill effects. Really it's equivalent to just putting it back the way it used to be in the "old days."

 

BTW- on most 3rd gens there isn't a nipple on top of the water pump to hook up that return line to from the heater core- it's got a plug in it.

You have 2 choices:

1. Add a nipple there on the water pump and run the line to it

2. Run the return line back to the stock heater hose nipple on the pass. side of the radiator (like IROCZZ3 has it).

Effectively, it will perform the same basic function. Hooking up to the water pump directly is probably a slightly better way to do it, in theory. But hooking it up to the radiator is easier and you don't end up with blocked-off, unused hose nipples looking ugly under the hood.

 

i set mine up like this..


what did i do and what are the effects? lol

 

That's how it should be done, in these cars that have the nipple at the rear of the intake. That's exactly what I described in my post earlier .... intake to heater core nipple, and other heater core nipple to the one on the radiator.

 

well i just noticed i got that picture messed up

its actually crossed, the left nipple goes to intake and the right nipple goes to radiator? is that ok too?

 

TPI's dont have a nipple on the back of the intake.......a hose comes from the front of the intake to the valve then from the vavle back to the firewall, then another hose comes from the valve to a line down to the bottom...whats that line attachment for? heres a picture....

also what about the vaccum line going to the vavle?

 

Thats how its hooked up on almost all thirdgens with heat and a/c. The coolant from the manifold is either forced into the heater core when heat is requested or bypassed when a/c is in use. You dont have a/c so just ditch it and route one hose to the core and the other hose from the core to the radiator.

 

Little 5/8" hose from the intake to the core. Larger 3/8 in hose back to the radiator. Everything is sized so it can only be hooked up one way.

 

Yep... they started on the f-bodies in '87. So 82-86 f-bodies are safe. I met up with a few of the NJ thirdgen crowd last year... one guy had a leak at his heater control valve. As I was saying how much I hate those things because they crack without warning- guess what happened? Yep, I jinxed the poor guy, his valve cracked in the middle of the parking lot when he went to tighten the clamp. oops...

 

Hey, I just ended up doing this because I swapped my intake to an Performer. Just removed it altogether, and ran it straight to the heater core and back to the water pump, like 88camaro350 posted. Should be no problems, except maybe a little warm air out the vents. Personally, I dont think mine worked in the first place cause I've always, as long as I can remember, had warm air coming from the vents, with the heat off. Oh well.

While we're on this topic, what did you all do with the vacuum line that runs to the diverter. Right now I've got a screw in the end while I'm trying to get it running, but I was thinking unhook it from the back of the HVAC control box in the pod and pulling the hose out, and using a vacuum cap on the HVAC control box. Think this will work?

 

well catually on mine, they are all the same size hose. so i think im gonna go do it the way you posted.

 

Huh...

In any event, I dont think itll matter too much which way the coolant goes, jsut as long as it circulates through the core and back to the radiator or water pump.

 

I still have the A/C just havent hooked it back up yet.......so is the heater valve needed with A/C and heat?

 

I dont fully remember how the routing of the HVAC is. Think theres a damper that just directs air around the heater core so you could probably get by without it. If I had a/c, though, Id probably jsut replace the valve as preventitive maintenance.

 

On my car I can still get cold air to come in from outside. With the heater controls set on cold no hot air at all comes out.

Turn it to hot and it does. So I don't think the heater valve is really needed at all.

The thirdgen water pumps don't usually come with the nipple...its just a standard 3/4'' nipple to can get at any parts store. No big deal. And the one for the intake is just a 5/8'' nipple...also available anywhere.

 

Same here; I still get cold air, and I doubt I'd notice a difference if I installed a heater control valve on my pre-87 f-body.

Yeah it makes sense that the air would be a bit cooler with the control valve, since hot coolant won't always be going thru the heater core- but c'mon now, what are we talking... 5 degrees? I didn't buy my Firebird because it was a luxury car! (In fact I yanked the a/c out back in 1996...)

If it was made of something more substantial than plastic, I'd say to leave it alone. But those things crack for no reason... I had to replace a buddy's brother's valve in a McDonald's parking lot- and I had never seen one before! He was driving along and the thing burst.

 

cheap plastic + hot water = cracks

 

Here in Houston, any few degrees you can get makes a world of difference. I have a control valve delete on my car and was seriously considering putting it back on. The car just didn't have cold enough AC, even when it was newly recharged with a new accumulator.. etc. It didn't even compare to how cold my Camaro blew.

 

the valve breaks because its not mounted down anywhere... not because its cheap plastic.


i would relocate it to near the rear firewall, mount it and the hoses securely and leave it at that... *shrug*


then again, i get some preverted kick out of being faster then the other guy, AND haveing AC on with the top down, radio blasting with the full interior in my car, and a girl in the front seat, and her friend in the back......


but thats just me.