OK guys i am getting antifreeze on my passanger side floor. I am thinking that it is my heater core. Is it hard to replace? Should i leave this to a mechanic or can i do it in my driveway? Am i looking at a lot of money for a heater core? any helpful hints would be appreciated.
thanks
Tom

 

anyone?

 

It is a pain becasue you have to take the dash all apart but it shouldn't be too bad. I say get a chiltons guide and go for it. Then main cost of a mechanic doing it will be for the labor.

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http://www.chris1roc.cz28.com - not done yet but has pics of my car

88 iroc
LB9 305 tpi
k&N, flowmaster, ADS chip
160* thermostat
home made ram air
removed smog pump
TB bypass
ASCD big block hood

AIM - chris1roc

 

Haven't ever done it on a ThirdGen,, but I got the impression from the Chilton's that it was easy. But Chilton's sometimes oversimplifies things. I recall them saying something like "remove passenger kick panel" or something like that, but they did not say you had to remove the dashboard. So it MIGHT be easy. Good luck.

 

It's easiest if you remove the dash, which sounds bad but really isn't. It takes about 2 hours for me to do it. The first one took about 5. You don't have to pull the dash all teh way out, just loosen the left end, remove the hardware from the right end and the middle totally, and swing it out a couple of inches. Take off the dash pad, the speaker brackets, a couple of other brackets down in there, the hush panels, the ECM (don't have to disconnect it), the console, and then the dash hardware...

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

If you have a Firebird, then you don't have to remove the dash. There's a trim panel above the underdash panel that will allow you access to the heater core housing bolts. Overall, it's not a very hard job. You can leave the dashpad and the radio and center console. The hardest parts were the hoses under the hood. The heater core was $25, and I bought new heater hoses just to be safe, and so I could cut the old ones off.

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89 Transam GTA, 350TPI, auto, 3.27 rear, dual cats, gray.
Magnaflow cat-back,
K&N open element,
Best E.T. 14.63@95mph

 

Thanks to GTA350 for clarifying that. I changed a core in my TA in about 45 minutes. (It took what seemed like another 30 minutes to get the hoses back on the core tubes in the engine compartment, however.)

The trick is to remove the lower right dash mounting bolt and flex the plastic dash panel backward about an inch. This allows you to have enough space to reach the upper case screws with a long extension on a ¼" ratchet. That eliminates the need to remove any more than the lower trim panel in the kickspace and the hoses.

As a hint, make sure you take the original heater core with you to match up to the replacement. I tried several replacements, all the same part number, and all the same dimensions, before I found one that had the tubes mounted at the correct angle so that it would be possible to install the hoses in the engine compartment.

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Later,
Vader
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"Let the bodies hit the floor!"
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