Who else bypasses the heater core for the summer, because you fry in the cockpit without A/C?

Which method works better:

a) Jump the water pump outlets out with a u-bend?

2) Cap the outlets from the water pump with 5/8"id rubber caps?

Right now, I'm using a piece of aluminum tubing bent in a "U" shape, and I attach it to the pump via the stock heater hoses.

 

Why not correct the problem and find out why the air does not circulate thru your ride so well.
IT'S WAY HOT IN LA
AND DC
AND WISCASSETT MAINE
AND NYC & PHILLY
Been there.
Try baking in a 1975 Vega after you have worked in a fish store in peak of summer humidity!
I discovered to prop the rear hatch open to better flow thru air.
Works great!
Does your AC Work?
I fixed it on my ride & such a king of the road feel.
Junkie car.
Working AC.
LOVE IT!

 

:sillylol:... fish store...hehehe

 

It's not an issue of airflow, only that there is always hot air blowing throught the radiator core and onto my feet. If I have the tops off, the vents open, and the heater controls set to cold and vent, with the blower off, I STILL have hot air passing throught the core, warming the interior.

Driving faster doesn't help, either... At about 110mph, the interior rear speaker panel will blow off... (Trust me, I know... It sucked!)

 

Why not correct the problem and find out why the air does not circulate thru your ride so well. It's not an issue of airflow, only that there is always hot air blowing throught the radiator core and onto my feet. If I have the tops off, the vents open, and the heater controls set to cold and vent, with the blower off, I STILL have hot air passing throught the core, warming the interior.

Try living with that "heat issue" with a 1974 Corvette, T Tops and HEADERS! When I rebuilt my heater system, I neglected to reseal the vent door system. I saw foam, yet, it was ineffective.
Oh yes, I can kill myself.
To do the 1974 Corvette heater system, one removes the complete interior, including 85% of dash & 50% of seating.
Atleast the car is an original number matching I know complete ownership & previously paid prices & it's still intact & drivable & I have the build sheet, too.
I use a "horseshoe" brass 90* bends to make the one in my S-10 Blazer stop working. I need replace the heater core.
In my Corvette, I put up with the heat. Feels good on those cooler summer & spring & fall & winter nights & days out here. Oh I have baked in Winter Spring Summer Fall SoCal traffic jams. I flip off Corvette T-top & put on sunscreen. Might as well make use of the time.

 

Don't Camaros have a vacum controled heater valve, located next to the air pump??? I think you might have a vacum leak or a bad valve. If the valve is present why would anybody "bypass" it when it's already turned off.

 

i think the valve is only closed when the A/C is on, and I don't think that all camaro's had them. Some one, I think it was TomP, said that they stopped putting them on in like 89 or something like that...dunno, so don't hold me to that.

 

My understanding of it is that the COOL WARM slide controls the vacum to that valve and thats how you get warmer or cooler temps. Mines a 1992 and it has it so not a case of not being there...

 

I think the HVAC controls were similar from 82-92, except for digital dashboards. The "hot/cool" lower slide operates a cable that swings a door that sits next to the heater core. This door controls whether air from the cowl intake passes through the heater core, or bypasses it.

I'm thinking your cable, or, the attachment point on the cable which secures it to the heater box, has snapped. If the attachment point snapped, your lever will work the WHOLE cable- sheath and all, and the door won't move.

That lame heater divertor valve that Ryan talked about started in '87. Pre-87 cars didn't have it, and coolant always went to the heater core. Back when I had a/c in the car, the a/c still blew freezing cold on a hot day. It doesn't really affect the air conditioning- at least, it didn't affect my car. Then again, I don't "believe" in a/c; I like hot weather. (Thus the reason for me pulling out the a/c system!) Anyway, BackInBlackGP won't have the heater diverter valve, since he's got an '86. Good thing too, they're made out a fiberglass/plastic/whatever type of material, and they like to snap easily.

 

Yeah tell me about it, damn thing costs 15 bucks too. BUT the advange is no hot water under the dash in the summer time.

Well my understanding on the door is when the A/C was on the door was shut to the heater part. Isn't that why hot air comes out on the bottom and cold A/C comes out on the top when in different modes?

 

It all depends on that door, and the position of the "temperature" slider. You can run your a/c on hot, too. Granted, I don't have a/c anymore, but all the vac lines are still hooked up, and in the winter, I put my climate controls on "bi-lev", temperature on hot, and get heat on the floor -AND- in my face.

You might be thinking of the regular vent doors. When the slider's in a/c mode, certain doors do open and shut via vacuum. But I'm talking about the door right against the heater core. That's a different slider control than the "mode" control, and works off that cable.

You can see the cable and the door's lever if you pop off the passenger side hush panel.

 

Ok, let me be more descriptive...

ALL of my heater controls are cable... NO vacuum actuation whatsoever. I do not have air conditioning, but I do have floor vents that are opened and closed by cables under the steering wheel...

I have 2 heat modes: floor and defroster. I can change the temperature of the defroster from hot to cold. I cannot change the floor to cold. It always blows hot air. If I set the air to floor, and the temp to cold, I get cool air from the dashboard vents.

As I drive the car, there is ALWAYS a warm breeze blowing from the floor, even with the blower motor turned off.

The controls are in good working order, and I do not suspect a malfunction in the door actuation. I have spent HOURS behind the dash and in the heater core trying to find out why I get hot air at my feet all the time.

I concluded that the simplest fix was to bypass the heater core hoses under the hood. This works wonders. I don't have to worry about defrosting the windshield, or getting heat, as I only drive the car about 800 miles / year, and only when it's really nice out, and not at night. (Go ahead, yell at me... )

I wash the thing once a year if I'm lucky... It lives in a wall-to-wall carpeted garage, and under old comforters. I dust it before and after we go out in it. This thing is pampered more than my wife and our cat combined!!! LOL!!!

That's why it still looks like this every year:







Yes, that is original 18-year-old paint!!!

So, anyway... Back to the original question: Should I just cap off the water pump heater core in/outlet right at the pump, or continue to put a u-bend in it? Most hardcore drag racers cap the lines with 5/8"ID rubber plugs...

 

A cat?
Do what ever block off works effective.
I use a 90* bend made from copper piping.

 

*Sigh* Yeah, we have a cat... He's OK, though...



I'm just wondering if there would be any harm in capping the outlets right at the water pump, and removing the hoses to clean up the engine bay a bit, rather than having the ugly u-bend in there.

BTW, won't copper react badly with the antifreeze?!?! I'm not a metallurgist, but I though the copper was bad...

 

If ya look at your heater core it's made of copper.
MANY older vehicle radiators were made of copper.
The bend cost $1 or so (ya make it yourself by soldering together the two 90* bends).
Mine in my Blazer may not be pretty, but it works well.
Ya can cap it off, also, I assume.