Heater Core Alternative - Escort Core into 260/280

[TomoHawk]

Do you think you could convince a radiator shop that it's the "Datsun factory-recommended replacement?" 

IMO. The only odd  thing is how to shim the thing in a way that a radiator shop can handle.  I would think a long strip of thick rubber 'tape'  ( like a garage door bottom seal) would be the right stuff to use.  Foam tape or weatherstrip would eventually wear out and the heater core with get loose. 

And they usually expect the inlet tubes up match up exactly, or have the right  hoses come with the heater core, so the (underpaid, non-talented "technician") can hook it up without wasting time looking for the right elbow(s).

The only bad thing I have seen lately is the light rust around the air intake hole.  Since that area is now protected,  I could clean it up, coat it with a rust-converter and seal it off with some Rustoleum...

Edited July 10, 2017 by TomoHawk

[Captain Obvious]

I don't think you would be able to convince anyone that what I did was a Datsun factory-recommended replacement. Sounds like you either need to find the "correct" drop in parts, or find a shop that's interested in doing custom work.

My old stock fitting heater core leaked a little, but I'm sure it's easily fixable by someone trained in the art. Would that help you out at all?

[TomoHawk]

All  the heater core repair-guy did was to solder around the inlets and polish the tanks a little.  he didn't do anything with the tiny leaks at the ends of the cooling tubes, which is why the radiator guy refused to install the"repaired" part.

Edited July 11, 2017 by TomoHawk

[mikev88]

I'm gonna give this a try. I'm redoing both valves, one I'm rebuilding using the ballkamp kit, the other I found something similar in the 4 seasons catalog. My heater core looked great, but I had a rad shop pressure test it to be sure before I put everything back together, it didn't go well... Being in Canada, after the exchange rate and duties a new one would come to over 500$. Any way you could repost a few of your final pictures to give me a start Captain obvious?

[Captain Obvious]

No problem. Glad to help. I've been running this alternative now for a couple months now and I couldn't be happier!!

Give me a little bit and I'll get the pics back up again as soon as I get a chance to upload them.

[mikev88]

Thanks Cap! Take your time, i'm still installing the new mishimoto rad.

Turns out the rad shop owner is a muscle car guy.  He rebuilds original rads for show cars. He says he can't make a living repairing rads anymore, but although he can't make much money out of it, he still enjoys it and does a few a year for people he meets at car shows.

He will check how much a custom core would cost for it but would probably be more than your solution so I will probably go this way in the end anyways. Aluminum will last much longer. But if it's reasonable I might go for it just to support the dying art!

 

[zKars]

Some crazy western Canadian Datsun hoarder I know well may have a couple of good condition stock heater cores that could be had for WAY less then $500 if that works better for you. Just let me know at z240@shaw.ca

[Namerow]

On 10/20/2017 at 9:25 PM, mikev88 said:

I'm redoing both valves, one I'm rebuilding using the ballkamp kit, the other I found something similar in the 4 seasons catalog.

FWIW, the OE heater valves respond very nicely to an overnight soak in CLR calcium/lime remover.

[SoCalJim]

On 10/21/2017 at 6:44 AM, Captain Obvious said:

No problem. Glad to help. I've been running this alternative now for a couple months now and I couldn't be happier!!

Give me a little bit and I'll get the pics back up again as soon as I get a chance to upload them.

Hey, Captain, do you have pictures of your alternative heater core installation?  None of your old pictures from this topic show up.  Thanks!  My '75 heater core is somewhat corroded on the outside and mungy brown liquid dripped out of it after the majority of coolant was drained.  I may or may not look into having the core reconditioned, as your solution sounds very intriguing.  Thanks again!

Edited June 28, 2018 by SoCalJim

[Captain Obvious]

Hi Jim, I do have the pics and will try to reload them for you tomorrow.

As an aside, I'm very happy with my Escort core. The difficulty for you would be the temp control valve stuff under the dash. Are you still running all the stock valves and hoses?

[Captain Obvious]

@Mike, can you please take a look at this and let me know why my links won't embed as pics like they used to? Am I doing something wrong, or did something on your end change?

For example:
http://www.240260280.com/co/au57-v/theduke.jpg

I get this error message whenever I try to post a pic:

Reply to this topic...

×  Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×  Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

The link could not be embedded because of an unexpected error: Forbidden: "Something went wrong. Please try again.".

 

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Captain Obvious said:

@Mike, can you please take a look at this and let me know why my links won't embed as pics like they used to? Am I doing something wrong, or did something on your end change?

For example:
http://www.240260280.com/co/au57-v/theduke.jpg

I get this error message whenever I try to post a pic:

Reply to this topic...

×  Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×  Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

The link could not be embedded because of an unexpected error: Forbidden: "Something went wrong. Please try again.".

 

Trying it now.  Seems to work fine for me...  Did you drag and drop the image to the area "Drag files here to attach, or choose files..." ?