Captain Obvious

I decided on the Escort core because it was the thinnest, smallest, most generic, cheap core that I could find with tubes that stuck straight out on the same side. No long funky bent tubes. No weird mounting flanges. Generic, small, thin, and cheap because it's from a ubiquitous car and not from a low volume hard to find Ferrari. Now granted, some of this is a crapshoot due to the way they measure the cores... The manufacturers usually measure the "core" part of the core, and don't include things like the end caps and tubes in the dimensions. Or instead, they measure the whole thing tip-to-stern, tubes included. This makes real life comparisons and evaluations difficult, but that Escort core was simple so I was hoping I could make it work. Because of that way the dimensions are made, there's a real chance that there might be something better out there, but in order to know for sure, you would either have to buy a bunch of them and compare on the bench, or work for a company that makes heater cores and have access to better specs or real parts sitting on the shelf.

"I wonder if I should show this to mine" Uhhhh.... I'm thinking "no".

I'd be honored! Let's just hope I can pull this off.

Zed, I found the same thing. The heat output from the stock core at full flow is way more than I need as well. My "solution" was to put a second valve in the engine compartment in the line leading back to the water pump inlet. It's a small brass ball valve from the big home improvement store. I closed it about halfway and then took the handle off. The handle lives in my center console if I need to adjust it again. With that additional (fixed) restriction in series with the temp control valve, I now use about 3/4 of the adjustment range. In theory, the Escort core will impart a little less heat to the air stream because of the narrower thickness. If I get incredible lucky (doubtful), I might just end up exactly where I want to be! As for heated air out of the vents, I've given that considerable thought as well because I've got circulation issues in my hands and would love to have warm air to blow on them. I think the easiest way to achieve that would be to stuff a small heater core between the blower motor and the air distribution box. Essentially replace the plastic accordion duct with a heater core instead and then remove the original core completely. That way, the airstream would be hot by the time it got to the airbox, and the only thing the box would do would be distribute that already heated air. But... For now, I'd settle for a frikin' heater core, even in the stock location, that doesn't leak.

The plan for the bend in the line is to leave the core as is and make the bend with the rubber coolant hose instead of the metal tube coming out of the core. That's the kind of detail that I won't really be able to finalize until I have the box in the car. I'm pretty sure I can come up with something, especially since I have already relocated my water kock to the engine compartment, but that's exactly why I'm jumping the gun a little with this post. I just figured with the talk about heater cores and someone was getting ready to do theirs, I wanted to get this out there with potentially a better alternative.

I believe that is a capacitor, not a coil .1 micro Farad 50 Volt Film dielectric - probably polyester. Maybe polypropylene depending on where it was in the circuit.

Welcome aboard!! Car looks great! I'm near Philly with my 77. Let me know if you're in the area!

You too, huh? That's why I'm going to have to double check that SWMBO actually get me a round trip ticket!!

Yup, true that. And because I have already removed that rats nest of short hoses under the dash, making the connections to the Escort core should be pretty easy. I'm not sure how easy it would be if you were trying to make connection to the original water kock valve.

Yeah, the prices on this thing were great. And the workmanship looks pretty good too. One thing to watch for though is there are some of these are brass and some are aluminum like I pictured. The first one I got was the slightly smaller brass version and I sent it back to Rock Auto. They sent a second one and it's the one I wanted. I never completely got to the bottom of what happened though. I'm still not positive it was simply misboxed, or a different manufacturer in the Spectra box. I know many of the manufacturers will second source eachother with the intention that the parts are form / fit / and function interchangeable. They accepted the brass one back without a fuss though, and I got the aluminum one as pictured. By your command. The length and width are very similar to the original. The biggest difference is the thickness. The Escort core is thinner: To be honest, with a layer of 1/2 inch thick foam along the perimeter of the Escort core, I think it fits the heater box better than the original. Of course, my "original" is an aftermarket core that came with the car, but I was not impressed with the fit.

Well as luck would have it, I just may be able to make it to Austin after all. No promises, but my Z buddy Gary (who went to Toronto with me) and I have been hatching a plan for us both to go... My wife (with the prospect of getting rid of me for almost a week), has offered to use her frequent flier miles to get me a plane ticket. And in an incredible stroke of good luck, Gary has a brother who lives in Austin who says he would put he and I up for the duration. So there is still plenty of time for this whole thing to fall apart, but I might just make it! Things to do before the trip: Make sure my wife gets me a round trip ticket. Practice my Y'alls. Figure out how to keep Cliff and Gary apart, because the two of them together is probably trouble. Listen to Degüello and Tres Hombres at full volume. At least twice. Pack my suit and sunscreen for Hippie Hollow.

Haha!! I see what you did there.

I want to be done with it too. In fact, I'm so sick of the heater core stuff that I've been working on an alternative for my 77. I didn't mention it before because the project isn't done yet, but I just jumper the gun and started a thread about it. http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/56726-heater-core-alternative-escort-core-into-260280/ Unfortunately, I have no 240 experience and no idea if something like this would work on your 240. Want to send me a 240 heater box for experimentation?

This past spring the heater core in my 77 was leaking, so I bought a NOS aftermarket heater core off ebay as a replacement. I pressure tested it on the bench before installation and everything looked fine, so I put it in. Unfortunately, joy was short lived and by the end of the summer, the new one that I just put in was leaking. Again. Direct drop in cores are getting hard to find, and are expensive, so I started messing around with alternatives. I've been reluctant to mention it because the project isn't done and until the T's are dotted and the I's are crossed, there's the chance that something will come up that kills the whole idea. However, I'm going to jump the gun a little and mention it here just in case other 260/280 owners are getting ready to drop cash on a new heater core. Heater core for a 91-02 Ford Escort SOHC (not the ZX2). The heater core is aluminum, and the one I got was Spectra Premium P/N 94741. So with the caveat that there is still the chance that I'll run into an insurmountable detail and this may not really work for some reason, here's a teaser of something I've been working on. The box is done and has been sitting on the bench for a couple of weeks. I'm going to pull my dash this off season to finish the work, but here is where I am right now. And I have no idea if this idea would even work for the 240's, but this is what I've got. Aluminum heater core for a Escort with a layer of foam around the outside for a snug fit: Build a little shelf for the Escort core to sit on. Since the Escort core is a little thinner, it allowed me to move the core up a little so it doesn't interfere with the floor duct control linkages at the bottom of the heater box (like the stock one does). Aluminum angle material screwed into place as a lower support shelf: Escort core in place before putting on the access panel cover. Can't see it in the pic, but it's resting on the new aluminum shelf on the far side: With access cover in place and tubes poking through new holes I cut in the cover. Tape over the original holes so air doesn't come out where it's not supposed to. There's also another support shelf on the inside of the cover as well and if you look carefully, you can see the heads of the screws that hold the shelf in place: I need to pull the dash to finish the project and figure out how to make the hoses work, but I'm confident I should be able to figure something out. I'll post more pics of that process when I get the dash pulled.

Well the project looks great, and I'm really looking forward to testing out those bottle openers.

Nice. I often find it's the little things like that which really add to driving satisfaction.

I've always been curious about the CA inspection... With a car this old, how do they verify the visual inspection? Is there a reference picture in an old greasy notebook somewhere they compare to or what?

I just went through this last spring. I bought a NOS aftermarket heater core off ebay to replace my leaker. But before I put the replacement in. I pressure tested it on the bench. I would run it higher than the release pressure on the cap, but I wouldn't take it over about 20 psi. Over 20 and you start to bulge the end caps out. I think if you keep it in the high teens, you should be OK. As for my heater core saga... The NOS replacement held pressure overnight on the bench, so I swapped it into position in the car. Drove like that this past summer, and by the end of the summer, the new one that I just put in was leaking. Farqing bastages.

OK... You have just crossed over into the realm of waaaaaay too much time on your hands. You spend all summer working outside, so in the winter you're bored out of your skull with cabin fever?

Yeah. Pics or it didn't happen. Have you ever tried using stone knives and bearskins?

Cool. I wouldn't have thought they rolled stuff that small either. Thanks for the link!

Yup, like that. I would go a little more with the bulge. Essentially do what you can try to recreate the shape of the bulges on the original fuel and coolant lines. Out of curiosity, does anyone know what process was used to form the original bulges? Were they hydro-formed?

My local far east supermarket has on the shelf in the meat dept "Beef for stir-fly". I was gonna say something, but didn't want to risk pissing someone off. Nice work on the radio stuff. I gotta ask though... Couldn't you have come up with something a little less conductive than building that whole thing on a piece of sheet metal? I know the stock radio chassis is sheet metal too, but didn't they at least put a piece of insulating material in there between the back of the board and the chassis?

My PO did the same thing with the slight single outward flare on the fuel lines and it was a pain in the tuchus. Difficult to get the rubber started over the flare, and cut up the inside of the tube over time. What I found worked a lot better was partially formed bubble flare. Do step one of a bubble flare, but don't push it out quite as far. Just enough to get a bulge that will keep the hose clamp from slipping off.

Well after digging into the MSDS literature for this stuff, I think I learned something interesting... The Marine Weld in the little tubes (they call it the twin tubs) looks to be the exact same stuff as the regular JB Weld. Same color, same strength, same MSDS. But the Marine Weld PUTTY is a different animal. So if you're all running out to purchase a blister pak of the twin tube version of Marine Weld thinking that it's going to be different than regular JB Weld, then you're in for a surprise. This stuff appears to be the same as regular JB Weld: But the putty form is different.