sgt_pepper17

I was talking about a non A/C car.... mine took me maybe 15 minutes... put some Lamb of God on and started working... Took 15 minutes to replace it and then had time left over to drink some cold ones...

collincastaneda

Do you know what you're saying? With a car with A/C you need to bleed the system in order to get to the bolts that hold the heater assembly to the firewall. The A/C lines are completely blocking the way and need to be relocated to get to them.

house302

in an 1983 you dont have to pull out the dash just the glove compartment needs to come down and everything is right there i believe its like that until 1987 then thats when you have to take out everything. i did it once and it took forever and i had a mechanic helping me. then it went out again and i bypassed the heater core cause i live in minnesota and i dont drive my stang in the winter.

sgt_pepper17

I'm very familiar with it... My budy just did his '83 GT with A/C... The only way you'ld have to dispose of R12 is if the A/C still worked and of course was still hooked up... How many cars that old have working A/C still? Not many. If it doesn't work... just rip **** out and expecially pull the condenser under the dash... total waste of space...

sgt_pepper17

BTW.. he never said if it has A/C or not.....

83FoxBody

Mine has A/C, but it doesnt really work. So should I yank the A/C then? I would need a new pulley belt then right? If I yank the A/C unit out, how does this change my install/removal of a heater core?

Thanks again.

88BlueGT

It doesnt change it the install/removal of the heatercore... the heater core is just slightly different. Also, you do not have to run a pulley for the removed ac if you dont want to. I wouldnt recommend taking out your AC though.... its really a b*tch depending on where you live.... if you think you can deal with it than go for it but I know I cant lol

WizardBlack

My vote is to remove the air system altogether; heat, A/C, blower motor, controls, wiring, condensor, piping, etc.

That's what I did. ;-)

Mark

sgt_pepper17

Well, it's not too complicated a decision. If your A/C works, then keep it and bleed the lines like colin said. If it doesn't work, then pull the pump off and all the lines too. You will need to run a new belt. The only forseeable problem with that is that you could end up pinching the new belt between the tensioner and the water pump pully. There is a removal kit that comes with a new belt and a pully that goes in place of the A/C pump. This works best. As for the removal, you'll have to pull the whole box that sits under your dash. My buddy had to pull his dash out a few inches in order to get to the screws in back. There are also bolts under the hood by the A/C lines that hold it in. They look like studs with nuts on them with huge washers. Once it's pulled you'll have to dissassemble it. There should be two radiator looking deals in it. The huge one is the A/C condenser. The smaller of the two is your heater core. Pull the condenser and sell it on ebay or at a swap meet or something, I bet they're expensive. Then install the new heater core and then install the heater box. You might want to clean the box out too because I'm sure there will be all kinds of coolant in it. This job is a major b!tch and perhaps buying a new core would be worth it in this case, but like I said my used one is still goin almost 5 years later. My suggestion is to put away a weekend to work on it and get some good tunes and just do it. See if you can borrow the garage too.

83FoxBody

I think I am just going to remove the A/C. Anyone able to snap a picture of these lines? Preferably off an earlier fox like my 83? It would be great if you could draw on the pic which lines need to stay and which need to be removed.

Thanks for any help.