Could I ask for advice on improving #50's heater?

[robroy]

Hey Bill thanks for replying!

For those rivets, yes I had to grind them out and pull up the little tabs when I could to get those old things out. You need to be real careful here because you can obviously cause damage to the fiberglass or whatever the box is made out of. I can see in your pic its already starting to crack.

Yes! There was already a crack around that one rivet, and I used a hammer to make a companion crack around another one (to better balance the condition of the box). I found it quite challenging to remove the rivets without damaging the fiberglass/plastic half and the metal half! I tried a punch (bad idea), a cut off wheel on a die grinder (semi-bad idea), and finally a regular little grinder bit on the die grinder (the most effective of all).

But removing the rivets was like giving a chipmunk a dental filling with Joe Montana hitting the Instant Playback button all afternoon.

The spoils:

I have a confession here as I broke mine off pretty good so I ended up going to a junk yard and finding another box in better condition just to get the plastic part, I was more careful with the second one. I am sure it can be fixed with some kind of a glue or resin.

Thanks for letting me know! Now I don't feel like as much of a clod for unintentionally roughing it up. Since I hadn't seen this step mentioned in your project updates thread, I figured you'd used high powered lasers for the job!

Good luck and hope yours comes out good too!

Thanks Bill!

After the rivet battle, I popped the top off. The llama tongues look improved over their condition in my imagination, but I'll still be happy to make the area ship shape.




Questions:

1. Bill and other friends who did the rebuild, did you notice one or more of the pins that the flaps swivel on being held in by one of these funny little clips?
   
   
   http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_3918s.JPG
   
   Only one of the pins had this clip on mine--the others either never had the clip from the factory, or the other clips came off long ago.
2. How in the world do I remove the pins from the metal cover? I can see in Bill's photos that the flaps shouldn't be removed from the pins, but how does the pin and flap combo pull out of that piece of sheet metal? It looks like the ends of the pins may have been bent after this area was assembled (at the factory).
   

Thanks very much for all the fantastic help!
Robroy

[fordman]

i dotn think that pin comes off of the plate. in the last picture. i think its welded on.

[pollock]

Robroy,

You can probably buy that little round clip from a good hardware supplier, like McMaster-Carr, or from a company that makes automotive clips (like door panels, windshield molding clips, etc.). Try your local professional auto paint store. I think I used a die and threaded that rod and secured it with a nylock nut instead.

[robroy]

i dotn think that pin comes off of the plate. in the last picture. i think its welded on.

Hey Fordman, thanks! Yeah it does look like it's welded on there, and I can see in Bill's photos that he didn't separate those two pieces to paint them or anything.

Yet my question remains: how can I slip that piece (the metal flap and the pin that it's welded to) out of the big, metal heater box side panel?

You can probably buy that little round clip from a good hardware supplier, like McMaster-Carr, or from a company that makes automotive clips (like door panels, windshield molding clips, etc.). Try your local professional auto paint store. I think I used a die and threaded that rod and secured it with a nylock nut instead.

Hey Pollock thanks for replying!

Gosh I like the idea of threading that and using a nylock on it!

Do you happen to remember if all three of those pins had the little round clips on them? Or did only one of yours have it?

Thanks again for the great replies!
Robroy

[fireguywtc]

Robroy, it has been a while since I did this but IIRC you should be able to manipulate the metal rods out of plate by pulling the rods to the corner and moving them to follow the rod through the hole. I know this for sure, I didn't have to cut anything out and I obviously got the stuff off and painted. I may have just removed the flaps and left the rods in the plate. Sorry I cant be of more help, but I know you will get it.

[robroy]

Robroy, it has been a while since I did this but IIRC you should be able to manipulate the metal rods out of plate by pulling the rods to the corner and moving them to follow the rod through the hole. I know this for sure, I didn't have to cut anything out and I obviously got the stuff off and painted. I may have just removed the flaps and left the rods in the plate. Sorry I cant be of more help, but I know you will get it.

Hey Bill, thanks for replying! I'll mess around with the stuff more and see if I can get the flaps (with the rods attached) worked out of the plate. It's good to know that you were able to take this area apart without cutting anything--I was wondering if it was possible or not!

Thanks again Bill,
Robroy

[fordman]

you have me wondering abotu this. i will see if i have tiem what it takes to get those out of a empty box i have here.

[robroy]

you have me wondering abotu this. i will see if i have tiem what it takes to get those out of a empty box i have here.

Great! Thanks very much Fordman. I'll also keep this thread updated with what I discover when I start monkeying around with it again.

Thanks Fordman,
Robroy

[robroy]

Hey Bill and Fordman!

I revisited this task yesterday and it was just like Bill said. Those rods can be manipulated out of there! Their permanent nature was an optical illusion.

Here are a couple random photos I took of it before pulling them out.


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_4332z.JPG



My next step is to hit all these rusty pieces with Eastwood's Rust Converter. Man that stuff SMELLS. I'll post more photos as I go.

Thanks!
Robroy

[fireguywtc]

I knew I remebered correctly! Lol I am not crazy. Glad you got it apart.

[robroy]

Yup, you got it! Thanks Bill.

Robroy

[69timemachine]

Hey robroy, thanks for doing such an in-depth posting on your progress! I'll be doing this same project when I swap in the new engine, so I really appreciate learning all this! Keep up the great work and I hope it warms the cab up nicely for you when done!

[robroy]

Hey there 69TimeMachine thanks for replying!

Hey robroy, thanks for doing such an in-depth posting on your progress!

You are most welcome! I'm glad you've enjoyed seeing the photos.

I'll be doing this same project when I swap in the new engine, so I really appreciate learning all this!

Excellent! Yes I'm sure the function of these old heater boxes improves a LOT when they're re-done. They've put in many good decades of service.

Keep up the great work and I hope it warms the cab up nicely for you when done!

Thanks! I received a bunch of parts for the heater area, but I haven't photographed them yet because I've been all occupied with my engine (http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =3&t=45367).

I haven't forgotten about this thread though, and I'll keep it updated as I get my box put together!

Thanks for writing 69TimeMachine!
Robroy

[robroy]

Good day!

About a year and a half later I'm back to the box!!!

Last weekend I scrubbed all of the loose rust off of the metal parts, and hit them with some Eastwood Rust Converter. I wasn't in the mood to invest the extra time and effort it would take to media-blast the parts, and I figured that since the heater box is one of the less intrinsic parts of a truck, this would be a good candidate for experimentation.

The Rust Converter stuff was a thin clear fluid that kind of blew everywhere outside, but at least 25% of it actually got on the parts!



While the Rust Converter sat on the parts, I turned my attention to this big plastic unit.



I received this new Dennis Carpenter boot from NPD long ago.



I pulled the clips that held the old, torn boot in place. These clips look pretty shabby, but I doubt I'd have much luck finding nice replacements. It also looked like one was missing (I only had three).



With the clips off the two chunks came apart.



Here are three side-by-side comparison photos of the old boot and the new one. The new one's not exactly the same, but it looks like it will work! (Like all of these photos, these can be clicked on to see big editions.)



Next I pulled the sliding vent portion out. I tried to be as careful as possible since I knew the plastic might have become brittle since 1972, and luckily it stayed in once piece!



I took all of the plastic and fiberglass and washed them under the garage sink, with lots of soapy hot water.



Then just yesterday I started back in. Here's how the metal parts looked after a week of Rust Converter. The can said that the parts should turn black, and they kind-of did! I probably could have seen better results with a second application, but it takes 48 hours before you can paint over it, and I didn't want to wait until next weekend.





I finished off my can of black Rust Encapsulator on one side of the parts.



Then finished off my can of red Rust Encapsulator on the other side.



Meanwhile, I started cleaning the gasket material off of the plastic pieces. This was hard to do! Ford did a great job of gluing the seals to the plastic parts, and they were happy to come off, but only in pieces of size of squirrel boogers. Finally I reluctantly broke out some nasty solvent which took the seals right off, but discolored the plastic too! Good thing these areas don't show on the outside.



Here's the vent housing with all the seals removed, looking clean but worn and shabby.



Today's Questions:

1. What's the best method for returning those black plastic parts to their original black luster? Some kind of die? Shoe polish?
2. Any tips on making the raised lettering bright white again, after refinishing the black plastic?

Thanks so much for all the excellent advice!
Robroy

[fordman]

i used shoe polish on them. and then litghttly brushed white hobby paint over the letters with a thin model brush.