I'm working with my son on the 66 with a 1993 5.0 swap. The heater box was toast so we replaced that in the fall. The fan motor bench tested A-OK on it's own and mounted in the heater box before installing in the car. However, now the squirrel cage is rubbing loudly in the housing.
I wouldn't mind pulling the heater box to adjust or replace the fan, except for the horrendous connection of the heater core hoses to the hard tubes for the 5.0 heater loop. The combination of the short distance to the firewall, sharp angle, different dimeter hoses (pipe is 3/4 ", heater core is 1/2"), and need for a T for the EGR coolant loop made assembling connecting the hoses just about the worst job I've ever done. It took many hours and a lot of swearing to make the connections. Enlarging the hole in the fire wall for the hoses helped, but it was still incredibly difficult.
So, any tips/ideas/suggestions for how to simplify connecting the 5.0 heater tubes to the 66 heater box? Any solutions to replace the rigid heater tubes with something flexible?
I wouldn't mind pulling the heater box to adjust or replace the fan, except for the horrendous connection of the heater core hoses to the hard tubes for the 5.0 heater loop. The combination of the short distance to the firewall, sharp angle, different dimeter hoses (pipe is 3/4 ", heater core is 1/2"), and need for a T for the EGR coolant loop made assembling connecting the hoses just about the worst job I've ever done. It took many hours and a lot of swearing to make the connections. Enlarging the hole in the fire wall for the hoses helped, but it was still incredibly difficult.
So, any tips/ideas/suggestions for how to simplify connecting the 5.0 heater tubes to the 66 heater box? Any solutions to replace the rigid heater tubes with something flexible?