I paid a guy $200 to do my heater core four years ago since I was a noob with no tools back then. He did it and had it warmed up for me in just under two hours. I think my car was his sixth HC job; just like with anything else if you've done it before then its peice of cake the second, third and fourth times around. I think everyone makes it a bigger deal than what it is.
I bought a real Ford heater core at LRS for about 30-35 bucks, I dont know how much they are now.
this past weekeend i did the core on my 90.i have done the job before so i new what to excpect.friday i did the ripout and removal of the core itself and saturday i installed the new one.total time was about 4 hours and i got to do some clean up as well as fix some of the wiring to my gauges.its not to bad but one tool that makes it so much easier is this little corless skilll ratcket i have that easily saved a hour with some of the bolts.theres a few write ups floating around check them out and its a snap. phil
Im with 1990coupe on this one, the heater core while not the easiest one I've ever done is certainly not very hard. The first one I did took me about 2½ hours, and the second one took me an hour and a half. I just slide the dash back, pry the heater core door open enough to get the heater core out, then put a new one it and put it all back together.
Well...that was not fun at all. Since it was my first time, I went above and beyond some of the write ups I read here. Ended up removing the gauge cluster and the whole dash. Also installed new hoses to the heater core.
Total time was 7 hours. I had the biggest hang up getting the hoses off the old heater core. Had to cut the factory clamps off. Getting the HVAC box moved from the firewall enough to remove the old heater core took some time as well.
At least its done. The weather today was terrible (carport). When I started, it was 38* with a 10 mph wind. The high was 44*. I did take a few extended breaks just to warm up.
No leaks and I hope I don't have to do this again for another 19 years.