Progress Thread Therapy Car-- Freshening Up the Lower Intake

Well taking the heater box out wasn't much fun. Putting it back will be orders of magnitude more unpleasant I'm sure.




Apparently someone has taken it out before. The two have of the box were held together by some small screws.



The heater core appears to have been leaking.





The evaporator is out. I'll start putting the it back together with new parts tomorrow. New heater core and evaporator are on the shelf ready to go in.
 
I have to do the same to mine come spring... I had no leaks (when I drove the car home over 5 years ago) but I'm changing it since it really wasn't putting much heat out.. and I don't know how old it is... have the core already bought it years ago... but what A/C evap brand did you buy? hows the quality? I still have to order that... RokAuto had 3 different brands listed so trying to decided which to get...
 
My car had been sitting for 7 years before I got it. The previous owner claimed the AC worked and the heater didn't leak. However the AC did not work and I didn't trust the heater core. The system was running R-12 and it was completely discharges for who knows how long. I didn't have any confidence in any component of the system so I decided to do a complete over haul and change the system out. I bought this kit from Fox Mustang Restoration.

https://www.foxresto.com/1987-93-Mustang-5-0-Complete-Factory-A-C-Kit-p/4482004.htm

I'm not sure what brand the evaporator is. I'll look when I get home tonight. The kit came with everything minus the pressure switch, oil, and Freon. I'm changing the system over to 134. I know this being phased out but I cant afford to upgrade to the new stuff. I also picked up a 134 pressure switch. As far as quality goes it looks really good. Weight of it compared to the factory unit feels about the same, so I don't think it was skimped on. I'm going to have to recycle the soft foam rubber seal on the old unit, but that's about it. I'll take some pictures tonight as well.
 
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I looked over the evaporator last night. It doesn't have any markings that indicate a brand. You can call the people at Fox Restoration. They were super nice and helpful when I was deciding on my kit last year.





 
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The PO got rid of the 5.0 emblems on my car so I don't have references point for putting on the new ones. I haven't done any any research yet on measurements, but thought I'd ask before I spend a bunch of time on it. Does anyone know how high off the side molding they should be and how far back from either the door jam or wheel well?
 

I changed mine to black and I printed a template from somewhere. I will search around and find it..... but it may have been LMR. Stay tuned..... be back in a few.
 
This connector comes of the factory harness and connects to a wire coming off of the ignition switch. It broke off of the factory harness the other day. Does anyone know where I can buy one of them? I'm trying to tease the connector out so that I can try to reuse it. No luck so far.

 
That's the key chime wire. It just does the reminder for the key being left in the ignition. If you can get a pick in there to the little plastic tab you'll be able to push it out towards the back of the connector.
 
This is how the old evaporator looked.



The new one only has a thin piece of foam on the bottom. I went to the auto parts store but didn't find anything I liked. I went to Lowe's and found this.





Its pipe insulation but I think it's going to work great to seal the box. I'm going to cut it to the size and shape I need and then use spray adhesive to attach it to the evaporator. This is the dense insulation not the pool noodle stuff.
 
No before a put the dash back together I need to install a keyless entry system in the car. I say need because the PO shaved the door and trunk lock cylinders so if you lock the doors and close them you can't get into the car. There was a.system in the car when I got it, but the relays were all shot and I had not realized that I absolutely had to have it. So I took it out. I don't have pics of how it was before. I had to install jumpers in the wiring to get the locks going again




I just have to figure out the wiring again. I've seen post in here about it. I have new relays on hand for the job. A couple of questions to you guys though. In this pic you see a a black plug with a yellow blue and light blue/red wire. The light blue/red wire is cut and spliced into a red wire in the main harness. Any idea why that would be? The female plug that it plugs into has a red, blue, and yellow wire in it.



 
Second question. The main wiring harness does not run in the frame of the car behind the driver's kick panel. It's outside it between the frame and kick panel. Should it be in the frame? It doesn't look right.
 

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The PCV valve and grommet on my car are shot. When I pulled out the old grommet it appeared to have been installed in the intake using gasket sealant. Does this grommet need to be sealed in or just pushed into the intake?