All I have is a maintenance manual, and it doesn't have a thing to do with the heater. I have a '52 GMC, and I need to remove the heater and put a new 12 volt motor in it. While I'm at it, I will pretty it up as well, but I would like to see how the thing is supposed to come apart before I get started on this. The heater is the kind that pulls fresh air in from the side of the cab through a vent. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
devestechnet.com has a good heater restoration article. I'm in the middle of doing one now using his info.
That is awesome!!! Thank you, Elvin. That will work perfect! I will save some time by just sticking the new motor in, sans the old 6 volt casing. YaaHoo! My Spring Break project! (just because the outdoor temps should be good for rattle can painting)
I have rebuilt & restored a lot of those heaters over the years, but it got to the point that it cost more to restore them than people were willing to pay for a complete system that was ready to install.
Take your time taking it apart and take pictures. I did mine 8 years ago. It's not rocket science. I bought the wrinkle finish paint at Home Depot upon the recommendation of a forum member. I forget the exact name of the color but it's not hard to figure out when you're at the store. They don't have too many colors in the "hammered" finish. I took the whole thing apart, sand blasted the pieces, got my local radiator shop to replace the core (pricey) and I put it back together. Local radiator shop put the mounting flanges on the core backwards, so I had to de-solder and re-solder the mounting flanges back on myself. Sometimes NOBODY does good work. I guess the guy at the radiator shop DIDN'T take pictures before he took the flanges off...Duh. Andy
I believe my core is good to go. I'm just not looking forward to screwing with those clutch head screws... Like the Stones, I want to paint it black. (when I get that far) It will just be nice to have it 12 volt and ready to go for next winter. What did you do for the switch to it, Andy? Did you just buy the 12 volt one?