Hello everyone I'm new to this forum, looking for some information about an airflow heater. I have a 48 pickup but I'm trying to gather all the parts to install a air flow heater. So far I've gotten the heater box assembly, that was completely disassembled and re-painted. I have a rebuilt rancor valve in the air on its way, the heater control rod, and I've managed to find the two dash brackets. The problem is I didn't take it apart..... So I'm missing the cable for the vent door, 12v blower motor, 12v switch for the heater, and any other small misc. parts inside... That's where I'm hoping some wisdom may kick in from you guys for either advise or maybe some parts suppliers or used parts? Any help would be appreciated. P.s thanks for letting me join your forum.
Maybe these two articles will help. Hope so... 1950 Deluxe Heater Restoration Making Your Vehicle Native 12 Volts! Scroll down until you find what you are looking for. Good luck!
Thanks for getting back to me so quick! I've seen this site before in all my research, this is a different style heater. Mine has the cable drawn door on the inside of the cab, as far as I knew it was called the "air flow" heater.
The one described in the article has the cable too. If its a 1953 heater, there is another cable that opens/closes the door, but they look exactly the same. If you have a non-deluxe heater, the Rancor valve will not work with it due to placement. Can you take a picture of the heater?
This is a picture of the front cover. (It's not assembled yet, but it has the small door on the front that opens with a cable and shuts the door on the inside by where the heater core would be. Please forgive me if I seem unsure I'm new to this style heater and what names they use like fresh air, air flow, deluxe etc. Thanks for your help.
The rancor valve will work fine with that one. Its a 1953 heater. There is the defrost handle and then there is also the vent cable. All of the instruction on my website applies except for the cable placement. Everything else including the electricals are the same.
Yeah your site has an awesome rebuild of one of those bad boys! I didn't realize it was your site, that's really good stuff suoer helpful. The only thing I don't know is what I'm missing, is there anything that holds the small door onto the case, or is there anything that's supposed to go inside to hold the position of the flap door for the defrost, also I'm missing the rod that connects the two doors together for when you pull the cable.
Really you are not missing that much and probably have what you need. There are two thin pieces of metal about 3/8x1 inch long strips that hold that door into place. I restore these for fun so have everything pretty much memorized. There is a long shaft with the DEFROST that just comes out under the dash that you reach down and twist when you want defrost. When you want fresh air, you pull the cable. Since it does dual purpose, that cable knob has a black DOT in the center for all years. The 1953 heater was totally different from the rest of the years in that it used a fresh air door that opened/closed with the cable. Previous years used that cable to change from floor heat to defrost. It made more sense to me then, but I happen to have a 1953 with that style heater so understand how it works. Rustle all the parts and have fun restoring the heater. The important thing is if its a 12v system, just change out the motor (using the 6v case) so it looks the very same from the firewall side per the instructions on the site. It is a CRIME if you can afford it, to not go to 12v motor if you went to 12v. Its about a $60 or less mod.
Thanks for your help I really appreciate it! I may lean on you with some questions from time to time if that's ok. Do you know where I may find these straps for the door? Also a "knob" or handle for the defrost lever. Maybe if you have some pictures of these parts I can match them or make them if I have too, and I'm definitely going 12v motor, looks like they sell replacement 12v motors on classic parts and the other guys too. P.s. thanks again!
If there are not already pics of the 53 heater on my website I will take one for you so you can see what the knob looks like. The motors that are 12v are not the same diameter, so that is why it is necessary to gut a 6volt motor and use the case for installing the 12v motor inside per the carefully crafted instructions on the site. Whatever you need you can email me and I will get it done. Read the restore instructions carefully for every detail. For example, the 12v motor has an orange and black wire. Orange = Positive right? WRONG. So, doing this right takes some reading, but the end result is worth it.
Thanks for the info! If you get a second if you wouldn't mind taking a couple of pics of the straps for the door and the knob I would appreciate it. The only downside is I will have to buy a 6v motor and 12v so it might get spendy just for a donor. You wouldn't happen to have one all done up you'd sell? If not I'll keep looking on the interwebs for cheap parts to transfer out. I'll re- read on your site also to make sure I didn't miss anything in the pictures or the write up. Thanks again for your time.
I do not have any pictures of the inside of the door which is where those straps are, but they are pretty easy to make if you can't find them. That heater is very rare. My opinion, if you don't have much money in that one, get a 47-52 heater for your 48. Those are more available and the only difference is they do not have a fresh air door. That is because one is not needed on a 48 since you have a drivers side vent on the cab.
I used to restore these heaters & sold a lot of complete heating systems over the years. It finally got too expensive to upgrade to 12 volt motors,rebuild control valves & replace leaking cores. No one was willing to pay for all the parts, time & labor involved in properly restoring a complete system. I quit restoring them all together unless someone places a pre-paid order. .
Yeah, I agree. I have a fully restored one for you, but chances are you would laugh at the $500 I would be asking for it. People do not realize sandblasting down to the bare metal, automotive grade epoxy primer, painting, all new everything including modifying the 6v motor housing to accept the 12v one, then setting up the switching system after the 12v upgrade takes TIME. You can get a complete unrestored one for less than $100, new motor another $50, Paint and Primer maybe $30 tops, and then put the 40+ hours in yourself a LOT cheaper. Then there is the Ranco Valve. The new rubber grommet is getting hard to find and those take some time if you can find one that is any good in the first place. So, what I do is I just document how to do it yourself in detail. That way no money changes hands and everyone walks away happy.
Depends. If you can find a decent original switch you would be doing really good. Reason that is so hard to find is because most of the ones for sale have had 12v applied to them ruining the resistors on the back of the switch. Without those resistors in tact, the switch is useless unless you mount the resistors somewhere else. That is why I engineered the higher wattage resistors/mounting plate system outlined here. That will save a lot of switches with bad resistors on them. I just watch the auction sites when I need one. Not many out there for sale.
Thanks deve. I'm gonna keep on plugging with this heater, I have the winter to find parts and get it assembled. Dead zone trucking, what is that ring in the picture called? Are those available or something I would have to find, I believe it goes under the hood where the blower motor sticks out right? Also if either one of you have any parts for sale let me know what you have. Thanks again.
Also I sent a message to deadzone trucking not sure if you got it or not. Not sure honestly if I sent it right.
