A/C Heater Box

[peterro]

I'll give this another go.

I'm looking to repair this broken drain pipe from the AC box. Any thoughts? I don't have the piece that was broken off, it was long gone before I got the box. Anyone have a trashed box with this piece unbroken? What products would be recommended to repair? It's the water drain for the evaporator.



I tried to embed the picture but I can't seem to get that to work.

Thanks.

[ShelbyDogg]

Also, is the rubber gasket that is pretty thick that goes between the box and the cowl available? I have the DMT AC box rebuild kit and I didn't see it in there.

I go a firewall gasket kit from this place.  http://www.megapartsusa.com/

It had all of the A/C-Heater gaskets in the kit. I see them every year at the Columbia, MO swap meet then again in August at the Mopar Nationals.  If that is the only gasket that you need, I would try to make it out of dense foam from a hobby store.

[rallye73]

We made some repairs to mine ac box using 3m auto mix structural adhesive (panel bond).

[miketyler]

I rebuilt mine complete. Had a coupole of fiberglass cracks that had to be repaired. I was pretty sure I used strip calk on the halves to seal the case but malybe was a thin foam gasket. Let me dig thru my pics....

[miketyler]

I would get a piece of copper tube the same size as the ID of the hole. Put several coats of wax on it and insert it and then wrap with fiberglass cloth and resin. You are rebuilding the case? I would lay in some cloth on the inside as well making sure the path is clear for condensate flow. Once the repoair has set, carefully remove the copper tube.

[ShelbyDogg]

Also, is the rubber gasket that is pretty thick that goes between the box and the cowl available? I have the DMT AC box rebuild kit and I didn't see it in there.

I was looking through my DMT (Detroit Muscle Technologies) e-body flyer and the picture clearly shows that you should have a blower motor to firewall gasket.  Time to call them. The # is 586-777-7167  The gasket is dense foam 5-1/6" to 3/8". Same thickness at the gasket that the evaporator and heater hoses go through.

[ShelbyDogg]

Put several coats of wax on it and insert it and then wrap with fiberglass cloth and resin. You are rebuilding the case? I would lay in some cloth on the inside as well making sure the path is clear for condensate flow.

Fiberglass resin and cloth never really stays bonded to the material used for the heater boxes. I've seen videos of guys repairing broken car parts with Norton's 2-part urethane panel adhesive. They first put in a piece of styrofoam, then coated it with the adhesive. After it setup, they melted away the styrofoam with lacquer thinner. Styrofaom can be used on the outside of the tube to hold the thickness too. The guy was making some think repairs with it. It will surely bond the broken piece back on too. It will be stronger that the surrounding material.

[peterro]

It will surely bond the broken piece back on too.

Well, if I had the piece to glue back on, I'd be in much better shape. I was thinking that if someone had a trashed box, they might be willing to cut a section out to replace the piece I'm missing.

As far as the rubber gasket, it's between the box and the cowl not the box and the firewall. I believe it's the main air intake on the top of the box. That gasket (the original is rubber, not foam) does not come with the kit.

Found it:  http://shop.detroitmuscletechnologies.com/product.sc?productId=139

[ShelbyDogg]

I found JamesFreddys (a member here) YouTube link of repairing a 73 Challenger grill that was missing pieces, that he made out of Dura mix.  Fast forward to the 4 minute mark after the shop tour. Could be used to repair that broken drain.

Thanks for the tutorial Jeff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7htaj-ylds