I figured I'd tackle the surviving (or at least, APPEARS to be surviving) heater box and related bits in this go.
First off is the coolant hose coming in from the top. Remove the clamp, and a bit of poking with a small flathead screwdriver, and off it goes!
Next, I removed a small mounting plate on the forward end of the top of the heat exchanger, which had attached to it a mount for what I assume is the windshield wiper fluid reservoir.
At this point, I realize that I'm not going to get very far without removing the drainage hose from the bottom of the heat exchanger - and accessing that from the top? No way. I'll have to get under the car - and that's not going to happen while it's on its wheels. I need to get the front end set up on jackstands for that task.
And while leaning over and poking a light down that way - I can see where the cardboard of the air duct has degraded significantly, farther down and going underneath. I suspected as much.
Seeing as it's freaking cold out, and I don't want to monkey with getting the jack and jackstands squared away - plus the fact that I'd really like to get some other opinions on WHERE to place the jackstands so as not to cause damage or risk the car dropping - I decide to put this off for another day. Instead, I figure I'll switch sides and remove the last remnant of my right side heater box, which is a mounting plate.
Looks easy enough. Four screws right? Well, maybe not. Maybe only three, and something else going on.
I get the three screws out (two easily; one strips immediately and with a combination of Deep Creep, a drill, and some needlenose pliers, I get it out in time)... but that last bit doesn't look right. Done for the night, methinks.
The next day, after consulting the oracle (otherwise known as the Ponton group), I learn that there's a bolt that comes from inside the passenger area, that threads through part of the mount. And sure enough, those bits are on the mount plates on my new heater box reproductions. A little poking about above the passenger floorboard...
...and there it is, that bolt on the right side. Easy enough to remove. Then it's a matter of fighting some 52-year-old rubber that just doesn't want to let go.
Done and done. And this process reveals a couple of small spots that have rusted out. Nothing critical, I figure, but we'll see when the time comes that I have the body properly stripped.
I'll obviously need new rubber gaskets to go between these areas and the mounting plates of the heater boxes. I'm also going to need similar rubber bits for sealing up the areas between the heater boxes and the heat exchanges on the top. Both of these bits seem pretty simple, just flat pieces trimmed down properly - I may well just get some sheets of an appropriate material, find or make some templates, and cut'em out myself. One fellow on the Ponton group thinks he has a spare pair of the heat exchanger seals - we'll see.
Aha! A German site has both gaskets listed...
http://85.25.136.73/Thyssen-p463h20s29-Gummidichtung-Waerme.html (heat exchanger)
http://85.25.136.73/Thyssen-p462h20s29-Gummiunterlage-Luftk.html (heater box plate)
There's also rolls of gasket material (of various thickness) available out on the internets as well. I may just go that route with these pieces, save myself a fair bit of filthy lucre.
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