Today, I truly start on getting this car back in shape.
The first thing I'm tackling is what's called a "heater box". It's a bit that, as best I can tell, takes heat from the radiator and shuffles it through to the vents in the passenger area.
This is the heater box on the driver's side. It's reasonably intact.
This is what's left of the heater box on the passenger side of the engine. Not quite intact. :)
The main shells of these things are made of *cardboard*. Thick cardboard - sturdy cardboard - but cardboard. And hence, prone to rot and disintegrate. You can see where someone (my dad, or my cousin - no telling) threw some duck tape on the left side at one point.
In the main part, however, is the radiator. I'm hoping this part is salvageable. So, first order of business - get rid of all that old flaky cardboard.
The bit near the top, with the remnant of a hose attached, is a valve that controls whether heat is passed out to the air vent in the dashboard. At least, that's the impression I currently have. I could be wrong. :)
There's a good page on repairing this valve on the Ponton site:
So far so good. However, I'm unsure as to how these heater boxes were assembled. From what I can tell, the radiator part (see below) is inserted into a slot in the shell, and then attached.
My problem now is that there seems to be parts of the cardboard up under the lip of the top of the radiator, that I can't get to. I can't yet tell if the top part, with the valve, comes off the main part of the radiator, allowing for the removal of the cardboard trapped between.
Photos of replacement heater cores show them without the top plate where the valve is, so I assume it's removable.
Fortunately, there are replacements available - the heater radiators themselves (should this one be shot), and the shells. Nowadays, there are plastic shells available, instead of the cardboard. Much sturdier! My intent is to set up the Merc with these plastic shells. I've waffled back and forth as far as how "authentic" I want to go with this restoration - and I've decided that mechanically, I'm not going to worry too much about that, and set things up as bulletproof as possible. I don't intend to turn this into a show car, I don't intend to sell it - I intend to DRIVE it and to keep it as long as I possibly can.
We'll see how much these plastic shells cost. I've seen prices from around $95 for the plastic (or fiberglass) shell, sans mount holes/etc., to $575 for a complete heater box (excluding the radiator, which goes for around $225). I've poked around one online parts site, and there are photos of some bits, no photos of others. I guess I'll have to wait to get ahold of the service manual CDs to really get a good idea.
Update: A fellow on the Ponton group tells me that the top plate is permanently attached to the radiator, and suggested soaking that bit in water overnight to goo up the cardboard so it could be scraped out.
I wonder if this was always the case, though, as I've seen photos of just the radiator on online parts sites, without the top plate.
Update 2: After soaking the cardboard-infested area of the unit for a couple or three hours, I went back down to the garage and managed to scrape away the remaining cardboard, along with the remains of a rubber seal around that area as well. I'm now left with what appears to be the radiator itself, and the metal plate sitting on top. I can see a metal lip on the plate, that comes down around the radiator on that end just a bit. Another fellow on the Ponton site said he had to work the two pieces apart by getting a putty knife in there to loosen them up. Looks like a fun job. :/
What a mess!
Also, another Pontoneer posted that he has some spare heater cores that he's willing to part with, so if this particular core (or even the other, that's still in the car) is bad, I've got options.
Update 3: Whew, glad I didn't go any further. Turns out the heater core is inside a framework that is part of the metal plate. If I'd somehow gotten them apart, that would have been bad.
I pulled that padded area off the bottom (see above pic) and puzzled out that the heater core slides up into that framework. That, plus the pic of a heater core by itself - with no frame around it - kinda gave it away.
As it turns out, I don't think I need to separate them anyhow. I ran some water through the unit, and it passed through just fine (though the first time, it didn't come out quite as clean as when it went in). And the control valve seems to work fine as well. So, I think the unit is in good shape. I'll have to get it pressure-tested to be sure, though. And I have another Pontoneer who has available the rubber seals needed for under the metal plate.
Update 3: Whew, glad I didn't go any further. Turns out the heater core is inside a framework that is part of the metal plate. If I'd somehow gotten them apart, that would have been bad.
I pulled that padded area off the bottom (see above pic) and puzzled out that the heater core slides up into that framework. That, plus the pic of a heater core by itself - with no frame around it - kinda gave it away.
As it turns out, I don't think I need to separate them anyhow. I ran some water through the unit, and it passed through just fine (though the first time, it didn't come out quite as clean as when it went in). And the control valve seems to work fine as well. So, I think the unit is in good shape. I'll have to get it pressure-tested to be sure, though. And I have another Pontoneer who has available the rubber seals needed for under the metal plate.
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