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You are here: Home My Truck Projects The '67 Page 51
Back to My '67 Project Index
Tearing Down a Factory A/C Unit

Sunday, October 30, 2005  -  I spent a few hours this afternoon getting some parts boxed up for shipment, and then decided to kill a little time getting acquainted with the factory underdash A/C setup, since this is what I'll be using for my project truck. I have three units, two of which had cracked cases and therefore would be my parts units and a third with very minor case damage that I would repair and use.

First of all, I was kinda surprised to discover that the three factory A/C units I have were all a little different. Even though I've had them all for some time, I'd never really paid that close attention to them. In case you weren't already aware, '68 was the first year for the large suitcase-type factory A/C unit. The '68-'69 units' front aluminum trim panel was black with silver horizontal ribs, which was replaced with a flat woodgrain panel for the '70-'72 trucks. The front register vents are also styled differently....except on the '70 model. It appears that '70 was a transition year, in that the A/C units used the earlier-style register vents but got the new front woodgrain trim panel.

Since I figured I'd probably break something during disassembly, mainly due to my inexperience with them, I grabbed the unit with the worst case damage and set it up on the workbench for disassembly, which was the '68 unit (Fig. 2). The first order of business was to get the front case cover off. After removing about a half-dozen screws, it became apparent that unless I kept track of where each screw was removed, I'd have a heck of a time during reassembly....so I came up with a neat idea. I cut out a chunk of cardboard app. 12" x 16", drew a rough sketch of the A/C unit on it, and then placed each screw into the approximate location on the sketch (Fig. 3). This will help immensely during the reassembly process.

After removing the front case cover (Fig. 4), I got my first glimpse of the inside....and man, it wasn't pretty. Since this unit had come from a non-operational parts truck that had been sitting for a while and had become a home for field mice, there was some nasty-smelling debris inside that I could see would need to be cleaned out once I got into it a little more.

Next on the list was to remove the A/C evaporator. It's simply screwed down with 4 sheetmetal screws (Fig. 5). Then I removed several more screws to remove the metal plate that the blower motor is secured to, and set it out of the way.

The metal plate underneath the condenser is what needs to be removed next, to get access to the heater core (Fig. 6). The core is retained by four sheetmetal screws.

At this point the A/C unit is almost completely disassembled and ready to be cleaned up. I'll be adding another page in the near future showing the cleanup and assembly process. Since I have two other units, I'll be combining the three into one good useable unit. Stay tuned!


Fig. 1 - This shot shows the differences in the front trim panel and the front registers.


Fig. 2 - The '68 unit became the guinea pig for disassembly, since the front grille area had several fins broken out and missing.


Fig. 3 - Here's a view of the 'bolt board' I made to keep track of the screws I removed during the A/C's disassembly. This was taken right after the front cover was removed.


Fig. 4 - Here's a view of the suitcase with the front cover peeled back.


Fig. 5 - The evaporator has been removed, revealing the metal plate underneath, hiding the heater core.


Fig. 6 - The metal plate holding the blower motor was removed and set aside.

Fig. 7 - After the metal plate is removed, you can see the heater core, is held in by four sheetmetal screws.

Fig. 8 - Here's a view of the backside of the front cover.

Fig. 9 - The yellow arrows point to the blower motor retaining pins. To remove, simply rotate and drop out.

Fig. 10 - This shot shows one of the two flapper doors inside the unit, both of which have thin foam for sealing. You can see that it's completely disintegrated and will need replaced....if I can find a source for this stuff.

Fig. 11
- Here's the finished bolt board at the end of the session, along with all the tools needed to disassemble the A/C unit. There are also some small parts saved in the coffee can.
 
 

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