Heater

I believed the heater core was looking a littlebit tired after 56 years of service, and the fact that someone before me hade cut the hoses inside the enginebay, I decided it was time to do something about it, and see what some time and will, not so much the money and see what could be done. The electric motor did however still work

Unfortunately I never took a before picture but here you have the after one. But now I have a much bigger problems on my hand. The heater is looking so nice that its a shame to mount it in a old worn cab. It doesn´t match.

The whole heater was dismantled  and the smal nuts, bolts, screws and washers was packed in marked plastic bags. So I would know where they where positioned lateron if the renovation would drag out in time.

All of the part where then media blasted inside and out, the parts that needed paint was sent to powdercoating, meanwhile I started to investigat the heater core itself. In one area on the size of a quarter some signs of copper rust was found. I then filled the core with some hotwater and it immediately saw that the dry outersurface started to get wet, bummer. Where do I find a replacement or someone that can change the core material and keep the gable ends.


Thru this article artikel, that covers the radiator renovation of the Futureliner that  Niklas Jonsson is about to renovate, talk about renovation, I found my way to  Umeå maskinkylare AB. Anders Brändström inUmeåsaid that it was no problems to find new replacement cores and solder them to the existing gable ends. This is still on hold as I have had the money yet to put on this core change.

When all of the part came abck from the powder coat I soon realized that it wasn´t that fun to assemble everything using dirty old nuts and bults, so I started to search the WWW to find someone that can zinc-plate the nuts and bolts. I found a company that was called "Bergslagens förnickling" that could take on the job.
Now I had gotten the steam up I started to strip the truck from everything that once has been zink-plated. To simplefy the job for the zink-plater I mediablaster everything and attached everything to a steelwires so it would be really simple for them to put everything in there baths. There is only one porblem when the bar is set high and that is that everything that follows in the renovation needs to reach the same bar or else that particular part will stand out and look awfull. GOD FORBID.



After

Hetare fan wheel Before




















The zink plating really turn out great but on the other hand one could ask yourself, Who in the right state of mind would make the heater fan wheel this good looking, a part that nowone will ever see.?? Well it´s enough that I KNOW that it is in this state, that´s enough for me.


Assembled to the refurbished motor.

New connector cables soldered to the windings,
Old ones just crumbeled when touching.

Mounting the feltseal on the sheet metal flap the direct the airflow
to the windshield of the feets. Notice all teh zinc-plated parts.
Isn´t it good looking.

Assembled in the housing. However i learned
 that springwashers can´t be zinc-plated, the loose
their flex and becomes brittle and cracks. Well well
I will find some new ones.

The distribution housing for the windshield ready. The
small zinc-plated screws really lift the overall look.





Here´s the fan mounted in the core housing. Last chance
to see your own mirror image.

Here the painted frame is also assembled on the heater core front,
all that is missing now is the heater core

Here you can see the area in witch the copper rust is visable.





Unfortunately I never took a before picture but here you have the after one. But now I have a much bigger problems on my hand. The heater is looking so nice that its a shame to mount it in a old worn cab. It doesn´t match.