1968 Imperial Crown Project  

Imperial Heart Surgery:  Freshening the Motor, and Some Other Stuff

March 11, 2014:  Heater core issues.

I had the guys pull the leaky heater core.  This did not make me popular in the shop.

It looks kinda like this under there:

And then, there's this.  Hey, there is a heater core up in there!

These pictures came to me in a text message that said simply, "what a cluster."  

The heater core is bad, but the problem I had was finding the proper replacement.  The first thing I found was this part available on eBay for $361 including shipping and for nearly $400 on Amazon (yikes):

This seems to match what is pictured as "typical" in the shop manual:

But here is what actually came out of the car:

This object is clearly not the same as the prior two.  In particular, it's missing the water bypass valve and associated plumbing.  However, that is what's "typical," according to the service manual.  It's possible that these parts weren't present on Imperials with Autotemp Air Conditioning.  

My next step was to call a local radiator shop.  The owner there was quite helpful.  I explained the problem, and he said he was going to tell me where to go.  And then he did.

Specifically, he sent me to Old Air Products.  I went to their site and found this, which appears to be a correct replacement for the part that came out of the car:

This core is available for $225, and it is the part we will be using.  Tada!  On to the next challenge.

http://www.oldairproducts.com/catalog/heater-cores/16-4513cb/heater-core-p-2275.html  

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