GregorE
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2023
hi everyone!
The pre-owner of my Regal had the heater valve replaced with one of these ugly black plastic ones from China.
Everybody knows that the original heater valve withe the ACD No. 15-5320 (GM 25523118) for our Buicks is no longer available, on ebay you find a very used looking one for 100 $ and two NOS for 300 $ and up. No realistic offers, at least not for me. So I decided to bulid my own stock-looking valve and I'd like to share this with you.
First I bought (about 40 $) an ACDelco Valve ACD No. 15-5302 which seems to have the same vacuum unit like the original one (see pictures 1 & 2). These units are still relatively easy to find on the www.
In addition I bought a cheap manual valve (about 15 $) I found on amazon which seemed to have the correct dimensions and lower tube section (see picture 3).
After disassemling both valves which is pretty easy (see picture 4), I had to widen the hole in the plate of the vaccum unit of the ACDelco valve a bit in order to make the actual cylindrical valve turn freely (see picture 5).
Drilling a hole for a screw into the axis of the cylindrical part (see picture 6) was a real pain in the a**, finding a short screw that fits this hole wasn't easy. If you have one, use a thread cutter to cut a thread into the wall of this hole, otherwise it will be difficult to get the screw in, the metal is really hard!
The most difficult part to get the cylinder in the right position before screwing it to the small lever. I had to grind off the upper rounded part of the centre unit to make the hole of the lever fit firmly. If you leave this part out the valve untit won't turn when the lever moves. (It's a bit complicated to describe this step here. If you try to build your own heater valve you'll find out what I mean.)
In the end all parts were ready to be assembled. Make sure the gasket is installed correctly and the small tabs are firmly attached.
I tested if the valve by filling it with hot water and plugging it at both ends. No leaks!
To protect the valve from corrosion (it suffered some scratches in the anodized surface when working on it) I added some clear coat on the damaged areas.
Alltogether I paid about 55 $ and invested one hour of work to get an almost stock looking, original and working heater valve.
The pre-owner of my Regal had the heater valve replaced with one of these ugly black plastic ones from China.
Everybody knows that the original heater valve withe the ACD No. 15-5320 (GM 25523118) for our Buicks is no longer available, on ebay you find a very used looking one for 100 $ and two NOS for 300 $ and up. No realistic offers, at least not for me. So I decided to bulid my own stock-looking valve and I'd like to share this with you.
First I bought (about 40 $) an ACDelco Valve ACD No. 15-5302 which seems to have the same vacuum unit like the original one (see pictures 1 & 2). These units are still relatively easy to find on the www.
In addition I bought a cheap manual valve (about 15 $) I found on amazon which seemed to have the correct dimensions and lower tube section (see picture 3).
After disassemling both valves which is pretty easy (see picture 4), I had to widen the hole in the plate of the vaccum unit of the ACDelco valve a bit in order to make the actual cylindrical valve turn freely (see picture 5).
Drilling a hole for a screw into the axis of the cylindrical part (see picture 6) was a real pain in the a**, finding a short screw that fits this hole wasn't easy. If you have one, use a thread cutter to cut a thread into the wall of this hole, otherwise it will be difficult to get the screw in, the metal is really hard!
The most difficult part to get the cylinder in the right position before screwing it to the small lever. I had to grind off the upper rounded part of the centre unit to make the hole of the lever fit firmly. If you leave this part out the valve untit won't turn when the lever moves. (It's a bit complicated to describe this step here. If you try to build your own heater valve you'll find out what I mean.)
In the end all parts were ready to be assembled. Make sure the gasket is installed correctly and the small tabs are firmly attached.
I tested if the valve by filling it with hot water and plugging it at both ends. No leaks!
To protect the valve from corrosion (it suffered some scratches in the anodized surface when working on it) I added some clear coat on the damaged areas.
Alltogether I paid about 55 $ and invested one hour of work to get an almost stock looking, original and working heater valve.
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