Stage II heads and AC box, delete heat?

[Squid4life]

I know there is the Norbs thread, went through all 57+ pages of it the other night, and didn’t really see anything. I know Nick M has a killer Vintage Air setup that works well, but it’s out of my price range. I have seen the ATR kidney plates, read of smaller heater cores being used.

I was originally going to run AC/heat delete as this was going to be a max effort stage headed street car 85 GN. But I may be picking up a super clean, low mile 87 GN that I want to out the stage motor in. I could change to production heads but that means buying heads, rockers, intake, headers, turbo. I already have everything for the SII headed setup, so modifying the ac/heater box seems more reasonable. I live in Hawaii, so to be honest I could delete the heater altogether, but even a 1/2 sized heater core would be sufficient. Would prefer to retain AC though.
So do I just try to find a smaller heater core (or delete it) and modify the ac/heater box through mock up and trial and error? Never done fiberglass work but willing to give it a shot. May have to get a different box, not sure I want to destroy the original.

Any other ideas or suggestions? Anything change in the past 4-5 years since I was out of Buicks?

 

[turbobitt]

I know there is the Norbs thread, went through all 57+ pages of it the other night, and didn’t really see anything. I know Nick M has a killer Vintage Air setup that works well, but it’s out of my price range. I have seen the ATR kidney plates, read of smaller heater cores being used.

I was originally going to run AC/heat delete as this was going to be a max effort stage headed street car 85 GN. But I may be picking up a super clean, low mile 87 GN that I want to out the stage motor in. I could change to production heads but that means buying heads, rockers, intake, headers, turbo. I already have everything for the SII headed setup, so modifying the ac/heater box seems more reasonable. I live in Hawaii, so to be honest I could delete the heater altogether, but even a 1/2 sized heater core would be sufficient. Would prefer to retain AC though.
So do I just try to find a smaller heater core (or delete it) and modify the ac/heater box through mock up and trial and error? Never done fiberglass work but willing to give it a shot. May have to get a different box, not sure I want to destroy the original.

Any other ideas or suggestions? Anything change in the past 4-5 years since I was out of Buicks?

I have the ATR style heater core/kidney plate installed already on a box that I removed from my car that I may be willing to leg go.
AG


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Squid4life]

I have the ATR style heater core/kidney plate installed already on a box that I removed from my car that I may be willing to leg go.
AG


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ll PM you.

 

[Mr.Spool]

Any other ideas or suggestions?

life is short and make the car the way you want it.you live in a stunning part of the world.

 

[slaphappy]

Squid,
I recently removed a working AC unit from my GN and you are welcome to it to experiment on. Give me a call or send me an IM to pick it up in Mililani.

 

[boostingbuick]

I have some issues with this, the a/c system, or the evaporator is not the issue. The issue is the heater core. The height of the heads and valve covers is the issue. Plus moving the head/valve cover back .120 does not help. But is not impossible to over come, but not easy as well. I have put an on center stage headed engine in my car with a/c and heat. A thinner heater core and cutting the heater box is the cure, if you call it one. And I had to build the blend door from scratch, since the factory one would not work with the heater core moved inward. It really depends on what it really means to you, and how much flaming you can handle on the net. I give it to Norbs to put some info out there for the ones who need it, but all the ones giving him a negative response has kept me from putting my build out there. But I will help if someone needs some info.

 

[Squid4life]

I have some issues with this, the a/c system, or the evaporator is not the issue. The issue is the heater core. The height of the heads and valve covers is the issue. Plus moving the head/valve cover back .120 does not help. But is not impossible to over come, but not easy as well. I have put an on center stage headed engine in my car with a/c and heat. A thinner heater core and cutting the heater box is the cure, if you call it one. And I had to build the blend door from scratch, since the factory one would not work with the heater core moved inward. It really depends on what it really means to you, and how much flaming you can handle on the net. I give it to Norbs to put some info out there for the ones who need it, but all the ones giving him a negative response has kept me from putting my build out there. But I will help if someone needs some info.

View attachment 349557 View attachment 349558 View attachment 349559 View attachment 349560

I know it's the heater core/box that is the issue, not the AC. Like I said, I would like to keep the AC, could survive without the heater core altogether if need be. 65 degrees isn't terrible, and that is about the "worst" it gets here. I am fine with finding a different heater core, or deleting it, as well as modifying the heater/AC box. I will however put my original parts in the attic just in case. Thank you for the pics, and the info on the blend door, that helps greatly. As for flaming on the web or someone else's opinion, I could care less. I have more important things in life than some keyboard troll talking trash because he doesn't agree with how I do something. Makes zero difference to me how they feel. Again, I truly appreciate you sharing those pics and info, it is extremely helpful. Thank you Sir.

 

[boostingbuick]

Here are some more pics, and I did not take pics of all the steps, so I will post what I have. The valve cover comes off very easy and has good clearance giving the tight room.

 

[boostingbuick]

Here is the blend door housing I made. I used the factory door, but the blend door housing I built. The heater selector moves normal but stop just short of full cold and full hot since the door has less swing with the room provided. The last pic was the first part of the build. I can not find or did not take one of the factory door install in the new housing.

 

[boostingbuick]

Here is the heater core build, not an easy job since the heater core is soldered and welding creates more heat than the solder can handle.

 

[boostingbuick]

Here is one I forgot to post.

 

[norbs]

Are you sure you can get the valve cover off, you need a ton of room to lift it up once the rockers are on. Looks great though, great job.

 

[boostingbuick]

Are you sure you can get the valve cover off, you need a ton of room to lift it up once the rockers are on. Looks great though, great job.

Yes sir, being a solid roller I made sure that it would come off without beating up my powder coating.

I want to say "Thank you" for sharing your work, It gave me some ideas and all the pictures let me solve some issues that I knew were going to happen. I like people that try, win or fail and share for others to learn. I was truly disappointed with the negative comments you received, mostly from other who have not and would not try something crazy. I remember when the Buick community was a family, we all pulled for each other and those days seem to be gone.