HM2038 Build

[Paul Proefrock]

Depending on your location, the addition of a heater will extend your driving season about two months. In Saint Louis, I am able to drive almost year-round although Jan/Feb are pretty raw. Without the heater, drives below 30 degrees get pretty chilly

Paul

[Bass And Hot Rods]

Paul do you have pictures of your heater installed?

[dawger]

I can attest to that, close and complicated, then throw in wipers on top of all that mess it gets really tight and congested under/behind the dash.

Michael

[Paul Proefrock]

Paul do you have pictures of your heater installed?

I chose to modify mine a little before I put it in. The standard ones don't have an outlet for the defroster vents so I welded a couple 2" tubes on the box before installing.

I also knew to add a hose clearance mod on the cowl upright, it is right in line with where the hose runs. This picture has the cover off the heater as I was working on some alignment issues. The 2nd picture is from my first build and shows how the hose and cowl support get in the way of each other. Allso gives you some idea of where it fits in relation to the cross tubes.

A heater can be installed after the build is complete but it would be unbelievably difficult. Better to do it before the body goes on.

[Redstang69]

The dash support is a little different now.

[Bass And Hot Rods]

The dash support is a little different now.

That is the one I got.  Is the spline shaft really a tight fit?  Did you lube or ream it?

[Paul Proefrock]

The dash support is a little different now.

Yes, it is. But if you plan to run hoses for the defroster, you still need to relocate the lower 2-1/2" of the leg. The first picture I posted was from my GenI build. This is a shot of my second car.

Note: the upper leg addition was to stabilize the forward cowl tube that serves as a mount for my hood latch brackets.

[Redstang69]

Larry, yes I had to ream the bronze bushing slightly to get the spline shaft to go through. I used a sanding drum on a Dremel and it worked pretty well.

Interesting Paul, I just redid my weather strip and set my tub back on. I'll have to start fitting the heater and see what all I need to do.

[Bass And Hot Rods]

Well, more progress

https://youtu.be/BCbPf65loAE

[Bass And Hot Rods]

Wife out of town, so I have lived in the shop this weekend

https://youtu.be/T8PdwHcL7SY

[Greg K]

Larry,

How are you planning to vent the cooling system, appear to have an air pocket above filler neck and t-stat housing?

[Bass And Hot Rods]

Still working on that.  In the mock up stage.  I think I'm going to do some trimming to the 90 and move the filler spout up a bit, then connect with a straight pipe that came with my kit.

[Bass And Hot Rods]

Larry,

How are you planning to vent the cooling system, appear to have an air pocket above filler neck and t-stat housing?

Did some rearranging and it is at the high point now.

[Redstang69]

Larry you're really rolling along. Great videos with detail. I'm envious of how you got the heater to fit that way. I tried multiple combinations Saturday and the standard configuration is the only way that works for me. I can tell your footbox is far enough forward to make yours work in the spot you have it. You might want to drop your body on and make sure everything lines up ok. I had to shove my tub all the way to the rear to get the body to square up and my windshield squared up decent. Your body studs and upper frame might be made slightly different than mine.

[Bass And Hot Rods]

Ran into a part issue as I'm finding things to do while waiting on a few key pieces from Hurricane.  I have started preliminary work on the steering shaft, and discovered my splined shaft is NOT threaded for the 9/16 18 bolt to go in.  This required me to purchase a 33/64 bit to drill it out to accept the 9/16 18 tap to create the threads (Thanks Jim for loaning me the tap and saving me the money.  Tapping threads is always a bit nerve wrecking for me, but I managed to get it done.