The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1957 CHEVY TRUCK HEATER

Thanks to this forum, I was able to get the coil rebuilt on my 57 chevy standard truck heater. Now that I have it assembled however, I can't believe that this was the orig design. The round coil accomodates a pretty strong little three speed motor nesting in the middle of the coil. That motor propels the fan that is mounted in front of the coil. The air flow is nothing but a dribble. The fan blade pitch appears to be correct and the fan blade rpm is more than adequate. Am I doing something wrong, missing a part or was this the acceptable amount of heat and defrost flow? Appreciate anyones experience with this as I am mystified. Thanks

Bob K

Bob - is the heater one similar to this?

the 3 variations of TF heater didn't have round cores

Bill

Thats just what I have honeybear. I just restored it and yes thats all it does. Not much good here in Missouri. My Dad had a 58 Apache with the "Deluxe" heater and it worked really well for the Colorado climate. I am keeping this one for the time being but I wouldn't mind having something a lot better someday.

bill thank for the reply. similar to your pix but not exactly. I took a pix and if I can figure how to send it to you, it will be attached or on another email to follow.

Thanks for the reply. Even though I live in Florida, I am dissappointed with the heater design. I can't believe they settled for that. It does give off some heat, but with a motor as powerful as the 3 speed that is in there, it is a pitiful waste. Not sure the defroster would even work up where you are. I have relatives up your way in Joplin, maybe Columbia, St. Joe, KC and other towns. This heater up there would be pretty worthless. Would send you a pix of the heater but not sure how to do that yet in this format. Thanks for reply.

Bob K

The heater on my 57 doesn't look like this. The motor is on top, hidden behind the glove box. Motor is also 3 speed, and the air blast is pretty substantial. Honeybear, are there dampers or flaps obstructing your air flow, or mouse nests in the way?

Russell - your heater will be the factory deluxe or the factory standard

Bill

Russell,

No mice here. If someone will tell me how to import a pix of it, I can do that. Mine is similar to one that red58 has on his website (neither of the two in the last message however).

Bob K

red58 - Obviously, you really know your stuff here and way more than me, however my core had a 57 mark on it, the heater itself really looks like it has been there the same amount of time as everything else and it is in two different factory manuals I have where the drawing is identical to mine. I was not aware there were 3 models though and only thought there was a standard (mine) and the deluxe.

Bob K

I hate to ask the obvious but here goes. Are you sure the motor is turning the right direction? The fan blade is not on backwards? Im really not familiar with what you have so forgive me if I'm asking stupid questions. Your airflow just dont seem right. Does it pull air over the heater core or push air through?
Jeff

yeah, Bob, thinkin about this I remembered an RPO heater that has a round core in the accessories manual - listed here as "recirculating" RPO987654 - never seen one in person, just the "standard" one I linked above - yours must be that one ... I wonder when they dropped that? more mysteries

and I'd appreciate a pic of it to include with the others!

Bill

No stupid questions there. I have checked it and to what I can see, the blade mounting ends up the same if taken off and remounted "backwards". The core fits in the housing and the small motor nests inside the middle of the core with the shaft protruding - the blade is approx the same diameter as the core and rotates in front of the core taking whatever heat is emitted from the core and "blowing" it into only one of two exits provided by the little flap door. The flap pushed in one direction blocks the defroster hose vent and creates in opening into the cab, move the arm the other way and the flap closes the opening into the cab and allows air to move into the defroster hose vents. Flow of air is a dribble however and the motor kicks ***. I will take it apart again and study it some more. Still open to suggestions and opinions though, as I obviously am somewhat new at this. Thanks,

Bob K

OK Bill, I feel better now and looked at your illustration and that is it. I have a great pix of it and looked up some of this UBB and HTML crap and can't really figure out how to include a pix. Probably is easier than I am making it out to be, but I don't understand it. I can email you if you want or whatever, you tell me. Thanks for the confirmation.

Bob K

How about getting a new blade with more pitch?

Bill,

sent you the pix at the apple juice email address

Bob K

Jmoore,

Actually, the reason I am pretty confident about the blade pitch being correct is because I found a used one from some old guy in TX who sent it to me for $10 and it was a perfect match. I got a private email that suggested the motor may be running in wrong direction. I am not sure how to test that, or reverse it, but will take it apart again this weekend and play with it. Thanks,

Bob K

got the pics Bob - I'll put the heater ones up, and you hopefully have submitted truck pics to the editor for the gallery, that's a real nice 57
also, for posting pics in the forums, see the Manual linked in my sig line

you can reverse the motor rotation by temporarily switching the + and ground, if the motor has 2 wires from it, which would mean it's possible they are reversed - if one wire, it's getting ground via the case, so it'd have to be an internal switch, not likely if it's an unmolested original .... you can check it easily when you have it apart and the motor is separate

Bill

Red58, I saw the pictures of the heaters you posted. I have a 57 with the deluxe heater. Looks like you had a rusty one & painted it. Where did you get the color & paint for it?
(Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the post with my question)

no hijack, we're talkin heaters
the rusty one is still rusty, the other one wasn't as rusty, but I did rebuild it all - the color is PlastiKote hammertone gray, which I used for most of the interior on my Frankentruck interior - I like it alot, reminds me of the "old days" and suits the heaters perfectly

Bill

Thanks for the paint info. I like the color and need to paint my heater box. The mice lived inside it too many years before I got the truck so I have to strip it to bare metal & repaint it.

Good luck with that 57 Alan. This is a good website for a project like that. Hope you made a killing selling that boat and it was a yacht. I am kidding with you but you do have a job ahead of you. Enjoy and I cant wait to see it when you are done.

Bob K

Bob,
You need a De-Humidified Heater/Defroster..

www.classicautoair.com

check them out.. thats who I used.


Cliff59

Cliff,

Thanks. I assume you called the TX branch. I did talk to them and sent them an email too. I spoke with Brady. He suggested I put in A/C with heater, but at this point still looking to keep it orig with heater and make the one I have work. He was of the same opinion as others though that maybe I don't have a port or source for the heater to draw air. Also said I need to ck and see if motor is rotating fan in correct direction. I will ck both this weekend. Thanks,

Bob K