The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Which Heater and How's it Work?

I pulled the casing off the core on my 52'. This isn't the heater mounted to the side vent, but comes straight out of the fire wall. It has a diverted knob for heat/defrost. It has a 3-speed fan swithch located at dash bottom just to the left of the steering column. But how do you control the temp? Also, is there a manual/guide that shows clearly anything and everything ever mounted on, in, around and under the dash on the Advanced Design?
Oh, and while I'm at it, what does the original horn look like on a 52' and was it located on the intake manifold in front of the carb?

Horn mounts on the intake.
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The heater should have a flow control switch on the fire-wall .The controll knob is just to the left and just below the glove-box door on the lower edge of the dash.

Rattletrap:
Most of the restoration parts suppliers have Factory Assembly Manuals (reprints) available.
They will provide you with a good view of the dash. The electrical section will give you a good view of the wiring, guage placement, etc.
As I recall there were two types of heaters available, a standard and a fresh air model, which do you have.
BuBBAB52

I'm not sure which heater is which, but the fresh air model sounds like it mounts on side vent intake. My neighbors 49' has that one. Mine mounts right in front of the passengers knees. Could you reccomend a parts manufacturer that you know has good views/pictures of the entire cab?

Rattletrap, Check out www.oldgmctrucks.com, click on to Tech. stuff, then click on to Factory accessories 1954, and you will see a picture of both factory heaters for 47-54 Chevy & GMC trucks. Yours should look like one of these ,unless you have one of the after market brands that was available back then.

Spanky,
You included a comma in your link. Try this:

www.oldgmctrucks.com

THANKS! Jeff, I guess I got a little carried away . I always try to put my periods ,& comas etc. in the correct spot.

Rattletrap,
my heater is mounted on the firewall and does not draw fresh air. My heater does not have a heat control for the coolant but does have a diverter for the air that varies the flow from the floor to the windshield. It also has the multi position speed switch mounted to the bottom of the dash.

Truckernix,
I think we have the same 'Economy' heater. How then is the heat regulated if you can't control the flow of the coolant?
Didn't the folks in the South complain?

Oh come on, we're lucky that a heater was standard equipment, aren't we?

The switch for the fan speed was the only control (air movement over the "radiator") on the standard heater. For us southerners (I'm from VA), there were aftermarket heater flow valves that could be installed at the engine side of inlet water hoses. This way, in summer you could turn off all the water flow to the heater. "Chevs of the 40s" use to sell these valves. Being cheap, I use to disconnect the hoses to the heater during the summer (took off one hose altogether and ran the other hose from heater inlet-to-outlet on the engine side).

Tim

Rattletrap,
I wouldn't be surprised if this were a dealer install. The switch mounted on the bottom of the dash and the wiring on mine look more like an add on than a factory item. When I put my truck back together, I will put a set of valves under the hood to shut it off in summer time. I really like the simplicity of this old machinery, it is exactly to my taste!

Rattletrap52,

I do not have any good photos of the dash but here is a diagram of the recirculating heater system that comes from the 1954 Accessories Installation Manual.
[img]http://home.nycap.rr.com/lederman/images/heater.jpg[/img]

The heater switch for the Chevrolet Recirculating Heater and the deluxe Air-Flow Heater were mounted in about the same location, under the dash to the left of the steering wheel.

By the way, I think I was wrong in my posting above regarding a heater being standard equipment. The 1954 Truck Data Book does not show any heater as standard equipment. Both heaters were dealer-installed accessories.

Tim

The only control for the heat on the economy heater was the fan switch. Worked because there was no fresh air flowing through the heater. There is a valve that can be installed on the engine output to shut off the heater in the summer.
Right side

Here's a pic of the original horn on my 52.
Left side

And the heater was an option. Our neighbor bought a new 59 Fored 1/2 ton and was surprised when dad asked him why he bought a truck without a heater in Kansas.

Fred T et al,
Thank you all for the replys. I think everything is explained.
Fred T, w/ the pics shown, espacially in the 'left' photo, horn placement and horn show me I have the right one in the right place. But, I see that your fuel line bends towards the valve cover to avoid the bulbous backside of the horn. Thats an adjustment I'll have to make. Also, I see you installed an oil cleaner (appears to be a Fram)on the intake manifold. I also acquired one as well, but the mating bracket for the C-clamps are too narrow. Any idea where I might locate another w/ the proper spread? And, one more thing; your intake and espacially your exhaust manifolds look great! I've read some older threads about paint for high temp. Since I have acquired another set, which look great now, what do you have on there and for how long. Also, if you reinstalled these yourself, what was the procedure to minimize damage (headaches) in removing the old and very rusted?
Thanks in advance.

Rattle, Yes heater flows all the time. Doesn't work worth a snot when cold, but great when it's warm! I have one in my 54 like that. There is a valve to go into water pump from Chevs of the 40s like someone said. I just got new catalog. I'm wondering if it is problem holding back the flow for pump or if water goes bad in lines to heater and it's core from not moving or what? Seems like any rust would settle out and clog the heater there later. Between the heater and the exhaust heat, engine heat coming up thru a bare floor it works too good in summer! :rolleyes: I'm glad I got mine, mostly for defrost, which only works half-*ss too. Heat in these old rigs is marginal at best. What were they thinking??

I was pulling the mangled heater off the firewall when I noticed the plate on the passenger side kickpanel corresponds to one of the vents on the heater box. In the summer you can take this panel off and open the vent on the heater box that faces that hole (close the others). The heat will head out through the louvered cowl instead of building up inside the cab.

Hedgehog,
Now wait a minute. Are you taking about the 'Economy' Heater? If so, that vent is only about an inch square. I think its purpose was to pull a snall amount of cabin air in. I might be missing something from the kick panel area though. The other owner pop-riveted fiberglass panels in. I can see part the the exterior louvers with mounting holes in the upper left/right corners of the inside cowl panel. My guess is the 'Fresh Air' Delux heater mounted there. :rolleyes:

Does the heater in question look like this?

Sorry about the poor photo quality.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/58753176/61583211zjPoZO

afu45,
Yep.

Oil filter clamps. I admit that I cheated. The clamps for the 216 were to small for the 235 manifold, so I went to the hardware store and bought some. Bent them to fit the intake and painted them.

Manifold paint. The intake is supposed to be black on the trucks, blue on the cars. I used POR manifold paint and goofed. The can label didn't say that it had to be heated right after painting, so I waited a month after painting until I started the engine. I now have some rust bleeding through, but not much. From what I have been told since, all the manifold paints will rust through, but I think if I had baked the manifolds right after I painted them they would still be ok. My POR rep told me that when properly applied, their product doesn't rust through.

To remove old manifolds I use Kroil and heat when necessary. PB Blaster works good, too. The big problem is separating the manifolds, I have yet to get one apart without breaking a bolt. But that's life when you work on these old gals. I've been working on them since the mid 60's.

When putting them back together, don't use stainless bolts. I did and regretted it. Bought one of the engine bolt kits with bolts made in lower slobbovia. They weren't properly heat treated and the manifold heat made them hard and brittle. Also had problems with thread galling when using stainless bolts with stainless nuts, and I knew better than that. It would be okay to use a high quality stainless bolt (such as ARP) with known properties, but you will still need to use an alloy steel nut.

Fred T,
Thank you for the reply. Question? Are the clamps that you are refering to the C-bolts around the manifold or the bracket surrounding the filter?
The slots on my bracket were for a smaller C-bolt.
Do you know where I could obtain another bracket to fit the spread?

The bolts. I can't recall the size, but I got the same thread but for the next size bigger pipe. They aren't to hard to bend, either.

Looks nice Fred . it'll run better under load with out that tiny air filter choking it .