1964 Pontiac Strato Chief - Heater core parts and replacement - Advice Request

64 Strato · Member

1964 Pontiac Strato Chief - Heater core parts and replacement - Advice Request

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Id recommend a recore at a good local shop if you can find one. Reproductions of these can be questionable quality.

If like my 63, no dash removal needed. The process will be in those manuals when you get them, you remove the nuts from the studs on the firewall side. It takes a lot of patience, small hands, small sockets, to access those up by the passenger fender.

oshawacliff · Poncho Master!

Try to find Spectra for a heater core.

Canadian made product but mostly found on US sites cheaper than in Canada.

Check the wholesale clearance section of Rockauto

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/chevrolet,1964,biscayne,5.3l+327cid+v8,1323470,heat+&+air+conditioning,heater+core,6864

Yes.... they do have Spectra..... one only non A/C

-- Edited by oshawacliff on Monday 10th of July 2023 09:32:12 PM

-- Edited by oshawacliff on Tuesday 11th of July 2023 01:53:05 AM

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Rock auto shows a good selection of cores for the 64 Biscayne, have purchased many times through them, and I can recommend them no issue .

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/chevrolet,1964,biscayne,5.3l+327cid+v8,1323470,heat+&+air+conditioning,heater+core,6864

ZigZag · Addicted!

I just did my heater core in my 64 Parisienne Safari recently, and It's fairly simple - provided you don't have AC. If so, consult a manual.

There's 5 nuts on the firewall side. The lower left one is a little tricky to get at, but it's the hardest part of the job.

Inside behind the glove box, the heater box will pop out and lower down. There should be enough slack in the cables that you won't need to disconnect anything to get at the core.

NOTE: The box has a foam gasket that may fall apart when you remove it. I used a couple dabs of RTV silicone to hold it together while I reinstalled everything.

I picked up my heater core from the local Napa, but double-check the part numbers. The one I got wound up being 2" shorter in length and I had to shim it with some foam.

This is also a good time to lube the moving parts, so have a spray can of white lithium grease handy.

Good luck!

-- Edited by ZigZag on Tuesday 11th of July 2023 08:23:15 AM

oshawacliff · Poncho Master!

Just a tip

The heater inlet and outlet hoses are different sizes.

Flush out (replace) the hoses and replace the thermostat fer a clean start . .

64 Strato · Member

ZigZag wrote:
I just did my heater core in my 64 Parisienne Safari recently, and It's fairly simple - provided you don't have AC. If so, consult a manual.

There's 5 nuts on the firewall side. The lower left one is a little tricky to get at, but it's the hardest part of the job.

Inside behind the glove box, the heater box will pop out and lower down. There should be enough slack in the cables that you won't need to disconnect anything to get at the core.

NOTE: The box has a foam gasket that may fall apart when you remove it. I used a couple dabs of RTV silicone to hold it together while I reinstalled everything.

I picked up my heater core from the local Napa, but double-check the part numbers. The one I got wound up being 2" shorter in length and I had to shim it with some foam.

This is also a good time to lube the moving parts, so have a spray can of white lithium grease handy.

Good luck!

-- Edited by ZigZag on Tuesday 11th of July 2023 08:23:15 AM

Hello ZIGZAG - thank you for the detailed photo series - looks straight forward enough and as you can see in the attached (filthy engine bay as I haven't got my hands on it yet) the heater core box you detail is indeed also in my Strato so your step by step is fantastic. Thanks as well to all the other experts who weighed in on sourcing and rebuilding solutions - Confident I can get this bit done reasonably easily - can't wait to see what else is one deck when it arrives - in about three days. Cheers to all

-- Edited by 64 Strato on Tuesday 11th of July 2023 02:32:05 PM

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Antique Chevrolet in Ontario had the foam gasket when I did my heater.

ZigZag · Addicted!

64 Strato wrote

Hello ZIGZAG - thank you for the detailed photo series - looks straight forward enough and as you can see in the attached (filthy engine bay as I haven't got my hands on it yet) the heater core box you detail is indeed also in my Strato so your step by step is fantastic. Thanks as well to all the other experts who weighed in on sourcing and rebuilding solutions - Confident I can get this bit done reasonably easily - can't wait to see what else is one deck when it arrives - in about three days. Cheers to all

Happy to help!

Looking at your photo, I see the lower hose was cut off. I'll bet the core is leaking because the lower hose was sized to the pipe, and all the prying to remove it caused a hairline crack where the pipe attaches to the core. I may have seen this before. biggrin

I've been journaling my tinkering on my 64 wagon at the link below, which has many similarities to your Strato Chief. Maybe you'll find something in there that is useful as you continue your work:

https://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/t69143067/1964-parisienne-safari/

64 Strato · Member

ZigZag wrote:
64 Strato wrote
Hello ZIGZAG - thank you for the detailed photo series - looks straight forward enough and as you can see in the attached (filthy engine bay as I haven't got my hands on it yet) the heater core box you detail is indeed also in my Strato so your step by step is fantastic. Thanks as well to all the other experts who weighed in on sourcing and rebuilding solutions - Confident I can get this bit done reasonably easily - can't wait to see what else is one deck when it arrives - in about three days. Cheers to all

Happy to help!

Looking at your photo, I see the lower hose was cut off. I'll bet the core is leaking because the lower hose was sized to the pipe, and all the prying to remove it caused a hairline crack where the pipe attaches to the core. I may have seen this before.

I've been journaling my tinkering on my 64 wagon at the link below, which has many similarities to your Strato Chief. Maybe you'll find something in there that is useful as you continue your work:

https://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/t69143067/1964-parisienne-safari/

Your project report for the wagon is fantastic - amazing to see all the work you have done. Thanks for sharing the link and, the process you have gone through - very helpful.

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

ZigZag wrote:

Looking at your photo, I see the lower hose was cut off. I'll bet the core is leaking because the lower hose was sized to the pipe, and all the prying to remove it caused a hairline crack where the pipe attaches to the core. I may have seen this before.

Common rookie mistake. Not that I would know anything about that either...

Years ago I started using aa razor blade to slit the hose once the clamp is off. No more twisting the hose to remove it from the core. Replacing heater hoses with new hose is cheap vs. core repair or replacement.

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

100% good advice. We've all done it.

64 Strato · Member

4SPEED427 wrote:
ZigZag wrote:

Looking at your photo, I see the lower hose was cut off. I'll bet the core is leaking because the lower hose was sized to the pipe, and all the prying to remove it caused a hairline crack where the pipe attaches to the core. I may have seen this before.

Common rookie mistake. Not that I would know anything about that either...
Years ago I started using aa razor blade to slit the hose once the clamp is off. No more twisting the hose to remove it from the core. Replacing heater hoses with new hose is cheap vs. core repair or replacement.

Great advice- I absolutely would have made that mistake, but thanks to all, I'll bust out a razor for all hoses being replaced :) Thanks!