The Pony Car Project-I Can See Clearly Now...

What do I mean about seeing clearly? You would understand if you would have ridden with me in the Pony Car on Sunday. The inside of the windshield would not clear even with the defrost cranked up to it's maximum  temperature and air flow. Why would this be? Well, the heater core was leaking (and has been for sometime) and blowing moist, coolant saturated air on the windshield instead of warm dry air.

 

The Foxbody Mustangs have an issue with heater cores leaking. Some think it is the stress put on by excess coolant pressure and recommend a flow restrictor. Others say that it has to do with heat cycling. What I do know is that every small Ford vehicle I have owned has needed the heater core replaced. The Ranger was leaking when I bought it in 1995 with 104000 miles. The Bronco lasted 170000 miles and 26 years. And I knew the Mustang's was leaking shortly after I bought it and some people say that you should only expect about 66000 miles before failure. So an owner can get the fogged up windshield and another symptom of failure known as the "green pool" on the car floor. I did not have the "green pool" yet, but I was getting some wetness from the dripping coolant. All these vehicles had extremely similar appearing heater cores. The Ranger and Bronco heater cores were very easy to change. The Mustang's is not easy.

 

So this week while waiting for parts for the Bronco (The Great Bronco Engine Transplant-UH OH!), I decided to tackle replacing the Mustang's heater core. I had done some research and knew this would not be an easy job. I had to remove the console, radio, dash and instrument pod. Just finding some of the screws was difficult. And some of the screws were missing, some of the plastic parts were cracked and screw holes ripped out. So I had more work to do then just the heater core. The heater core is located forward of the windshield under the cowling. This heater core had been changed at least once. How do I know? The back of the box that holds the heater core had been cut off to allow the core to be removed easier. This is a mod that is talked about on the Internet. The detached part is then duct taped in place.

 

I started this on Wednesday afternoon and finally got the core out Thursday morning. By the afternoon, I had most of the dash parts and the instrument pod reinstalled and the car is at least drivable. I am painting some of the console parts and I had to drive to Lowes to get some more screws, so everything should be installed on Friday. 

 

 The dash loose and laying over the steering wheel.

 This is the old heater coil. Note how the fins on the top and bottom are exposed and are damaged. This is where I have seen them bulged and cracked. The new one had reinforcing bars over these areas that protect the soft fins and tubes. A much better design!

What a mess! As one person in a video said, "this job is not for the faint of heart!"