Thinking about ditching the heater/ac

[TheGeek]

Soo... noticed that my heater box (under the hood) is kinda smashed a lil bit, as in busted, pieces of fiberglass pokin' me in the hands. My A/C never worked, my heater barely works (on defog only), so I'm really weighing the option of going "heat delete" or replacing and fixing. I live in Ohio, but I don't plan on driving this thing too much when it starts to get cold again. I only worry about my windshield getting foggy at night. Any opinions/experience?

 

[Longroof79]

Look for an A/C delete/ heat only air box. Although they are getting alittle harder to come by these days. Scour your local boneyards, you never know what you'll come across...or post a wanted ad.
I would at least keep the heat functional.
Good luck!

 

[Blake442]

I'm a huge advocate for not removing the heaters in these, or any cars for that matter, unless it's a strip-only project.

I had the heater core disconnected in my 442 for 2 summers while I had a 350 in it and it sucked, really bad...

If you take it completely out, you can scratch the idea of driving in the early morning, late at nite, or in the rain.
When it gets cool at nite on the way home I sure like to be able to turn the heat on a bit so I'm not chivering.

I swapped the factory non a/c set ups into both my Oldsmobiles, and wouldn't do it any other way.

Another thing to consider is resale.
I know everybody thinks "ah I'm not gonna sell it", but when you do, it's just one more thing to drive the value down and the potential buyers away.
I can't count how many G-bodies I've considered buying, but walked away from when I saw the heater box was ripped out.

 

[art]

Or try looking here: http://www.acdelete.com/index.htm
I haven't tried them yet, but the product looks interesting.
Then again, I may just section the blower box and make my own. I'm with Blake, heat is nice to have and makes driving easier.

 

[Longroof79]

I also agree with Blake regarding resale. I would also walk away from a G-body car that had it's airbox ripped out...unless of course it was a strip only car. I tell guys, "you'll be sorry".

 

[Blake442]

In the past few months I've noticed several guys that had previously ripped out their heaters and were now looking to find replacements to put it back in... Some people just need to learn the hard way.

 

[Longroof79]

Blake,
It might be a good time to stockpile them :wink: Airboxes may become the next sought after item.
The thing is, there's less and less A/G body cars in the junkyards, so replacing them may become more difficult.
It didn't seem that long ago when they were plentiful. Now it's mostly the FWD variety...with a few B-body cars thrown in for good measure.

 

[RITTER]

I have everything deleted in my Regal and it does kind of suck. As long as it is warm out it's not bad, because you can just put the windows down and the wind will keep fog from building up on the windshield. Driving in the rain, not happening. I have a little 6" squeegee that I keep in my car incase the windshield fogs up.
So, I deal with it. But if I were to do it over, I think I would just go the A/C delete route

 

[jrm81bu]

I still don't see it as that big of deal. I don't regret yanking it out of either one of my Malibu's. A little Anti-fog solution goes a long way. Just like the Rainex in my S10 that I daily drove through a Northern Ohio winter without wipers.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I kept the non A/C heater from my Malibu stashed just in case. You need heat, even in summer sometimes. Right now I have a working heat and A/C unit but if it craps out I'll be using the heat only box.