Looking for A/C or non A/C parts

My evaporator housing is also cracked. It has three holes in it. I too initially thought it had been damaged when the BB engine had been installed by a previous owner. I've come to the conclusion that holes just naturally occurred, being caused by the fiberglass housing being heat damaged by the exhaust manifold. With a BB engine, there's only an inch or two clearance between the exhaust manifold and the evaporator housing.

The factory AC appears to be grossly inefficient. The evaporator housing is a little over 1/8 inch thick. On one side of the housing there's air in the mid 30's (F) blowing out of the evaporator, and on the other side only an inch or so air gap separates it from the 1000 degree F, or so, exhaust manifold. Also, on a BB, the end of the compressor is mounted to the exhaust manifold!!! I've decided to replace the factory AC with an aftermarket unit, probably Vintage Air. With the Vintage Air unit, the evaporator assembly is inside the passenger compartment..away from engine heat. Also, with Vintage Air, the entire heater/evaporator housing disappears from the engine compartment freeing up a lot of space. So no potential problem with a BB and headers. In some way, I'd like to keep the factory AC appearance, but I like the extra engine compartment room I'll be getting.

A few weeks ago on one of the corvette forums, someone was selling a completely restored evaporator assembly for $399. This included the POA valve, etc. It had been restored by Classic Air in Florida. Forget which forum I saw the unit, maybe this forum or CF. Classic Air recommends opening up the POA, the expansion valve, etc and cleaning them before re-installing. They will also recalibrate for R134.

I've bought used parts from Paragon and J&D Corvette (Bellflower Ca) also, from salvage yards advertised in the NCRS Driveline magazine.
 
Thanks for the tips.
Being in Canada, heat is not a such an issue compared to southern USA, so the more I think about it, the more if feel like the non-A/C-simple-blower is the solution for me. Having minor oil leak (yet to be resolved), I have smoke coming into the car throught air vents, I really need to have those holes patched in a way or another.
 
My evaporator housing is also cracked. It has three holes in it. I too initially thought it had been damaged when the BB engine had been installed by a previous owner. I've come to the conclusion that holes just naturally occurred, being caused by the fiberglass housing being heat damaged by the exhaust manifold. With a BB engine, there's only an inch or two clearance between the exhaust manifold and the evaporator housing.

I had the exact damage you describe. I also thought it was a hole caused by contact with the engine but when I took it out, I could see that the heat just destroyed the material next to the exhaust.

When I fixed the housing, I put some heat shield material on that area that I bought at Summit.
 
Thanks for the tips.
Being in Canada, heat is not a such an issue compared to southern USA, so the more I think about it, the more if feel like the non-A/C-simple-blower is the solution for me. Having minor oil leak (yet to be resolved), I have smoke coming into the car throught air vents, I really need to have those holes patched in a way or another.

Have run into this many times. For temporary use, as long as your rear hood seal is good, use your a/c blower while driving. The hole(s) in your housing will blow fresh air out, not let engine compartment air in. The case is under positive pressure in the engine compartment.
 
I had the exact damage you describe. I also thought it was a hole caused by contact with the engine but when I took it out, I could see that the heat just destroyed the material next to the exhaust.

When I fixed the housing, I put some heat shield material on that area that I bought at Summit.
What kind of material did you use to get it patched?
 
The blower box is just fiberglass from anything I could see...I was VERY careful with drilling and screw LENGTH and measured/cut a piece of thinner aluminum fastened near the top and hanging between #8 and the box, since then I have recently added some bubble pack Reflectix insulation between the aluminum and the box, it seems to be doing ok ....but I have a SBC, not a BB, NO experiences with any BBC, never owned one....

:noworry:
 
I had the exact damage you describe. I also thought it was a hole caused by contact with the engine but when I took it out, I could see that the heat just destroyed the material next to the exhaust.

When I fixed the housing, I put some heat shield material on that area that I bought at Summit.
What kind of material did you use to get it patched?

I can't remember what I used for the repair. I think that Doc Rebuild sells a patch material that is made from the same "stuff" as the housing.

The shield material I used is a Thermo-Tec product:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/THE-13575/
 
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