Heater core
 

Looked on the floor of the garage and was not delighted to find a dripping pool of coolant under the Heater core area. When I restored the Nova back in 07-08. It had the orig BB core still in it and I had it restored/pressure checked etc by the shop that did my radiator. I guess a 17 yr run is not so bad. My question is should I have that original restored again or just put a brand new one in and call it a day.? My concern is even if the orig is restored, it is still 55 yrs old, with 55 yr old metal. Of the new ones out there these days, opinions on a good quality piece.? Tnx

Send it to Glen-Ray radiator & have Bob give you his honest opinion of it....Joe

Further to the heater core saga.. Any tips on either replacing the core from the engine bay side or dropping the box inside the car.? can you get to the cover attaching nuts that are buried under the pass side fender without pulling fender off.? Looking for any tips from past experiences

He's my guy as well!

There is no way the core is coming forward thru the firewall for removal.
If you can carefully remove the inner wheel house bolts and push it aside, you can access the heater box nuts near the fender with a 1/4" drive socket/loooong extension combo.
As an aside, the cores don't usually leak outside of the vehicle, as they are contained entirely inside. If the carpet/mat is dry inside, it may be a loose clamp or deteriorated hose ?

This ^^^

Thx for the insight, will check the easy/obvious solutions first as you mentioned, maybe get lucky. The bolts on the inner fender are easy to get to and will go that route if necessary.

You can change the heater core from inside the car (seems the more popular way on youtube) or by taking it forward (often requires removing the whole fender/inner fender).

Well, there it is, never say never.....I've never heard of one being removed that way and it would still be a hassle to change it from the front. It does seem it could be possible with the removal of the inner wheel house and not mess with all the heater cables and duct work....:dunno: Shouldn't be any need to remove the fender, itself.

Tx All. IF I have to replace it, I like the inside drop idea as I would rather not mess with the current fender alignment, painted hardware removal etc. Again, maybe I get lucky here, and It's a hose or clamp

Confirmed that OEM the heater core is shot. Leaning towards just getting a brand new, quality core that has the bets chance of lasting a long time. I can get the OEM restored (again) but it is still 50+ year old alloy. I hear the Spectre brand stuff is good.? Anybody use an aftermarket core they can recommend.? Thx

I would get the original rebuilt. I dont think any of the new stuff is up to par as far as quality goes.

With a re-core of your original, all they will keep and re-use is the tanks and they should do an inspection and determine if they are still usable, which they should be.

I have removed the heater core from inside the car, not going to say it’s a 2 minute job but very doable. The lock nuts holding the heater box need to be from inside engine bay and heater control cables removed from heater box.