I'm looking for a rebuild kit for my 55's heater control valve sometimes called a hot water valve any one know of a source for a kit I would try this repair myself unless I run out of time....Tedd

 

Tedd, I think those were called Ranko valves also. I hve never seen a rebuild kit. Fusick does offer rebuild service for them. I see them come up on ebay every so often but they are not cheap. Usually about $120. My heater has been bypassed so I know that is something I will need in the near future.

 

Thanks for the reply redoldsman. I a'm aware of Fusicks services and also USA Parts Supply , but after a few of my last attempts of using someone elses rebuilds and have them fail out of the box I thought I might give this a try myself. If nothing shows up I am ready to bite the bullet and order one rebuilt, time is also a factor....Tedd

 

Tedd:

Call Stacy at Antique Auto Supply in Arlington, Texas. He has several warehouses full of stuff. He has been doing this for years and is a neat guy. I just bought a tailshaft seal and a pinion seal from him for $10 each. I think Fusick wanted $29 for the tailshaft seal and didn't carry the pinion seal. Here is his link:

http://www.antiqueautosupply.com/

 

Another TX referral: If you bite the bullet and decide to have it rebuilt, I recommend Terrill Machine out of DeLeon, TX. They have been doing this kink of work for years and will do it right. I used them to rebuild a distributor vacuum advance for me. The cost for that was $85.

You need to email/call. No web site - http://www.deleontexas.com/chamber/tmachine.php

 

I have a 55 Holiday, 4-door.


I had mine rebuilt by Fusick. Turn around time was about 2 weeks. The hardest part, after having the heater hoses bypassed for 20 years, was remembering which hose went where.


Very nice quality on the rebuild. Now I have heat. I would recommend Fusick if you have doubts.


A secondary concern was getting the push/pull cables working smoothly and re-attached to the back of the **** assembly after the original crimping failed.

 

How did you get them re-attached? We have to "two hand" the cable when pushing it in. I haven't really looked at how they're constructed.

 

I managed to buy a set of heater/defrost and the two vent cables recently on ebay. With a little lubrication, I think they will work okay. They were not cheap.

 

A secondary concern was getting the push/pull cables working smoothly and re-attached to the back of the **** assembly after the original crimping failed.(Quote Dfitz)

My ace in the hole (I hope) is I have a mechanic friend who works on aircraft, he has a special crimper that was developed for stainless steel ferrules. he claims that if he can get the wire in the ferrule his crimper will re crimp, said he has done it many times before.Fingers crossed.

My control valve has been sent to Fusick as of today, They have no cores to rebuild so they will need mine to do the rebuild but mine looks quite rough in the copper tubing area, hope it will work. I have already bypassed the heater valve so I can drive the car and if I run out of time I will install a gate valve outside the firewall near the heater hose entrance and get by till I find another valve, Sorta a Joe Magee ugly repair but at least I will be able to turn off the heater water flow if it gets hot on my trip.....It never ends....Tedd

 

It's a rotten design. The crimps are designed to fail. Pot metal to push/pull cables. Even if you successfully are able to re-crimp the cables to the back of the **** assembly, it will only pull out again. Even with an aircraft crimper. The problem is the design and lousy materials.


The first step is to get the existing cables to operate smoothly again. You can try to remove them, the best solution, and soak them in penetrating oil, then lube with a silicon spray. I was lucky and was able to get mine to work well after only spraying silicone spray on the ends. Most likely the end in the engine compartment is causing the friction.


Then, do your best to re-crimp the end to the ****. THEN carefully, so you don't glue the rod inside it together, use JB weld around the crimp to affix the cable to the back of the ****. Only time will tell if the fix will last, but my guess is, it will last at least as long as it did the first time since new.


Both the silicone spray and JB Weld are miracle cures for a lot of things.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing. I was hoping maybe there was another way.

 

Jay, of course, there is more than one way. I just figured, for me, this was the least amount of work, with the highest chance of working. Good luck.