Well I was doing some under-dash work today. (getting rid of a very annoying rattle, replacing dash illum. bulbs, getting radio to work, etc. and noticed that the passenger carpet was wet under the betty boop floormats on the right side.)

I had done some clean-up and adjusting work on the weather strip around the RF door a couple weeks ago and thought that took care of it but obviously I was mistaken. So since we already had the lower A/C ducts out, this would be the perfect time right? HA! 100F today and I had it pulled out on the driveway.

Anyhow, I did some searching and found that the cowl plug on the right side was distorted, replaced, still leaking,. dangit. Got that sealed, then poured water on the cowl and antenna, sure enough still getting water entry behind the right kick panel., Pulled the kick panel and pulled that carpet back. MAN WAS IT WET UNDER THERE! Time to dig deeper. Pulled the cowl, and pulled the evap to heater plenum bracket and sealant. poured water in the cowl. and hello Niagra falls. that's where its coming from. now how to fix it...

I started by finding the best flashlights and looking for light. Didn't take long. Shined the light upwards from inside and could see the light coming thru where the evaporator meets the inner fender/kick-panel piece. a good 3/8" gap. OK. I think, what to deflect it with? well I have some expanding foam that should do the job. ( I hate that stuff, but it does fill cracks) So I rig up a long hose attached to a long screwdriver and run the hose down through the cowl and make a small dam along the length of the opening. I let it sit for an hour or so and go back. and pour some water in the cowl.

No dice.

Now its coming through on the firewall side, and come to the conclusion that the foam dam is blocking the drain passage and causing it to go somewhere else. so . I say screw it, Lets 'GITERDONE' Before I get the A/c charged, and rip the evaporator out.

Yeah the metal inner fender like where it was, didn't want to come out, The a/c fittings liked where they were, etc,etc, etc. Alright got it reado to come out and it(evaporator case)'s stuck...

Finally pulling as much as my scrawny little but could I was able to persuade it out. A piece of metal flashing from the firewall pulled out and acting like a barb on a hook. well its out, and the evap case doesn't have a flange on it where it meets up with the opening into the passenger compartment.

Anyone run into this? and have any advise? I will be replacing the Evap housing, gasket, ans blower case gasket as well as the blower motor.

Thanks in advance.

67 Sport coupe 442 with A/C

 

Thats why I park mine in side . will watch for info hope some one can help and I can learn.

 

Got some pics to share? I am trying to relate your with mine but they sound quite different.

Maybe it would have been easier to just remove the inner fender and suspension and drop the evap box out through the bottom!
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post296856
Certainly all that could use restoring, too, right?

Yea, you will need a bigger can to recoupe the worms. I am currently up to a 55 gallon drum with my project...

 

Thanks firefrost. I do to. All that moisture is just from washing it.

I 'll see what I can do Rob. Gonna call it a night and I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow. The 67 is different than yours, It actually sits right behind the fender in front of the door. I think I would have rather pulled yours out. These are really a PITA. I don't want this to go together and leak again. The manual doesn't really shoe a good pic of the the case when removed. so I'm not sure what the flange is supposed to look like.

 

Here you go Rob

IMAG0210.jpg
IMAG0211.jpg
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IMAG0209.jpg

 

Just keeps getting better. I have an evap case coming (Thank you Mike) So I figured I'd take out the evaporator and clean it up and get ready for installation. I pull the halves apart and find a half plugged evap. It looks oily so I'm guessing I have a leak.?. Agree? or is this just debris from a 44 year old car? This is the blower motor side of the evap. the other side is clean with no traces of buildup. Also no oily residue in the housing.

 

Anyone know how much pressure an evaporator should be tested at?

 

Sorry - I seemed to have missed this thread earlier...
Of course I cannot make out how that sucker was even installed! Totally different than mine.

If the inside of the evap box is not oily, then either you have a VERY slow leak, or it is the residue from being on the road and possibly light oily smoke being sucked in if your engine leaked long ago.

Touch the oily spots. If it leaves a wet looking area on your finger it might be a leak. If it leaves a dirty mark, it is probably air-born oil.
Look at the bottom of the evap. Oil would naturally run down. If nothing accumulated there, I bet it is good.

Either way, it would be worth pressure testing. I heard to pump it up to 125PSI and dunk it in water.

Or you can send it to Classic Auto Air in Florida and they will test it, flush it, and restore it for 105 bucks + shipping.

If the evap box is full of oil, then it probably leaks. Mine looked horrible - oil was dripping out the drain hole.

Might as well repaint your firewall while you're at it...

 

I just pulled mine from my 67 last week. It looked IDENTICAL to yours. I took it to a local ac shop that overhauls compressor and makes hoses. They pressurized for three days and charged me 18 bucks. I had the same leaking problem before I started my restoration. I'm hoping every thing else I've done will stop the leak.

 

txtom, Are you dealing with a water entry problem or a freon leak? I do believe I have a leak in the a/c system, but I'm gonna make sure that I don't get the water entering the passenger compartment. I plan on putting a rubber 'water channel' over the evap box so any water running down the cowl will actually go over the box and drain down away from the kick panel.

So I assume your evaporator was leak free?

 

Yes, the evap was good. Will save me about 350 bucks on the restore. I had actually forgotten about the water leak until I read your post. I will probably take additional steps to insure leak is stopped since I just put in new carpet and pads.Seems like there should be a seal there on the inside. I may just try to caulk it .

 

I had a leak on a '66, the windshield channel was rusted out, couldn't see it till the w/s was pulled out.

 

I haven't moved my way up to test the windshield yet, but this is a definite leak as I could watch the water run in at the kick panel opening when pouring water into the cowl.

Well. The Evap. has held 130# all day, I think I'm gonna run with it and put it back in this weekend.

 

Everything is back in the car. I can't believe how much air flow comes out of the vents from that small blower wheel. The restriction in the evap was drastic. I tried to evacuate the system at the house, but my little compressor was only able to pull 11" Hg. I wasn't expecting it to hold, but so far here at the shop Its a steady 24" Hg and its been over 10 minutes. I'm gonna go ahead and run the evacuator for another 30 minutes and charge it up. Fingers crossed.

BTW no more leak on the kickpanel.

 

Hey CQR,

If it makes you feel any better, I just leak tested my black 98 and was pretty disappointed after the first attempt. My back glass (I installed) had a pinhole leak, windshield (professionally installed) had a pinhole leak, RH door glass leaked, sunroof leaked and I was also getting water through a couple of grommets on the firewall. I've already fixed the front and rear glass and they're now sealed. The RH door glass should be good after I adjust the glass a little bit (I already added some sealant to a spot that seemed a little "open". The sunroof needs some tweaking in the weatherstrip department but I'll get it. The firewall is what's throwing me. The grommets are in place as they should be. I'm just not getting how so much water is even getting to them in the first place! I may have to pull the fender wells back out unfortunately and start there...both grommets are inaccessible once they're in

I hope you get yours sealed up tight soon. The season's almost over and I'm really pushing to get my car into at least a couple of shows in mid September!

 

The grommets usually shrink with age and harden. The lips that go around the cables or whatever stretch. Sealant was used at the factory but that has prolly deteriorated also.
Just go around 'em with sealer - I did that before painting the firewall.

Of course once the fenderwells get pulled, a frame-off often follows.........

Weatherstrip deteriorates and compresses with age also - maybe replacement is required.

 

Thanks Rob!

I hadn't even thought of the grommets srhinking or the "lips" stretching but that does make sense. If I have to suck it up and pull the fenderwells again, I definitely will because I can't have water coming in. The frame off already came so that's happening again

As for the weatherstrips...the LH is NOS and bone dry, the RH is from Steele and is not quite as snug of a fit...thus needing to adjust the glass to compensate. I'll get there. I just took off from work on Wednesday so hopefully I'll have all of this wrapped up and can get started on my carpets!

My hopeful plan is to make it to an Olds Club show in my area on Sept 11 and another nice show the week after. Already registered so I gotta make it happen!

Some dum-dum on those grommets should take care of their issue.
John

 

GUM??

 

HAHA, don't think it hasn't crossed my mind! Luckily, I just picked up a box of 3M strip caulk and it has been very helpful in a number of applications so far. I'm pretty sure it will be a big part of sealing up my leaks.

 

CQR - how did you clean your evap core? Mine was pretty plugged up also. Most likely the cause of the low air output, so it went out for resto.


Well, I do remember gumballs called dum-dums, so that's what I figured...

I got a box of that strip calk also to seal up my evap case. That stuff only seems to stick to skin and rubber gloves though - very hard to handle.

 

Rob,

I sprayed it down (until soaked with a degreaser (oil-eater brand) and let it sit in a shallow pan overnight. The next day I fired up the hotsy and on the wide fan spray setting on the gun hit it from the clean side so as to not force the gunk into the core but reverse flow backwards out of the core.

Even with the new/used case I still had about 1/2-3/4" gap between the case and the body. after installing I used a closed cell foam (from Ace hardware for weatherproofing) around the edge of the case opening. Then I used some more foam in the cowl to channel the water away from the leak prone area and put a piece of rubber over the foam to allow the water to go forward or backward but not run on top of the foam. Its hard to do because you only really have room to look or to put your hands, but not both.

BTW. Charged it up last night, 90F ambient and 39F air from the center duct. Gotta love R12.

 

Nice - glad you got it fixed! That gap seems very odd though - too large...

With all these + comments I am hearing about R12, I am really leaning to use that again... Hopefully I can find a shop that will sell it at a decent price.
Are you running the A6 compressor and POA valve?
I need to have both of those rebuilt on mine.

 

Yes. The A6 is a great compressor, and I took a chance that the POA was ok. And it seems fine. It was pretty humid last evening, and there was slight icing on the POA while sitting there. it didn't do a complete freeze up. I'm gonna run it and see how it does. I found my r-12 on CL and paid about $11 a pound. Then you just need to find someone with a gauge set.

 

Does anyone know if the seal on the right kick panel between the ac heater box and the evaporator case is available?

 

I ordered the complete kit from OPGI and it was not in there. The real thick gummy stuff was there but still left about a 1/2 inch gap. I used a closed cell foam weather strip from Ace hardware. After installing the evap box you can reach in through the recirc port when the blower box is removed.