DeLorean A/C unit & heater box removal and restoration

As part of the rabbit hole that I kept going deeper into when it came to getting my interior overhauled, I decided that since I had the dashboard out to get a new radio head unit installed, I might as well go all the way and remove the A/C unit and see what I could do to freshen it up. My heater always smelled a little ripe when I had it running, so it was always on my to-do list to look into it, so what better time than now?

I also knew that I wanted to replace my 40+ year old A/C lines, and the A/C system would need to be disconnected to get the A/C unit out of the car, so I ordered a new set of lines from DeLorean Industries in preparation for this project. 

 I followed the workshop manual instructions to take the unit out from under the dash. There are several online write ups that I found useful, so I won't recreate all of the steps here. Here are a couple of things I'd like to point out that were good things to remember:

1. Getting the accumulator/dryer removed from the lines coming off the evaporator were impossible to do on my car. I figured that I would be replacing the evaporator as the condition and age were uncertain, so I whipped out the Sawzall and cut off the connection on the dryer. 
2. You'll definitely want to lay down something, like a towel, on the passenger side floor when you go to pull out the A/C unit as coolant from the heater core will spill out, and you don't want to deal with that mess on your carpet.

 I had the early style dryer where the A/C line from the compressor connected on the bottom. I knew that I would be replacing this, so I had no reservations to cut off the connection to the evaporator when the connection wouldn't come loose:

After getting everything disconnected, I was ready to start pulling it out. Note the towels on the floor to catch the coolant:

 

 

You have to pull out the unit in a way for the lines going to the dryer to feed through the firewall:

 

Here is after I got it out from under the dash:

  

  

This is looking into the fresh air intake behind the firewall as I wanted to see how this area looked. Mine wasn't too dirty, so I left it alone:

I took several pictures of the unit after I got it out of the car and knowing that I'd want several reference points when it came time to put it all back together.

  

 

The door flaps were a bit crusty and had little to no original foam remaining. I knew I had to go further and disassemble the unit and get everything refreshed. 

 

Here's my first look at the evaporator. Come to find out, this was not the original evaporator. I have no records of this being replaced, but it's completely different and smaller than the original. 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Another weird thing I discovered was that the old evaporator didn't have an orifice tube. I don't know how the system ever worked without one, so that's more to the mystery. Looking into the tube, this is where I expected to find it:

 

 

Here's a side by side view of the new and old evaporator, as well as the new and original heater core:

 

 

 

 

The teardown continued and I decided to tear it completely down so I could sandblast, paint, and install new foam on all the flaps:

 

 

 

 

I replaced the foam with some thin foam I picked up at Michael's craft store. I cut them to size and used contact cement to adhere the foam to the flaps. For more guidance on which materials to use, I followed this write up: https://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?5860-Heater-and-Evaporator-Replacement-with-Heater-Box-Restore. It all came back together nicely and I am super happy with the actuation with all of the flaps having the rust removed and the pieces lubed up.

I sealed up the gap around the evaporator with A/C foam:

 

I went to put the heater hose cover back on and realized how difficult it is to get this piece back on. I fought with this thing for probably a good hour before I was satisfied that it was back on correctly.

 

 

I found that the only way to get the angles right, I had to work on it from below the car. I had the car on jack stands and the passenger tire was out of the way. I don't think it's possible to get this back into position if only working on this from above. Here is is finally back on:

Back on the A/C unit box, I made sure to install all new foam on all the connections before everything was put back together.

I got everything put back into the car and test fit the new dashboard. I'll see how everything works and smalls after I get the rest of the interior assembled and the car is back on the road.