1984 Jeep CJ-7 Progress 2012 05 05

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Still working on completing task that need to finished before the Jeep can go on the road. This one (the heater upgrade and reinstall has been hanging around for awhile now. There was an excelent of how to restor the heater on the Jeep Forum that can be seen at this link: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/cj-heater-box-restoration-pic-heavy-975999

The first task was to remove both the upper and lower heater components. Most of the work was done in the lower componet, but there was work on the upper halsf as well. Below are the before images of the lower half
                                                                  
The lower half was disassembled down to it’s smallest pieces
                                                                  
The plastic pieces were sanded, primed and painted, the metal pieces were sand blasted and powder coated
                                                                   
 Now it is time to put all the pieces back together.  However, we will put in the “upgraded” electric motor.  I called NAPA and ordered NAPA PN 655-1039

And at the same time got a mew heater core

                                                                
The heater ducts are out of a YJ and were suggested by MoC.  They fit perfectly and the mounting screw and hole were the same.  The heat is now directed on the feet of both the driver and passenger.
                                                               
 In order to accommodate the larger heater blower motor, the hole in the fire wall has to be enlarged (this is the only modification needed to the Jeep for this upgrade (what a difference in the amount of air blown out of the heater).  In order to enlarge the hole, I bolted a piece of scrap metal across the original hole to give the pilot drill of the hole saw something to hold on to.

                                                            
I found the heater / vent control worked very hard.  In fact, the control knob was broken off because it worked so stiffly.  It took me a long time to find the cause.  It turned out that the flapper gasket on the vent flapper in the upper half of the heater was rubbing against the housing.  When you tried to open that vent, the rubber would double over on itself and make opening that flapper very difficult.  I trimmed a small portion off the edge of the gasket and it corrected the problem.  There is a half inch overlap of the gasket to the housing so this trimming will not cause an air leak
                                                           
                                                           
I replaced all the control cables with new cables
                                                           
I installed the heater and took the Jeep for a test drive and it all worked well
                                                           

Time to move on to another project.  Now that the heater is in and the dash is in, let’s put the windshield on.  That sounds simple, but there are a bunch of small things that have to happen first.                                                                                                            
The back sides of the hinges were all rusty and I was not going to bolt the rust up against my newly painted windshield frame, so… they were sanded, primed, painted, and, finally, coated with clear.
                                                           
                                                           
The windshield is getting closer to it’s correct position.

To try to avoid developing rust on the backside of the hinge again, I put a bead of silicone sealer along the top edge of the hinge.  This will allow any water that does get behind the hinge to drain out the bottom and seal the top so water cannot get in.  The bolds were treated to a hefty coat of anti-seize.  Once the hinge was tightened up, I wiped off all the excess.

                                                                    
The wiper linkage and motor were next
                                                                    
Rear view mirror, sun visors, and windshield tie down strap were installed

The dash pad was installed.  I have not decided if it will stay or if I will remove it again to give the Jeep that nostalgic look