Easy Heater Blower Box Swap (pics)

[jakefindleton]

i swapped my blower boxes out last night and since it has to do with baggin' it i posted it up to give all you guys an idea of a blower box mod.

i had a blower box/ac condensor out of a 2002 s10 blazer so i decided to chop it up and plastic weld it. the box in my truck took a beating from laying out and rolling low and desperately needed to be fixed. with a huge crack in the box i had a cold heater and a hot air conditioner.

i have 18's and an overall 25.75 inch wheel. Boyd Coddigton 18 x 8 with 225 x 40 x 18 = 25.75 inches. this really isn't a "how to" , just an idea of how i got it done. here's some pics.

drop the fender down so you can access the blower box mounting bolts/nuts.


the mounting bolts are 10mm and 2 are 10 mm nuts that are kinda tuff to get to that are under the condensor.


remove the box. the 2 10mm nuts are on studs and make it a little tough to wrestle the box out.


here you can see the studs where the 2 10mm nuts are.


the new box i made gives about 3 inches or so of more clearance. the blower motor has not been relocated. all i did was chop and re-weld underneath the blower motor allowing for more clearance. here's a few pics of the old cracked box compared to the new modified box.











wrestle the new box into place and bolt into place. attach the ac lines and plug in the wiring.



bolt the fender back on and put the battery back in.


start the engine. turn the ac on full blast. add 1 can of recharge then 1 can of oil then 1 more can of recharge. you will here the ac compressor kicking on/off as it takes a charge. watch the psi needle on the gauge and make sure you don't add too much too fast. this is the recharge kit i bought and the oil i used. when your ac is totally empty because it has been disconnected it will take all of this for a perfect charge so you won't need to worry about adding to much. this is only true if you have the same ac system as i do.







hope that helps for anyone with a busted blower box.

[jakefindleton]

i forgot here's a pic of the new clearance with the new box installed

[black_ice_02]

hell yeah looks good

[jakefindleton]

Quote: Originally Posted by black_ice_02

hell yeah looks good

thanks man

[stalephotograph]

not bad man. wonder how well it would clear a 27" tire on my 20s/

[jakefindleton]

i wanted to add that i did all my plastic welding with an old soldering gun. wear a respirator, it smokes and stinks. i also used an exhaust fan to pull the plastic smoke away from me. some plastics are cross link and others are linear. if the plastic is a cross link you can weld it. if it is a linear it will not weld or even stick back together when you melt it. to test out plastics that can be welded, just try to melt them together and then dry and cool. try to break them a part. if it holds, then the plastic is good to go for welds. turned out the blower box was good to go.

[lee-mill]

werd ^

[jakefindleton]

Quote: Originally Posted by stalephotograph

not bad man. wonder how well it would clear a 27" tire on my 20s/

i went as high as you can go without relocating the blower itself.

lets see,,, i have a 25.75
you have a 27
that would mean your wheel is 1.75 bigger than mine.

i have like 2.5 inches of clearance when layed out, i would say yes i think this mod would work on a 27 inch wheel. any bigger and it might touch when you lay out but not rub when you're rollin.

if you do the math
25.75 + 2.5 = 28.25

so a wheel 28.25 is what it would take to lay it out on this blower box mod.

[dragginesva]

pretty cool... i didnt know about the whole cross link/linear plastic rule so i learned something today

i also like how you included lots of pics for others because i see alot of blower mod threads... bad thing is you should have pulled a deep vacuum on the refrig. system before charging... when you open a refrig. system moisture and air attached to everything in the refrig. circuit including the accumulator, pulling a vacuum removes the air (non-condensible) and moisture (poe oil killer) also allowing you to weigh the refrig. charge in by exact lbs. and oz. without having to even start the truck and you will have the exact amount the refrig. system needs... i know it sucks to hear this but i'd suggest removing the refrig/oil that is in the system and pull a vacuum and charge by weight... your compressor will thank you

[hamagc]

lol looks like my blower box. i've been wondering just how i am going to fix this. i just recharged my ac so i have been hesitant on taking it apart. it still blows nicely cold, no clue on the heat. i think i will give this one a shot next month

[s10cyncrvr]

For those that don't know, you can take off the blower box without disconnecting the AC. It's just a few screws that hold the left side of the box to the right side.

[hamagc]

Quote: Originally Posted by s10cyncrvr

For those that don't know, you can take off the blower box without disconnecting the AC. It's just a few screws that hold the left side of the box to the right side.

did not know. does this just remove the plastic or the actual blower as well?

[blazerida88]

nice

[cpolaris502]

Quote: Originally Posted by s10cyncrvr

For those that don't know, you can take off the blower box without disconnecting the AC. It's just a few screws that hold the left side of the box to the right side.

thats what i was going to post too. i dont know why he went through all of that trouble and the money to recharger it.

[RacerXS10]

Quote: Originally Posted by hamagc

did not know. does this just remove the plastic or the actual blower as well?

Using jakefindleton's picture since someone was nice enough to take my camera...
You can remove the screws for the exchanger box and remove the side with the blower fan. I circled the screws on the lower half which if I believe are 7mm and 10mm. (There are obviously more on the top of the housing)

[jakefindleton]

yyyup you can easily do the repair/mod without taking the box out and i knew that. you will still have to drop the fender down to get that side off.

i recently swapped my 98 4.3 for a 2002 4.3. that's when i lost my ac charge. as hot as it's been around here lately i'm not worried about moisture and doing the vacuum discharge and recharge. i had my lines out on my 98 compressor and recharged it and it ran fine for 50k miles of cold ac. no problems. that's a synthetic refridgerant and i did add a can of oil so i'm sure it's good to go. if not i'll find out later and you can say told you so.

[jakefindleton]

Quote: Originally Posted by cpolaris502

thats what i was going to post too. i dont know why he went through all of that trouble and the money to recharger it.

i had another blower box out of my 2002 blazer parts truck. it was easy to repair and build it on the bench vs trying to repair the junk one that was i my truck. like i said before when i swapped for the 2002 4.3 i lost the charge. it only cost me $50 for the recharge and now i have a air light box that clears my tires.

even if you took the one side off you would still have to plastic weld it/modify it on the truck.

[jakefindleton]

Quote: Originally Posted by RacerXS10

Using jakefindleton's picture since someone was nice enough to take my camera...
You can remove the screws for the exchanger box and remove the side with the blower fan. I circled the screws on the lower half which if I believe are 7mm and 10mm. (There are obviously more on the top of the housing)

there smaller than a 7mm and slightly bigger than a 6mm. i used a small standard socket. i forget what size it is. but i do believe a 5.5mm works too

[AVTekk]

ya i was gonna post the same thing lol the other side of the box is a bitch to get out, i believe the standard size is 9/64 for the small screws, def go that route.

[BlackEsDime]

i thought it was a 7mm? I don't know, its been a while since I've done it. But definitely... thats the way to go for modding the blower boxes.

[jakefindleton]

anyone else, feel free to post up some pics of the box mods you've done. i like to see some with the blower motor raised up. how do you do that and still keep it aligned with the firewall opening? raise the opening?

[AVTekk]

you angle the box up for more clearance and to keep it aligned, also ive cut the hole a bit higher on some trucks.