Heater Box & Fender Extensions

I received most of the parts I ordered from CJ's the other day except the passenger window regulator. I brought home the old blower motor and after testing it to see that it worked fine was able to clean it up and paint it. The heater box has four studs that stick out which the blower motor simply slides onto and is held down with four nuts.

In order to mount the box under the dash, those same four studs slip through the firewall and another four nuts will be used to secure the box to the firewall itself.

Before the new aluminum heater core went in, I laid down the foam pad that helps to cushion the heater core. You can see the cage that moves the air when the motor is running.

The next step was to lay in the heater core so that the inlet and outlet went out of the heater box through the holes you see to the left. I then laid another foam pad across the top to cushion it.

The defroster plenum is held onto the heater box by four screws (two on top and two on bottom):

The heater hoses should be run through the firewall and connected to the heater box before it is mounted under the dash since it would be nearly impossible to hook up the hoses after the box is installed.

The only other mounting point for the heater box is a bracket the mounts right next to the fresh air inlet under the dash. Unfortunately the motor wasn't working properly and neither was the switch so I'll have to replace both at the tune of about $160. I pulled the heater box back out and will re-install it once I have both parts.

The fender extensions were also repainted by my dad the other day and I was able to install the weatherstrip and mount them on the car. The color turned out great.

The fan override switch under the dash now works great and even lights up when it is on. This will control the two electric fans by turning them on if the relay doesn't work for some reason.

I took a couple of other shots of the interior now that it is mostly complete. It still needs the new window regulator on the passenger side so that I can then install the door panel and handles. It will also eventually need a radio to fill the hole in the dash.