During the "restoration" of my El Camino I quickly removed the A/C unit from the engine compartment later to realize that this unit is also responsible for heating as I believe the heater core is located within.

This winter it has been VERY cold here in Los Angeles having dipped way into the 60's (seriously-down in the 20's, 30's) and suddenly I want to have some heat in the car. I don't need A/C, just heat.

Anyone have an idea where to buy this core or do I rebuild it? I'm extremely new to all of this so sorry if I'm sounding stupid. Any comments or websites/books recommendations greatly appreciated.

Dan Latta

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Dan Latta
Student, Santa Monica City College
1970 El Camino
Current ground up restoration in progress: Everything brand new except rear end: GM 350 crate motor w/ Weiand dual plane intake & Holley 600 cfm carb, long H20 pump, fuel pump, starter, shifting cables. K&N exhaust. Doug Thorley Headers w/ Flowmaster pipe & exhaust. Rebuilt transmission from A1 w/ shift kit & 2500 stall converter, Hurst pro-matic II shifter, re-balanced drive shaft, 15" Powder Coated Rallys w/ BF Goodrich tires, disc & drums & lines, Chevelle SS steering wheel, portion of wiring engine wiring harness, booster/master cylinder, tranny and motor mounts, 4-core radiator, combo oil/tranny cooler, tranny cooler lines, ARP bolts everywhere.
Short Term: replace all suspension bushings, fabricate lower portion of left side rusty firewall, weld in replacement right side rocker, weld new panel behind rear glass, brighter headlights, 3 pt. Retractable seatbelts or racing harness. What color to paint????
Long Term plans: Extensive guage package, New rear-end to replace the 3.08? More radical cam w/ roller rockers, lifters and beefier springs including a new aluminum head-zz5? Convert the interior to black.

Purchase a used or reprinted set of factory manuals: Chassis Service Manual; Body Service Manual; Overhaul Manual; Assembly Manual-- for your year of Chevrolet. Check e-bay, Amazon, the restoration parts places like NPD, Ausley's, Year One, etc. etc. Check the Chevy hot rod magazines. If you want the real dope you need to go to the source.
New heater cores are available at NAPA, Autozone, etc. The junkyards have them too. Get a guarantee so you can take it back if it leaks. Leakers often can be repaired by a radiator shop. Good luck.

My $0.02

If ypou did not remve the box inside the car, you still have your heater core. The core is inside the passenger compartment on the right hand side. What you may need is a way to get the blower and air ducting working again. I am assuming that you do not want to re-install the AC box into the engine compartment. One solution is to get the replacement box from American Grafitti (in colorado); this replaces the AC box and allows the heater and defroster to work again. do a search it on this site and you may see a picture of it that was posted some months ago. It looks pretty good in the picture.

Another option is to go with a vintage air unit that will give you heating and air conditioning. The cost is about 900.00, but for that you get all new components. If keeping your vehicle original looking is not that important to you, you should check them out: vintageair.com

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65 Danube Blue 4 door wagon, 350/330hp crate with 700R4, Factory air, Factory am/fm stereo.