Free car parts

[TC Chris]

I've got some more FREE car parts to offer.

The arm rests are from a '66 Buick Special but, as we all know about General Motors' practices, they'll probably fit any GM intermediate of that general vintage.

The heater core is of unknown make, model, year, or condition. It doesn't look like it has been leaking. I've also got the blower motor and squirrel cage in a housing.

If you know car folks who might use these, pass on the word and the photo.

The arm rests are from a station wagon, a nice little V6, that my sister in law bought from one of my landlords in Ann Arbor. He was a Chrysler engineer, so I've always wondering why he was driving a Buick. We found better arm rests at the junkyard but I saved these just in case.

For the heater core, it's useful for rebuilding at least. For my '61 Chevy, for example, nobody makes them. 1960, yes. 1962, yes. 1961, no. Explain that one, please.

Chris Campbell

[William]

Thanks, Chris, but if you intended to include a photos, they did not make it.

Bill

[TC Chris]

Yes, Bill, I just remembered that I forgot. Last Sunday when I left the older sailboat and was ready to drive away, a little voice told me I had forgotten to turn off the depth sounder. Leaving it on would draw the battery way down by the next week. But certainly I had turned it off. But maybe not. So I grabbed the key, went out and untied the cover, snuck under and unlocked the hatch, and sure enough, it was on. And just now it dawned on me to see if I had attached the photo. I do this at work all the time with emails. Let's pretend it's not age-related.

Here we go.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I couldn't imagine that one could not buy a heater core for a Chevy. Sure enough, 1961 apparently is an oddball for some reason. You may have to have one made for you. I don't suppose there are any radiator shops still around. Don't they fix radiators anymore? Cars still use radiators.

[TC Chris]

I couldn't imagine that one could not buy a heater core for a Chevy. Sure enough, 1961 apparently is an oddball for some reason. You may have to have one made for you. I don't suppose there are any radiator shops still around. Don't they fix radiators anymore? Cars still use radiators.

Cars use radiators but now they're all aluminum, plastic, and disposable. The art of soldering up a brass-and-copper radiator may be lost. I just did a Google search for where I live and also where the Chevy lives. There are a couple possibilities. Hard to tell if they are the real thing or just parts replacers. One down where the Chevy lives is Joe's. Sounds like a radiator shop name, right? Joe's, in its old location, was the last place I had the Chevy radiator worked on, about 55 years ago.

But I can't work on the heater core until I get the car back from the transmission shop. Just called. Their hoists were down and now they will aim at getting to work on Monday. I'm actually hoping that the leak is from the water valve or the hose that connects it with the heater core. It was a bit stuck and the work of getting it to move may have cracked some petrified rubber inside the housing. It's the same amount of work either way because getting the housing off is the big job. But if it' the valve, I could just bypass it and have heat, and add an inline valve like the ones they sold cor cars like my '38 Buick that had always-on heater cores.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

The absolutely worst heater core to access, ever, in the history of mankind is found in a 1963-1965 Buick Riviera with factory air conditioning. Even Eddie, my Riviera technician when I had the shop, hated those. In my common old Electra, you have to remove the right bucket seat, the entire console, the glove box, then you get to stand on your head and get all the bolts out. One is hidden and if you don't take it out, then pry too hard on the box, you bust that and new/better used ones do not exist, because they were garbage when they were new. They are fiberglass. Replacing the heater core itself is not too bad. Your Chevy does not have factory air, which, in this case, is a blessing. Perhaps yours could be repaired if such a facility still exists. Old cars, like old age, aren't for sissies. You need a sense of humor when you deal with an old car. Your '61 Chevy is now 62 years old. When it was built, a 62 year old car was fairly rare. That would have been a 1899 model.....