1965 Belvedere II - The Beater Without a Heater

[scot]

OK, so I'll explain the "without a heater" deal.

I definitely wanted to delete the heater...clean up the engine compartment, lose weight, not really needed, but I do live in Wisconsin and late-summer/early-fall cruising = fogging windshield. I did not want to use the factory heater delete cone because that does not direct air at the windshield. With only 2 buttons to control the HVAC I had an issue...and one of them is OFF ! So, my plan was to use the "COOL" button to control incoming outside air. I'm hoping that if I'm able to blow outside air at the windshield, it will keep it from fogging up. I will be retaining the blower motor.

I disassembled the heater box and removed the heater core. All of the holes for heater hoses were plugged. I cut the rods coming off both dashpots and threaded them (12x24 NC thread) in order to lock them in place - both defrost and floor vent. I made a couple plates to replace the dashpots. The newly threaded rods hold the doors in the open position. I left rods long in case it doesn't work the way I planned, but it should work.

Stock dashpot arrangement

 

[scot]

Modified/deleted dashpot rods holding both "defrost" and "floor air" doors in the open position.

 

[scot]

My Belvedere also suffered from broken off nipples on the HVAC switch, so I tried this...

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/ams/how-to-rebuild-a-vacuum-heater-control-switch.58/

Once I replaced/repaired the nipples, this is what I came up with to control the incoming outside air.

 

[scot]

The "Beater" part comes from the fact that I don't plan on building a shiny-paint trailer queen that you can't drive. I plan on ONLY painting parts of the body that I have to replace. The car needs both rear 1/4 panels and I had to replace the trunk lid and hood due to rust (the hood and decklid are not original to the car). Those parts will get painted and hopefully match close enough to the rest of the paint on the car and blend in.

I really like the Rat-Muscle trend and that's how this will be built. I want to enjoy this car and drive the wheels off it. I do not want to worry about door dings, rock chips, etc. I like the fact that all the blemishes on the body tell a story about the car's life and give it character. I want the interior to be a nice place to be and I want it to be mechanically perfect. If for some reason, 10-20 years from now I want a shiny car, I will have a great starting point.