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Hi Tim,
My heater motor was still working too but it's copped a few mud/water baths in the time I've had it and made a few screeching sounds on occasions, so I figured it's worth swapping it out while it's all apart. I'm amazed at how resilient that motor has been - it's put up with a pretty harsh life.
On opening the heater casing I found that most of the sealing strips around each of the flaps had come off and were floating around inside the unit. I guess that's why I was getting pretty random results from the various HVAC settings prior to dis-assembly.
I bought a box or two of 'Raven' brand weather stripping from a hardware store, model RP59 to replace all of the old stuff. Before applying it, I washed the casings and the mixer flaps in warm soapy water to get them nice an clean again and ensure everything stuck well. When reattaching the distribution 'housings' to the lower left and right of the casings, I applied some gaffa tape to seal up the gaping holes to hopefully improve the systems performance further still.
When reinstalling the heater unit, I replaced the hoses (and clamps): They were quite cheap even though they are apparently good quality. However, they were a bit smaller diameter than the ones that came off. I went back to my local supplier and he acknowledged it, saying that's all he could get and that they work fine. I used a bit of rubber grease to help the fitting and while a little fiddly, did go on OK.
I've been really crook the last week and a half but should test it soon.
With the dash gutted, I've been generally cleaning the area and re-sticking/replacing the various heat/noise insulation pads too. Also running wires for the stereo and UHF radio - the original reason I starting pulling it all apart. I've also sourced a fibreglass replacement centre console from the UK - looks just like the original and quite reasonably priced. Still looking for the bits that mount the gear indicator and the window switches but it's promising so far.
I've not really started on the A/C itself: I'm planning to give it a good clean as there's plenty of dust there too. I'll get a mobile A/C person to come around and recharge/test it all when reassembled - I just opened mine up as it'd lost it's gas, therefore nothing to vent into the atmosphere.
Before dis-assembling the A/C I noticed that only one of the fans was actually working, so I'm waiting to see what the new resistors do before buying another - they're not particularly cheap but I've found a place in the US that sells genuine ones. I also tested the thermostat adjuster attached to the temp slider (didn't know there was a way to regulate the cold - I'd always figured the only way to warm it a bit was to mix in fresh air) and found it going fine.
Last thing, the resistor under the decker panel - with the dash apart, it's probably a good time to swap that out. I removed the bonnet (follow the workshop manual for that one!) and decker panel (resealed under there too) to get at it all.
cheers,
bidds
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