Topic: Heater hoses, taps or disconnect
in Forum: C3 Cooling and Heating Systems
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Gidday, I have been looking at all the posts for the problem of the over heating in the passenger compartment.
Rather than installing taps to turn on and off, were the heat can still work past the taps, can you just diconnect the hoses from the pump and thermostat housing. Then get another piece of hose and connect it to the outlets from were the heater hoses came from ?
Will this work and does this hose need to be on to have the water flowing as if the heater was on ?
regards
Andy from down under
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Indianapolis, IN - USA
Joined: 9/3/2006
Posts: 2429
Vette(s): Silver 1974 Convertible - L82 4 speed
Low miles (was only 8,900 when I bought it in March 2006) - Now 54K miles. Original owner bought it as an investment for son's college expenses.
2008 Jetstream Blue Convertible
I think this is the general idea I was looking for - instead of cutting and installing the valves to turn on and off, I want to just take the heater core out of the equation. As to where you perform that bypass, I'm not sure of any need to do it anywhere special...
I wanted a Corvette my whole life, but I never dreamed of all the wonderful people I would meet because of it!
Hi manget1,
I was trying to think of a way to make up brass elbows or brass 180 deg corners and be all flash, but I think the quickest and easiest is to just disconnect them.
We have just started winter here and on a fine day it will get between 18 and 24 deg so having a heater is not all that important, when I only plan to drive the Vette on sunny days.
Andy down under

Oceanside, CA - USA
Joined: 11/19/2003
Posts: 191
Vette(s): 1978 Silver Anniversary model. Original L82 engine, 700r4 trans, edelbrock intake, thorly headers, rack&pinion steering, mono rear and front spring, MSD 6A box
When my heater core went belly up I disconected the heater hoses and used a 5/8 x 3/4 adaptor to conect them together so the water still flowed, and put rubber nipples on the copper heater core tubes. Everything work ok.
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Leavenworth, KS - USA
Joined: 1/24/2007
Posts: 426
Vette(s): MM Red 1971 T-top,LS5,4-speed, black leather C5 seats, Hooker sidepipes.
Previous: 64 Coupe, 65 Roadster L76 / N14
My question is what happens to the heater core if you bypass it completely?
Does it rot or dry up? Does it rust inside?
Would it still be operational five years down the road when (God forbid!) you S-E-L-L the car (please forgive me!).
If there are no adverse effects, it would make sense to bypass completely (provided you don't need a heater).
On my 72 the heater hoses from the factory made a loop from the engine to the heater to the overflow tank. What I did was just run both hoses to the tank and it looks clean and does not seem to be a problem.
[QUOTE=bio11]On my 72 the heater hoses from the factory made a loop from the engine to the heater to the overflow tank. What I did was just run both hoses to the tank and it looks clean and does not seem to be a problem.[/QUOTE]
Not able to follow that, are the 2 hoses from the heater going to the tank, what about the 2 from the engine, did you plug them? If you ran any hose from the engine to the tank, that's no good, you will no longer have a pressurized cooling system. Can you give us more detail?
Dave
Lifetime Member #116
Dave's '82
On the 72 LS5 you have one hose from the engine to the heater core, one from heater core to the tank, and one from the tank back to the engine. The radiator cap is on the tank not the radiator. So you are taking the heater core out of the loop, so you eliminate one hose and just have one from the engine to the tank and one from the tank back to the engine. It makes no difference in your pressure. your just eliminating one hose and the heater core from the equation. I'm not familiar with how later models are plumbed, but this is nice and clean on mine.
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Mounds View, MN - USA
Joined: 5/24/2007
Posts: 1031
Vette(s): 70 LT1 coupe, 69 350 HP coupe, 69 390HP 427 coupe, 71 LS5 convert, 85 coupe, 93 coupe
Back when you could order "Heater Delete" cars, they just had a plug in the intake and water pump. There was no bypass hose at all. So obviously you can do anything from valves, to bypassing, to just plugging. As far as the heater, If your core is full of soggy crud, it might harden with no water in it, but if you have been keeping your cooling system reasonably clean, brass certainly does not rust, so there should be no problem down the road.
Larry
Larry
[QUOTE=bio11]On the 72 LS5 you have one hose from the engine to the heater core, one from heater core to the tank, and one from the tank back to the engine. The radiator cap is on the tank not the radiator. So you are taking the heater core out of the loop, so you eliminate one hose and just have one from the engine to the tank and one from the tank back to the engine. It makes no difference in your pressure. your just eliminating one hose and the heater core from the equation. I'm not familiar with how later models are plumbed, but this is nice and clean on mine.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for filling me in, I did not know that.
Dave
Lifetime Member #116
Dave's '82
in Forum: C3 Cooling and Heating Systems
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