No heater shut off

[Maxd]

While I was refurbing my heater it occured to me that there is no shut off valve on the water inlet so the heater core stays hot all the time making the car a less comfortable in the summer. When I had a Triumph TR4 it had a manual valve much like a faucet that you turned off in the summer and back on in the winter. Anybody fit one to a Mustang?

[bartl]

Originally Posted by Maxd

While I was refurbing my heater it occured to me that there is no shut off valve on the water inlet so the heater core stays hot all the time making the car a less comfortable in the summer. When I had a Triumph TR4 it had a manual valve much like a faucet that you turned off in the summer and back on in the winter. Anybody fit one to a Mustang?

Many people have successfully done this. On the other hand, if your heater box and all its seals are working as designed, the excess heat is negligible. Later models with A/C have a vacuum-driven heater control valve.

[stangcity]

Make sure all the heater control cables ar adjusted properly. If they are not they will allow heat in the car as well.

[JonK]

Not sure how your Triumph valve worked but the mustang heater hoses are part of the engine coolant circulation, you would need two valves with a connection between them so when you shut off water to both inlet/outlet to the heater core the coolant would still circulate. Or you could disconnect the hoses from the engine/water pump and put a single hose from engine outlet to wp inlet to bypass the heater.

I believe '68 was when they started installing vacuum operated bypass valves.
Jon

[GT350R Klone]

Yea, I would say half the project cars I go look at bypass the heater core, not because they don't want the hot air, but rather they don't want to spend the $ on repacing the shot heater core.

[GypsyR]

I've seen what appeared to be water faucets plumbed in as shutoffs. Pretty unattractive but they work. The factory AC setup already mentioned just cuts off one heater hose which is actually sufficient, the Ford engineers seemed to think so. Just to be different I got one from a Chrysler that allows the water to bypass and recirculate. If it makes the sligthest difference over the OEM version I can't tell it.
One of my daily drivers has a single hose cutoff which works fine too but the cable is screwed up. At some point I'll fix it but in the meantime I just open the hood and work the valve by hand. Open for cold weather and when it gets consistently warm enough in the spring I'll shut it back off again. I can change vents enough to vary the heat so I only have to go under the hood twice a year. SWMBO orn the other hand couldn't abide such a setup.
A cable controlled can be worked by hand if you can come up with one. A vaccum operated one will stay in the default position by itself or the other position if you run a vacuum line to it directly from the intake.

[Smitten]

Originally Posted by GT350R Klone

Yea, I would say half the project cars I go look at bypass the heater core, not because they don't want the hot air, but rather they don't want to spend the $ on repacing the shot heater core.

New seals and a new core combined with properly adjusted the cables will prevent any hot air from entering the cabin. It's a little bit of work to pull the heater from under the dash. I assume that's why some don't do it. As an aside, having done all that, I find that my heater works quite well these last few weeks in frosty CT weather and can be shut off entirely at will. No need for heater hose cut offs.