Air duct and heater control unit.

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Karl
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Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Karl »

With the heater control unit on the dash, can anybody tell me what the colour of the words, "Off, 1, 2, 3. and FAN" are supposed to be.
On my car (63) it seems they are brown or red and the others are white or silver on a black background. I purchased another one from Steve and it is similar but not as pronounced. I always thought that mine are faded but now I think they may of been Red.
Also has anybody split the unit apart so the chrome can be re-done. It seems there is just some round tabs that could be ground off and the unit will come apart. To re assemble these tabs could be just drilled and tapped and a screw inserted to hold the unit together again.
Karl.
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VTTBird
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by VTTBird »

In my '62, those letters/numbers are RED.
PA170052.JPG
Hope that helps.

Ken
Ken
1962 Thunderbird Hardtop
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by VTTBird »

Here's a better picture of my 62 control unit. The color is actually a reddish brown. This photo shows it pretty well.
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Ken
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Karl
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Karl »

So maybe they were originally reddish brown?
Karl.
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by VTTBird »

So maybe they were originally reddish brown?
Remember, that mine is a 62. I am quite sure the color is correct. I did a google search for "1963 thunderbird console/dashboard" and quickly scrolled through the images and found several that showed the heater control unit and the lettering in question was the same as my 62. So unless someone else more knowledgeable on the subject pops up to refute it, my guess is that the original color is reddish brown.

Ken
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Karl
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Karl »

Thanks for that. I will see if anybody has ever pulled the it apart. Easy to get the two parts apart, not to sure on getting them back together.
I thought that small screws may do the job but I don't think there is enough meat to screw into now.
Karl.
1963 Thunderbird Hardtop
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by VTTBird »

Glad I could help with the color. I've not even had the control panel out of the console let alone apart, so I can't be of any help there. Hopefully someone else will jump in for that part of it.

Good Luck....


Ken
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Alan H. Tast
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Alan H. Tast »

Now I'll have to go look at the ones I have. I suspect the reddish-orange color has faded over time (kind of like the fluorescent red/orange on the needles for the gauges/speedometer). I should have 3 or 4 heads to look at (the danger of two cars + parts car + parts from another 1 or two). Will try to report back this weekend. This may also be worth digging into the OFS/Master Cross-Reference catalogs as memory makes me think there may have been more than one part number for the lens or head assembly.
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1963 Hardtop & 1963 Sports Roadster
orthodoc
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by orthodoc »

On my 63 w/o AC it is reddish brown. I've had the unit out, which is not too difficult but never apart.
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by tbird »

Karl

I drill the riveted pins off to dismantle for re-chroming use a two part epoxy to re-asemble them after. would think that the original red may have been more to to the fluorescent side.
Jim Mills
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2002 Thunderbird
1965 Convertible
1962 Convertible (in progress)
1959 Ford Retractable HT
Many parts cars
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Karl
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Karl »

Thanks Jim.
I thought about using a adhesive to join the two parts back together again, I thought well how would I get them apart next time I wanted to re-chrome them or do more work on them. In reality this will probably never happen.
Probably will use epoxy like you.
Karl.
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Jim Wulf
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Jim Wulf »

Epoxy will work, although I drilled, tapped, and screwed together the bezel on my 63 M Code and that worked as well. I always prefer having the ability to disassemble parts easily if necessary. Just me.
Jim W, VTCI 1961-1963 Technical Editor
62 SR Red/Black
63 CV Black/Red
67 MGB Roadster
38 MG TA Tickford Drophead Coupe
39 Lea-Francis Corsica Super Sports
Past Birds:
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61 HT White/Pearl Beige
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Karl
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Karl »

Jim, did you grind off the top of the stud that sticks up and then tap into this or did you drill the stud out and tap into the body of the unit.
What size tap did you use?
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Jim Wulf
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by Jim Wulf »

Karl wrote: Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:46 pm Jim, did you grind off the top of the stud that sticks up and then tap into this or did you drill the stud out and tap into the body of the unit.
What size tap did you use?
Karl.
Karl,

I drilled out the stud and tapped the body. I don’t remember the size of the tap/screw but it was small and appropriate for the job. Easy job.
Jim W, VTCI 1961-1963 Technical Editor
62 SR Red/Black
63 CV Black/Red
67 MGB Roadster
38 MG TA Tickford Drophead Coupe
39 Lea-Francis Corsica Super Sports
Past Birds:
63 MSR Red/Pearl Beige
66 CV Red/Red
63 CV P. Green/Pearl Beige
61 HT White/Pearl Beige
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Re: Air duct and heater control unit.

Post by tbird »

Likely just as easy to drill and tap it maybe some thing around #4-40.
Jim Mills
VTCI # 8071
VTCI 1964-66 Technical Editor
2002 Thunderbird
1965 Convertible
1962 Convertible (in progress)
1959 Ford Retractable HT
Many parts cars
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