Benefits of being a parts hoarder

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We've had a break from winter here in Central Texas the past few days, so I drove the '69 R/T around both Sunday and Monday. After driving on Sunday, I re-checked the coolant level and noticed that after circulating for a while, the coolant had gotten a little foggy. Checked the log, and it's been 3 years. I've been using G-05, but I still don't plan to run extended intervals since its a G-05 "retrofit," so to speak.

Monday, I flushed and filled with new coolant, doing my usual complete drain by opening the block draincocks, flushing with a garden hose and "T" into the heater line using hot water- I have an exterior hot water bib for car washing and coolant flushing. The coolant wasn't actually very dirty AT ALL- I think it was just the contrast with how crystal-clear Zerex G-05/water mix normally is. So the iron parts are being protected quite well (more on G-05 performance in the rest of the system below).

While driving around afterward, I noticed flecks of coolant dripping on the passenger's floormat. I knew almost immediately what it was- the heater control valve is above the glove box, mounted on the firewall. Opened the hood, and sure enough its drooling down the firewall both inside and out. Cheap American junk...only lasts 45 years. :)

"How long is it going to take you to get a new heater control valve for a '69 Coronet R/T" you might ask. And the answer would be "about 45 seconds." Over 10 years ago, I pulled a brand new, never used, new-in-box heater control valve out of the trunk of a junked car on one of my then-frequent boneyard runs. Its been waiting all that time, and I had it installed in under an hour.

And here I was thinking it was just about time to divest of all may attic full O' parts.... :)

FWIW- the old valve was the usual failure- a rubber seal where the actuator plunger passes into the pressurized section. They used to sell just the rubber inserts for this, but they're a pain to install and I have no idea if you can even get them anymore. It was also obvious this one has been working up to a full-blown leak for a long, long time. Serious amounts of antifreeze crusty residue and corrosion all over the valve mounting plate... nasty. I would have wanted to replace the whole valve mechanism anyway. The INSIDE of the valve looked brand new. Not a trace of corrosion, so I'd say the G-05 is working fine for the copper/bronze parts as well as the iron. No aluminum to speak of on this old beast- just the T-stat housing. And yes, its fine too- despite the fact that such a small amount of aluminum is just begging to become the sacrifical anode for the iron and copper in the system!
 
Nice....having hard to find parts on hand....
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Planning to rebuild the one you took out? I mean the new one will ge failing by '58.
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Can you still buy the valve?

My brother changed the heater core on our 69 RR a couple years ago, I'll tell him to watch the valve.

And yes it is a good thing to hoard parts, I have tons of key spares off car at the local yard which practically gives the stuff away if you pull em.

At the local yard I go to up here in maine, the owner had two Hemi Cuda stick cars. he drag raced them back in the day, sold one years ago and sold the other about 5 years ago for 150K$. I had my hemi owners shirt on when I first visted theyard once I moved up here so we hit off good, he tells me stories of all the old muscle cars which came thru and were crushed. He processes 4000 cars a year, so you have to be fast.
 
I pulled the radiator, battery, and alternator from my cutlass ciera before crushing it. BIL needed all three for his Buick Century. I had no additional parts for him besides these three which I prophetically stored away.

Saturn s-series stuff... predictable enough: Struts, transmissions, subframes. They get used.

Oil filters, I buy before I find a car that fits them. Eventually it works out.

I pull sensors, bulbs, and wiring pigtails before scrapping a car. I cried when I paid $19 for a pigtail when I found out I had two floating around.
 
Refurbished ones turn up on Ebay from time to time, usually for insane prices.

A few places will rebuild a core, I'll probably do that with my old one. I haven't looked into whether or not they're currently being repro'd.

Here's a picture of the type of valve:

4989909-Watervalve2.JPG


Ironically, an earlier type valve is still easier to get a number of years ago, and it will graft onto that mounting plate with a little creativity:

m9fy0LnCwGe_HUIp5Z_1_-w.jpg
 
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Hello, TRUE STORY from SMALL TOWN USA:
My friend's son wrecked a 1991 Saab 9000, stripped it to the bone and supported a newer 1991 Saab 9000 for years.
Then the boy bought a BIG SUV and the Saab became an orphan. The Saab sat in the yard and boxes of parts sat under the porch.
Then the father, forgetting the spare parts, got fed up and sold the Saab locally.
The new owner had a problem or two and called the son.

The son made out selling the parts well after the sale.
No profiteering here. Pop had given the car away behind the son's back.

Parts = money in the bank. Kira
 
Buy land, and put parts cars on the land... :p

As for the >$400 NOS one- that's not even quite right for my car. That's the vacuum operated version, mine's cable-operated. Which knocks it down to the mid-$300s on Ebay. :-/

I spent some time over lunch poking around, and apparently no one's making them at the moment. Ironically since I last looked, someone has STARTED making the huge (and overly complicated) dual heater core that 66-70 Mopars with AC tended to use:

https://www.yearone.com/Product/1966-74-a-b-e-body/cr6670

And it costs less than the control valves on Ebay. I guess that somewhat renders my stash of three (count 'em) of those heater cores a little moot. As hard as that son-of-a-biscuit-eater is to get out and put back in, if I do the job at all I'm going to put in a NEW one and do it once!

Well, I say its hard, but by comparison to new cars its not. After all, you don't have to remove the seats, and entire dash like you do on some new models.

All joking aside, have you ever stopped to be amazed at the fact that any parts are available for a 45-year-old car who's original designers probably expected the ones WAY on the HIGH side of the bell curve to last maybe 15-20 years in service?
 
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"Buy land and parts..."

Yup:and ammo. Don't forget ammo.

Cheers!

p.s. If you look at my sig you'll see the exent of spare parts I bought for the W126 cars: an entire running car.
 
Good for you! It is pretty satisfying to have the part you need at home just waiting. I still have a bunch of parts for cars I don't even own anymore!
 
Nothing is better than having a couple shelves stocked with parts.

I have a 1988 Fiero with a V6. Certain items are worth stockpiling whenever I run across them, such as front wheel bearings (unique to the 88s and unavailable for years until recently) and the cast aluminum alternator bracket (which tends to crack if you try too hard to tighten the alternator belt). If I don't use them I can always sell them or give them away.
 
I just had to change the heater control valve on my mother's '78 LTD. Job took 5 minutes since I'd hoarded an NOS one several years ago. With older cars, hoarding parts is almost required.
 
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