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Chevy Heater Core

Nebulous

Nebulous

[H]ard|Gawd
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Joined
Nov 16, 2005
Messages
2,032
Decided to go old school and add a heater core to my loop. Picked up a chevy heater core from fleabay for under $25 shipped. Went to wally's and picked up some fresh supplies to mod it. This is going to be fun :)
 

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That's awesome! Always cool to see something out of the ordinary.
 
Yeah, thx guyz! After careful inspection there was a few dented fins which I fixed in a jiffy with a pair of steak knives. As far as I can tell it looks solid. I can't wait!
 
*Update*

Started my day with coffee, meds (of course,lol), and a sammich.

1) Get dremel ready- Check
2) Cut down tubes - Done
3) Check fit of barbs- Looks good to me
smile.gif

4) Clean/prep the stubs (inside and out with green scrubby pad)
5) Clean/prep brass fittings that will go inside
6) Check my work-Done
7) Reward myself with Chips-Ahoys
biggrin.gif



So far so good. Next is to mix up a batch of JB-Weld and seat my fittings.
 

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Now onto the JB Welding!

1) Cleaned off stubs with alcohol and q-tips
2) Dang that's nasty dirty! Clean as a whistle tho!
3) Barbs installed with trusty JB-Weld


Next up, paint.
 

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Measuring the bottom inside of my case from the wall outwards, it's 5 1/2 inches. I went by measurements of the ebay seller I got the core from, he posted 5 inches. I figured I had 1/2 an inch clearance. Lay the core down on the 140mm fans just to see how I'm going to mount it, and then it hits me. Core is a bit wider than 5 inches. More like 6 inches. Dam core won't fit :eek:

I can still mount it, but then I can't use the side panel to close the case up :mad:

If I choose to mount it in the front, I'll have to remove my platter drives.

Unsure what I wanna do at this point.
 

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*Update*

Decided to add the core to the loop tonite. Took about 2 hours draining old fluids, washing out heatercore, adding new tubing, and refilling with fresh fluid. Bled it for about an hour and fire the system up. So far so good and my vid temps seem to be in check. I also managed to put the side panel back on. Was only able to use the top thumb screw and the bottom edge of the panel stick out like 1/8 of an inch. Didn't force it, just snug tight the top screw and that's it.

I did notice the case has now gained some weight. I almost sharted putting it down on the dolly! lol.
 
*Update*

Welp pics as promised:

1) Side panel closed top down view
2) Core mounted.
3) Looks dusty, but it ain't
4) Not too shabby eh?

In the end I made it work, and it works nicely.
 

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Thx! Nahh, the Primo is plenty big for my use. I plan on getting another RX360 in place of the heater core. Yeah temps are ALOT better. Gaming last night vid card temps stayed @ 48-50c after like 2 hours. Not once did the pc reboot or shut off due to temps.
 
+1, great way to get a high class cooler on the cheap.
I've been using a car heatercore for maybe 10 years.
Exactly fits 2x140mm fans.
I stuck with 1/2" ID tubing throughout my loop, no conversion required, it went straight on.
 
Excellent! Yeah I might stick with heater cores as the water channels are better. Larger surface area and all that good jazz. I always go with 1/2" tubing as well. If I do decide on a bigger case, I'll be sure to measure heater core size so I can take advantage of heater cores and case space :cool:
 
Nebulous said:
Excellent! Yeah I might stick with heater cores as the water channels are better. Larger surface area and all that good jazz. I always go with 1/2" tubing as well. If I do decide on a bigger case, I'll be sure to measure heater core size so I can take advantage of heater cores and case space :cool:
Click to expand...

Its not necessarily better though. Auto applications are designed for much higher air and water flow. It's differences in efficiency and then there's the issues of mixed metals. It might all be worth cuz its cheap and fun to mess with.
 
Kudos. Great mod. Good to see you were able to score an older brass unit. Most of the suppliers have gone over to aluminum.

Have a few cores like that lying around. Always wanted to do something like this but never got around to going the liquid cooling route. Too busy tinkering on my classic vehicles.
 
oh man... now you made me search ebay for heaters cores. theres so many possibilities...
 
Thx again guyz! Yeah I lucked out with the copper/brass one. I saw a whole slew of aluminium ones tho, lol. I'm also thinking of making a shroud out of sheet metal.
 
Nebulous said:
I'm also thinking of making a shroud out of sheet metal.
Click to expand...

That's what's a pain about them, the practical application of them. Making it fit into a pc, getting fans, framing them to mount fans, then into a pc is the hard part.
 
I converted a dining table into a PC case to hide my PC and water cooler... and all the cables.
Looks so much better!

The table legs were chopped in half to reduce the height.
The pull out leaves were chopped in 1/2 horizontally to make 3 sides (the rear is left open), and a bottom fitted to rest my PC case inside on its side.
The water cooler radiator and pump are at the back and underneath out of site.
My PC is also much quieter and there is scope for fitting larger completely silent fans.
Bloody perfect :)
 
pendragon1 said:
nice and stealthy! love the cardboard air ducting!!
Click to expand...
Cheers.
It looks better than in the photos, the camera highlights things I dont see.
I removed the cases side to easily get at the PCs innards.
Cooling actually improved, partially because there is a gap under practically the whole surface so warmer air naturally rises out.
The surface is supported by 2 thin wooden struts that sit flush to the underside and remain in place while the surface is in place. (I have to remember to pull them out before lifting the surface off)
The surface lifts clean off exposing the PC.

Yeah, cardboard is ace for ducting, it made this job a breeze.
It has made drastic improvements inside small cases that have low airflow and gfx card or drives nowhere near the in/out fans.
Amazon keep me supplied with free material.
 
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