[StickyLifter]

I've searched here and Googled around and been unable to find any useful pictures of the area around the heater core and thought I would help out by posting some up.

There is one hidden 7/32" screw holding the heater core lower box on to the upper part in the back, almost against the firewall. You can not see this one, it is up on the back side.

I followed Qalo's SS handbook to get this far. I'm thinking I'll try to find a bar and plate type fluid cooler to use as a heater core, if I can find one around the correct dimensions. It appears that the core can be slightly larger than the stock piece if you are willing to trim the box around it. This opens up the choices for cheap oil coolers since almost none are as small as the stock core. Maybe 11" x 7.5" x 2"?

I’m hoping I can remove some of the ribbing from this area to gain the space needed for a more robust solution. I’m planning on removing the restrictor tee and I’ve read that it is there to prevent damage to the core at higher RPMs and don’t want to have to fix anything again.

 

[StickyLifter]

It would help me to see the top side of the plastic box. I can't quite see how much room I have to cut away material and if that chamber has to be 100% divided or sealed from the air con area. Looks like it does. If this endeavor becomes too expensive it will be over. I can't find ANY cheap mass produced fluid coolers that are the same size and shape as the heater core with the fittings on the end.

I did find a cooler for a computer processor here:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swmcqupo2x.html
Correct shape but the fittings are 1/4"

Here is another promising shape, but the inlet and outlet are not on the end and it's a bit pricey for an experiment:

https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...=287&ei=VbADVIeEH9CPNreugaAD&ved=0CLcCEKYrMAw

It seems odd to spend $100-$300 on hoses, build a custom T, worm drive or T-bolt clamps, divorced all aluminum fluid coolers, -an lines, thermostats, huge modular radiator (and that's the cheapest part???) or $175 all aluminum combined radiator and fluid cooler, just to stick a brazed thin wall box with rubber o-ring tubes that have been crushed onto it under your dash and hope it doesn't leak for awhile.