Projects 1963 Thunderbird AC Box Restoration (Pictures)

Hey guys, this is my first ever post on here so I hope you guys find it useful or informative! The reason I'm making this post is because when I started the AC restoration for my 1963 Thunderbird, I searched through dozens of forums but couldn't find the answers to my questions. The only things I could find were a couple of blurry pictures with no information and some discussion boards on retrofit kits. There seems to be a severe lack of information regarding these old Thunderbirds, and I'm gonna try to reverse that curse. So I'm making this post so that anybody who's planning on doing the same project can get some insight and hopefully some inspiration



I purchased a 1963 Thunderbird to be used as a parts car for my current restoration project. This particular bird had been sitting in a field in northern Minnesota since 1974. So needless to say, every bit of this car was pretty much rotted. I even named it Wall-E after the garbage robot from the Disney movie. Anyway, the main thing I needed from this car was the AC box... And just by looking at the outside of the car, I knew that the project that lay ahead of me was going to be a major headache





Well would you look at that, I was right.. Needless to say there was 45 years worth of rust, mouse nests, dead bugs, and bird crap.





I started taking it apart piece by piece, making sure I took hundreds of pictures along the way. I honestly think the most time consuming part of this restoration was the disassembly. There were close to about 100 small screws holding the sections of the box together, and about 75% of them were so rusty that the would disintegrate when trying to remove them. This in addition with the lack of diagrams or blue prints made for one heck of an endeavor.



As I scraped through the dirt and rust, I was finally able to see how to this thing was put together! After a day or two of drilling out rusty old stripped screws, I finally had it successfully taken apart! So now the fun begins..

Restoring The Metal Components
I collected all the larger metal components like the air ducts, windshield vents, blower motor/fan/shroud, vent doors, and the fascia for the main AC vent. Due to the copious amount of rust, gunk, and residual paint, I decided to strip the metal via media blast. I currently use a cheap ALC gun and nozzle kit, a Harbor Freight booth/syphon system, and for this particular job, I used 70 grit Aluminum Oxide media to cut through the hard surface rust. If you're thinking of doing this project yourself, I highly suggest using a media blaster for a job like this for a few reasons. Media can ensure that you remove absolutely every bit of rust, but the most important reason is that these channels and vents are very narrow. Making it especially difficult to properly clear all rust inside the ducts with a dye grinder or a brush. Also, if you happen to not have access to these types of tools, I strongly suggest you avoid use harsh chemicals to remove rust/paint from those hard to reach places and vent cavities. I've heard some horror stories of people who were not able to get rid of the chemical odor after filling their air box with aircraft paint stripper.

Once all the metal components were sand blasted, I discovered that there was no rust holes or severe damage, it was mostly just surface rust. After inspecting the parts I directly painted both inside and outside of the vents with Rust-Oleum Engine Enamel. There's no particular reason why I chose to use engine enamel over other paints. It's just what I had in my garage at the time and it seemed good enough for the job. If I could do it again, I probably would have chosen to use a rattle can of POR15 Top Coat, solely for the rust preventative benefits. However, I'm confident this will hold up.

As far as the blower motor, fan, and shroud. Just like the other parts, I brought it down to bare metal using the sand blasting booth. I then applied 2 coats of Duplicolor Ceramic Engine Enamel Primer, 2 coats of Duplicolor Ceramic Engine Enamel, and 2 coats of Duplicolor Ceramic Gloss Clear Coat. Since this is a component that will be exposed inside the engine, I was very purposeful with my choice of paint.

Now if you notice in the picture above, there are 2 vent door assemblies (one to the right of the center AC vent, and the other on the left) that appear to have some type of asphalt undercoating applied to the surface. Now I have no idea as to why Ford put undercoating on these particular parts, I can only assume it's intended to maybe deaden the sound of metal on metal? I'm not sure. The only thing I know is that removing that undercoating from the surface with media blast was ineffective. I used a dye grinder with a coarse scuff pad and that worked perfectly. After the coating was removed, I was able to successfully sand blast the surface and tunnel. I imagine that Ford had a reason for the undercoating these, so I wanted to reapply the coating just in case there became some unforeseen issue. I taped off the inside of the vent and applied 4 coats of Rust-Oleum Rubberized Undercoating. Now these particular vents have a small metal door and stapled to it is a rubber seal to cut the flow of air via knob in the cabin. I was only able to remove the door from one of the ducts, but as you can tell they both are shaped very differently. Unfortunately the shape of the second vent prevented me from removing that door, so I ended up taping off the rubber so I would be able to paint the door without damaging the seal. Once everything was properly prepped, I taped the outside of the vents so I could apply the Rust-Oleum Engine Enamel on the inside of the cavity to prevent future corrosion.

Restoring The Plastic Components
Lucky for people restoring the AC box on their 63' Thunderbird, the majority of the body, ducts, defusers, inlets, and cavities are mostly composite plastic. Which makes it very easy to clean and no rust get rid of! In certain areas of the box, there was old dirt and grime that had been curing there for 40 years, so I hit it with a pressure washer at 3500psi and a 25° nozzle. Once the big areas were relatively clean, I scrubbed the surfaces with grease cutting soap and a carpet brush. Then I gave it a few wipe downs with windex and a shammy until it was spotless.

Now that the composite parts are clean, its time to clean up the fresh air inlet cable mounts and firewall hardware that are riveted to the body of the AC box. For this job, I prefer to use my dye grinder with a 1 inch wire brush. Since these mounting points are riveted to the body, I laid down some tape to protect the plastic. I then delicately carved the rust away and was very careful not to dig the grinder into the AC box.

After that was completed, I moved onto restoring the metal panels that are riveted throughout the inside of the composite AC box. These are found in the area where the blower motor is mounted, inside the compartment where the heater core is, and where the evaporator core is. For this job I decided to use my angle grinder with a 1 inch wire brush since its small enough to fit into the narrow cavity where the heater core lives. I worked slow and steady as not to take a gouge out of the body. Once completed, I moved to the panel located near the evaporator core, but that was extremely easy since that area is incredibly large and easily accessible. After I tapped off the areas around the panels, I sprayed them with 2 layers of Rust-Oleum Engine Enamel.

This next step I did was unnecessary, but I decided to go that extra mile give the AC box that little extra bit of detail. I taped off the firewall mounts and all entrances into the cavities of the AC box. This includes the heater core holes, cavity for evaporator core, blower motor mounting point, diffuser doors, and the fresh air inlets. I then coated the exterior of the composite box with 3 layers of the Rust-Oleum Rubberized Undercoating that I had used on the vent door assemblies earlier. It's honestly just for aesthetics and most likely has no advantage over the absence of the undercoating.

Making Sure Everything Works
I wanted to make sure that all my vacuum actuators and electronic connections would work smoothly and look pretty. So to achieve that, I scrubbed the vacuum actuators with windex and a microfiber cloth, I then cleaned the connection rods with my dye grinder equipped with a 1 inch super soft wire bristle. With this setup I was able to clean the corrosion build up and polish the connections without fear of accidentally scuffing the plastic body on the vacuums. I did the same thing to all electronic components and other accessories along with their mounting hardware

If I was going to polish the connections on the vacuum actuators, then I have to polish the hinges of the vent doors as well. I used the same setup to clean the hinges as I did for cleaning the vacuum actuators and connections. Also I'd like to add, the metal they use on both the vent hinges and actuator rods are not made of steel, so you don't have to paint them. They will not rust.

Since I don't ever plan on taking the AC box out of the car again, I want to make sure that everything works within it. As a rule of thumb, I always replace the expansion valve regardless of the condition that the current one is in. It's a $20 part and that's cheap price to pay if it means you don't have to spend the next 4 hours taking out your AC box again. While replacing the expansion valve, I needed to remove the AC hose insulation from the valve. So I had to reapply new hose insulation as well. In addition to the expansion valve, I also installed a brand new heater core and heater valve.

At the end of the project, I decided to keep the original evaporator core. This meant I had to clean 40 years of slime from in-between each fin. I put it on the pavement and sprayed 2 large cans of evaporator core cleaner into every nook and cranny. I let it sit for about 15 minutes, then properly sprayed it with the garden hose. I then proceeded to spray another 2 cans of cleaning foam into the fins of the evaporator core. Lather, rinse, repeat. Even after all that thorough cleaning, old dirt would still run off with each cleaning session. So I did the process over and over until I was certain it was clean. After its spa day, I ran a comb through its fins and straightened her out.

Gaskets And Seals
Most replacement AC/heater gaskets and seals for a 1963 Thunderbird don't exist, so I was forced to improvise and attempt to refurbish things that I considered to be trash. The foam insulation for the evaporator core was cleaned and reused. Both rubber seals for the vent door assemblies were saved, and the seal that marries the blower motor chamber to the AC box was good enough to reuse. I was able to purchase new inlet seals, and blower motor gasket. I also applied quarter inch adhesive foam strips to the edges of all vent doors to promote a good seal and eliminate metal on metal contact. During my search for more seals, I found out that a replacement gasket for the main AC vent doesn't exist. So I inquired to a few Thunderbird enthusiast groups and they suggested that I fabricate my own. I ended up purchasing a sheet of rubber online, and with a lot of patience and no lack of skill, I was able to successfully recreate my own AC vent seal



And after that massive novel, here's the final result


This whole project took about a month, with working a couple hours every night on it


I honestly really impressed myself with this one. I had doubts from the beginning since it looked like it a pile of rust, but I was able to breathe new life into it.


So there it is. Like I said before, the inspiration for this ridiculously verbose and detailed thread is based on the fact I have never been able find a forum where someone has talked in great detail regarding their AC restoration on their Bullet Bird. If anybody has any comments or questions, just let me know. Thanks for taking the time to check out the project

 

Looks fantastic! Great job. I have a 1961 that I will be restoring. Thanks for posting this.

 

Nice work!

 

Very detailed post. Nice end result product.

Sure others that run into this task, will be very appreciative of your efforts. I'm sure that box may be shared across several Ford product platforms.

Nice !!

 

Good job.

 

You are a very patient man!

 

Came out freaking awesome ‘

 

"There seems to be a severe lack of information regarding these old Thunderbirds..."

You're not looking in the right place...
https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net/phpBB3/index.php?sid=6ff96cbc1e6989a666fe4c76a8238cd6

http://vintagethunderbirdclub.net/club_info.htm