Re: IML: '73 Lebaron - factory installed wrong air door for AutoTemp II - need correct part

[Tim Durrer <tdkd99@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim,

I also have a '73 LeBaron that I am in the middle of
repairing various things on. One of which is the Auto
Temp II. I have ordered a replacement servo from
Performance Analysis in Oakridge TN. They are
expensive, but well worth the cost. If yours still has
the old plastic design unit under the hood it will
eventually crack and leak coolant (If it is not
already cracked). When I got my car the previous owner
had bypassed the unit for this reason.

As to your switch issue I am a little confused. You
said you remember a bundle of vacuum lines that seemed
to go nowhere. Were they capped off by any chance? It
would seem to me you would hear a distinctive hiss
coming from under the dash the last time you drove the
car if they were not. Are you sure the actuator itself
does not have the bracket the switch is mounted to? It
could be they just installed the wrong actuator and
said the heck with switch when it would not bolt up. 
I don't have a parts book to verify the difference on
ATC versus non ATC parts. Is the actuator connected by
any chance? 

My car is currently at my Dad's in a different part of
the state having some engine work done to it. I should
be able to pick it up in a couple of weeks and I will
check mine to see how it is set up. I currently have
the glove box out, so I should be able to see the
switch and how it mounts easily. I will let you know
what I find out. Where did you get your switch from? I
may need one myself!

Tim Durrer
73 LeBaron Blue Sky
--- Jim Stacey <jhrstacey@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> We've all heard that old saying "Never buy a car
> made on a Monday or a
> Friday".  Well, I've come to believe there just may
> be some truth to that.
> The fender tag on my '73 Lebaron indicates it was
> built on Sept 18 1972 - a
> Monday.  I just discovered that one of the parts
> installed at the factory
> for the AutoTemp II system is not the correct part
> at all, but rather
> belongs to the non-AutoTemp version of the
> heating/air conditioning system.
> 
>  
> 
> My car is totally dismantled at the moment for a
> very slow do-it-yourself
> ground up restoration, and it has been over 20 years
> since I drove it, but I
> remember that when I was driving the car many years
> ago, the air
> conditioning was never as cold as it should have
> been and I think I now know
> why.  I also remember that when I took the dash
> apart and stored all the
> bits and pieces in boxes that there was a bundle of
> vacuum hoses that just
> went "nowhere".  I thought that was strange at the
> time.  I since determined
> from the parts book, FSM and '71 Master Technician's
> Service Conference on
> A/T II that this bundle of hoses was supposed to go
> to a "vacuum transfer
> switch" that controls the fresh air/recirculation
> door.  I figured maybe
> somehow that little switch got missed as my car made
> its way down the
> assembly line.  After all, it was a Monday!  To my
> delight, I was able to
> order an NOS transfer switch and thought my troubles
> were over.
> 
>  
> 
> However, now that I have the vacuum switch, I have
> determined that I also
> have the wrong fresh air/recirculating door
> assembly. It looks like I have
> the air door for standard A/C and not AutoTemp II. 
> (Actually there seem to
> be a few different names for this part.  The parts
> book calls it the "Air
> recirculating housing" PN 3620732.  The FSM "air
> door housing" and the MTSC
> calls it the "air inlet door".  I'll just call it
> the "air door" for
> simplicity.)  Anyway, the air door for AutoTemp II
> should have a cam
> attached to it to move the spool valve of the
> transfer switch through its
> travel as the door moves from zero to 100% outside
> air.  And the bracket
> that holds the vacuum pot (actuator) that moves the
> door should have a place
> to mount the transfer switch. Mine has neither!  A
> bad day at the factory
> indeed!
> 
>  
> 
> So now I am looking for a '71 thro' 73 air door
> housing for AutoTemp II
> (with cam and bracket for the transfer switch). 
> There is good news and bad
> news regarding this air door housing assembly.  The
> good news is that this
> part is easily removed "once you get to it".  The
> bad news is that there is
> quite a bit involved in "getting to it".   It is
> located directly behind the
> heater blower motor and is accessed from the engine
> compartment side of the
> firewall.  There are just four screws holding it in
> the firewall, but you
> have to remove the blower motor and the large
> plastic air plenum/housing on
> the firewall first.  Just removing the blower motor
> is a challenge because
> it is pretty much buried in behind the right front
> fender.  The FSM says you
> can remove the blower motor by removing the plastic
> wheelhouse inner fender
> shields and going at it from "underneath", but I
> have a feeling it would be
> a lot easier with the fender completely off!
> 
>  
> 
> If anyone out there on the List has a '71 - '73
> parts car with AutoTemp II
> in such a state of "tear-down" that they could get
> at the air door housing
> rather easily, and would like to sell it, I would be
> very interested in
> hearing from you off list.
> 
>  
> 
> Jim Stacey
> 
> Ontario, Canada  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 


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