On the GTV, the center console must be removed before reaching the heater core. Although this is not difficult, it adds to the amount of work needed to be done. The console contains switches for actuating the wipers, heater fan, and fog lights, as well as a cigarrette lighter. These have wiring that must be disconnected and labeled, making things a bit slower.
Plus, the shift lever sticks right through the middle of the console. Again, adding to the amount of work required.
So, to start, one removes the shifter knob. On this car, the knob is a simple slip-on knob. One then removes a few screws holding the center console in place. This allows the console to be moved around, providing access to the wiring underneath the console itself.
During this whole process, I jiggled the cigarrette lighter and the various switches, just to figure out how to proceed. To my surprise, smoke starting coming out from around the lighter wiring. Holy cow! I pretty much panicked - images of the car burning down my house flashed through my mind. After fumbling for the hood lever, finally finding it and popping the hood, then looking for an unfindable 10mm wrench (is that the right size for the battery terminals?), and realizing this was taking way too much time, I figured I'd try to disconnect the wiring from the lighter itself. With the heating element glowing red, I reached in (half expecting to burn my fingers,) found the wires, and disconnected the lighter plug. Smoke streamed for a few more seconds ("what else is burning?") but then it faded and stopped altogether.
Moral of the story: always disconnect the battery when working with the car!
So, I proceeded to disconnect the battery terminal, and caught my breath. Talk about dodging a potential bullet. This is a lesson that I keep forgetting, and keeps biting me in the butt!
I then detached the wiper, heater, and fog lamp switches from the console. This allowed me to keep everything connected (and functional) while freeing up the center console itself. I also removed the heater temperature control levers and cover plates, and pulled the console out of the way.
At this point, the shift lever sits by itself, covered by two rubber boot. One of the rubber boots is supposed to cover the transmission tunnel, while the other one rests above it. In my car, they were flipped - the lower boot sat on top of the top boot! Removing the boots just involves pulling them out of the shift lever.
On closer inspection, both boots were torn. The bottom one (which should have been on top) was covered in tranny fluid (which explains some of the odors inside the car.) These things will need to be thrown out and replaced.
Once all this is removed, one can tackle the heater box itself.
One starts by removing the two air ducts connecting the heater box to the defrost vents. Each air duct is attached to the heater box by two nuts. Removing them was trivial. So far, so good.
The next thing is to disconnect the heater box from the electrical wiring. Not a big deal, but it requires labeling the wires to make sure we can connect them correctly again.
Next, one disconnects the coolant hoses from the heater box itself. I had already bypassed them, so they were mostly empty, but a bit of coolant dripped from them, nonetheless. These will be replaced with fresh hoses when putting everything back together again.
Next, one needs to unfasten the four nuts that hold the heater box in place. These nuts fasten around four studs connected to the top inside of the dashboard. Needless to say, these things are buried deep within wiring, ducts, and other parts under the dash.
To gain better access, I found it useful to remove the heater valve. After removing the heater valve, access to the two studs on the driver side was tricky, but with some patience, the nuts came out OK.
The two studs on the passenger side were a bit more accessible, but still, unfastening them was slow, patient work.
Once the mounting nuts are removed, the box can be jiggled out of place. However, there is barely enough clearance to pull the box out from under the dashboard. I eventually removed the bottom part of the heater box (the actual heater fan, as it turned out.) This allowed me to remove the box in pieces. This worked OK for now, but in all honesty, I am not sure how I'll put this all together back in place.
Overall, the box looks old and a bit rusty, but very rebuildable. The plastic parts need a good cleaning, but there is no apparent damage to it. The flapper doors (which route air to the floor, or up to the defroster vents) are rusty, but the rubber edge trim on them feels flexible and without any cracks or damage. The box needs cleanup and maybe some paint, but overall, it looks in very good shape.
Another surprise, however: the fan is actually a six-bladed fan. For my model year, the fan should have been a cylindrical "squirrel box" fan. I am not sure how the wrong fan type got in there, or to which car it belongs. It looks like a fan from an older vintage GTV, but I do not know for sure.
After all this, I bagged and labeled all the parts, and put everything away. The car is still driveable, although the transmission boots are missing, allowing noise and air to come through the transmission tunnel.
Next up: Things to buy, parts to repair.
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