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Heater Vent hose Replacement Source? 56 Series 62

Started by hawkfan, October 04, 2020, 03:32:48 PM

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hawkfan

Is there a source out there where I can get replacement heater duct hose?  Mine has seen its better days and I dont want to just tape them up.  Any suggestions?  Recommendations?

Thanks
Hawkfan

Cadman-iac

Brian,

Dayco  makes a hose that fits nicely, has the wire reinforcement in it,  but it's plastic,  not cloth. That didn't matter to me,  but if you are looking for an original replacement,  someone else may have something to offer. I honestly don't know if it's still available in cloth.
If i remember correctly,  it's a 3 3/4" hose, but you might want to double check that.

Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

hawkfan

Thanks Rick!  I'll check into Dayco.  It doesnt have to be cloth.  As long as it holds the air and looks decent, I'm OK with that!

Cadman-iac

They make it in 1/4" size increments,  so it might be a good idea to take the fan hose adapter,( the sleeve that the hose goes over, it's removable), in with you when you go to the parts store. That way you can make sure that you get the one that fits best.

Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

hawkfan

Just pulled off the hose and checked the housing diameter and its 4"

Thanks for the tip!

Brian

Cadman-iac

Any time Brian,
Those hoses have a wire that's wound around them for reinforcement,  but it also helps to keep it from pulling off of the fan and the air box sleeves. Each of those have either 3 or 4 small tabs that feel like little bumps, evenly spaced, and the wire grips these. If you get the right hose,  you can thread it onto the sleeves like you would a bolt. The tighter it fits,  the better.
It's been a while since I have messed with mine,  but if memory serves,  those hoses run slightly bigger than the stated size.
Rather than purchasing one and going home to check it,  and finding out it's too big or small,  I would suggest that you take that sleeve off and bring it with you. I believe they have 4 screws holding it on.
Another option is to just remove the fan. It's not as hard as it sounds, and probably easier than removing the sleeve,  as the screws can be hard to get to, and hard to turn.

  Hope this helps.

Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

Hillbillycat

Anyone ever tried to use plasti-dip and pieces of cloth (canvas i.e.) to patch the holes?

Cadman-iac

Quote from: Hillbillycat on October 05, 2020, 04:12:10 AM
Anyone ever tried to use plasti-dip and pieces of cloth (canvas i.e.) to patch the holes?

Hillbillycat,

That's a nice idea, however it wouldn't look very good.  First off,  the hoses are not very easy to get to, to try to repair in place,  and if they were in that bad of shape,  you couldn't remove them to repair them without destroying them. Once they get to the point that they are falling apart,  your best option is to replace them.
Not to be insulting,  but that's wishful thinking. That's not to say that just about everyone has had the same idea though.

Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

hawkfan

My hoses are ready to crumble.  I searched the Caddy supply houses and My dilemma know is do I spend $50+ for 6' when I only need maybe a 3rd of that or do I go to the hardware store and try to find a similar style hose in plastic.

J. Gomez

Quote from: hawkfan on October 05, 2020, 05:59:26 PM
My hoses are ready to crumble.  I searched the Caddy supply houses and My dilemma know is do I spend $50+ for 6' when I only need maybe a 3rd of that or do I go to the hardware store and try to find a similar style hose in plastic.

Hawkfan,

You will be surprise as to how other GM part sites will be a lot cheaper in general items that will fit our Cadillac then going with just the Cadillac exclusive.

You can find several items from Chevy that would fit our Cadillac and there are 10x more Chevy sites out there so you can compare, the only problem is you have to do a lot of leg work.

The cloth heater hoses are available from other non-auto sites as well but these are a bit more expensive in general versus going with the ones made of plastic like Rick mention.

I recall from the old Mid-Century site Lou had found a site on-line that sells these unfortunately the Mid-Century site is long gone and I can’t recall the place.     :(
J. Gomez
CLC #23082

Cadman-iac

Brian,
I got mine from the local parts store.  It's an independent company, not a chain store like Autozone or O'rielly's. Been dealing with them for 20 plus years,  and I have a good relationship with them so I get a better price than most.
But I would try your local store to see what they have to offer first.
I got 4 different sizes of hose for mine.  The defrost hose,  the heater air box to fan and fan to heater box hoses, and mine has air conditioning,  so I got those hoses too. The air intake hoses, and the air discharge hoses. And each "set" was a different size. But I figured if there is/was any leftovers, they'd make good spares if I ever needed it.
I would have to go measure them to give you a specific size. Let me know, and I'll do that for you if you'd like.

HTH,  Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

hawkfan

Rick,

I haven't seen a mom & pop part store where I live I bet in 25 years.  They are all the big box stores.  I took the hose off and measured the housing and the housing measures 4".  I would pay you for materials and shipping.  Thanks for your generous offer to look for spare hose!

Thanks
Brian

Cadman-iac

Brian,
Unfortunately I don't have any of that size hose left over. The 6 foot long piece is just enough to make the 4 pieces needed to go between both the fans and the heaters and air boxes.
If I had some left,  I'd be glad to help out, but there wasn't enough left to do any good.  I think the last piece was all of 4 inches long.
If you haven't looked at the other hoses yet, you probably should. If one was bad, then the others are probably not much better. They're all exposed to the heat and dirt and grease/oil that is under the hood.
Sorry I couldn't be more help than that.

Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

hawkfan


David Greenburg

David Greenburg
'60 Eldorado Seville
'61 Fleetwood Sixty Special

hawkfan


cadman56

I used a univeral 4 inch defroster hose.  Works great.
Also, if you are getting into your doors, the heater hose at the bottom of the doors is also found in the univerals defroster hose size line up.
1956 Cadillac Coupe deVille (sold)
1956 Cadillac Convertible (sold)
1956 Cadillac Eldorado Seville (sold)
1967 Cadillac Eldorado (sold)
1968 Cadillac Convertible (Sold)
1991 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham dElegance
Larry Blanchard CLC #5820

Cadman-iac

That's right,  the hoses in the doors is the 4th size of hose used in the 54-56 Cadillacs.  Thanks Larry.  On a 2 door, it takes almost 6 feet to do both doors too.
The Dayco hose is the best reasonably priced option I have found for all of these locations. You can get cheaper stuff I guess,  but like I used to say when I worked at Napa and someone asked me if there was anything cheaper, "Sure there is, but how many times do you want to do it ?".
1. Heater intake hose, (fans)
2. Heater outlet hose,  (doors)
3. Defrost hose
4. A/C intake hose
5. A/C outlet hose

So you have a minimum of 3 sizes for your car, and 5 if you have air conditioning.
Now 2 of these 5 may be the same size,  I honestly don't remember.  I would have to dig out all of them and measure each one to know for sure.

Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

hawkfan

Thanks Rick

A previous owner of my 56 replaced the ducts inside the cabin.  I just have to replace the ones under the hood.


hawkfan

As David suggested I went to Old Air for some 4" hose.  Funny, Old Air has the same hose listed on ebay with free shipping where as they charge you for shipping on their website.