Climate Control Head Swap

[pcguysam]

Has anyone successfully updated the old slider climate control head to a newer one?  I would like to update the one in my 81 Stepside.  I am not talking anything fancy necessarily like a digital one(although that would be cool), but dials would be nice since the old style selector handles are so prone to breakage.  If I am correct on the fan switch, it's just a normal 3 way or 4 way switch.  In theory, it could be replaced with ANY 3 or 4 way switch.  IDK about the other controls.

Any direction would be helpful :-)  Thanks guys!

[theaddictedchef]

I've spent a lot of time going through this decision and for what it's worth, here is my input. 

I took my head unit out and it was filthy, the plastic was cracked and the black backing piece was warped and looked terrible.  I sent it to work with my pops Monday and got it back last night.  He took some cleaner and cleaned the switches, the front panel and offered some advice.  He is a fantastic mechanic (over 30 years at an aerospace facility and over a decade at Caterpillar) so I heed his advice any chance I get. 

He gave the head unit back and it looked like a completely different piece.  He gave me some black plastic shim film that has some nice structure to it.  He also gave me an option for fixing the white letters on the faceplate.  My wife has a nice label maker that has different fonts and after talking to her, I found out that she can print the letters on a dual sided piece of tape so that only the letters/words stick to the plastic facing and not a square label.  The black shim I have cut out and matched perfectly so the backing looks brand new. 

After reassembly I will post the finished product and maybe you will decide to go the same route.  I looked into replacing the unit and with the replacement prices for switches in the original, I decided I couldn't go wrong keeping the stock unit.  Just my thoughts and some photos. 

[ehjorten]

Modern controls are electronic.  You would need to replace your vacuum operated doors with electric stepper motors.  It would be pretty complicated, but not impossible to the determined.  I think the reward from the effort would be very small however.  I think your best bet is to rebuild what you have, lube up the cables and make sure nothing is binding.  That right there will actually make your controls slide like butter.

[pcguysam]

Well, my ducting stinks and only blows at the floor now, so I need to do some serious work on it anyway.  I got my ac compressor working last night with a vacuum and a charge up with a R134a conversion kit.  My plan is to eventually rebuild and re-design the dash with fiberglass.  At that point, I am thinking that I will try and pull all of the ducting out of another vehicle and hopefully the controls along with it.  For now, I guess I will check all of the cables for binds and re-lube everything so that I don't bruise my fingers just to turn on the heat or change the fan speed.  Thanks for the advice!  I was just looking for something a tad more modern.

[ehjorten]

I think you will find some good improvements by taking the old heater box out, disassembling it, replacing the old rotted rubber vacuum line to the blend-door vacuum pod, inspect to make sure that the linkage is working properly on the blend-door, re-foam seal the defrost door, put in new foam seals around the heater core and put in a 1994 blower motor.  I did this on my '77 and it made a HUGE difference!  I haven't done it to my '91 yet, but want to.  I had similar experience as you with my '77 and now I can direct the flow to where I want it and it flows pretty good for an old truck.

Maybe when I get around to my '91 I will do a full tech write-up.  I just haven't had time.

[pcguysam]

Were there any conversions to update the blower motor or was it just plug and play?

[ehjorten]

It is just plug and play.  The 1994 one has more windings and is a more powerful motor.  It only works with an A/C truck as I know.  The motor comes with a new fan attached.  Ask for a blower motor for a 1994 Chevy truck (C1500, C2500, K1500, K2500, etc. with A/C).  It will look identical to yours and mount the same...it just spins faster and pushes more air.