OK, I finally got a break and made the permanent repair to my heater core. When I purchased it, it was leaking, but ever so slightly (a whole nother story). This past week it finally gave up the ghost. Thank heavens for this site.
Anyway, I thought I would share a few things that I learned this weekend. First, the Autozone 94553 heater core fits good and does work very well. I did add a bit of weather stripping on each side of the unit, just to make sure it sealed well, but I really didn't have to do it. Again, I thought it was a good fit.
Second, removing the rear battery does make things a whole lot easier and makes getting to those three bolts a bit better.
Third, while your changing the heater core, you may as well go ahead and change all the hoses and hose clamps, including that little 4" POS bypass hose. A few of my hose clamps just came apart while I was removing them. Some advise. Take the old bypass hose and use that to measure for the new one. That is one tough little sucker to get on and off.
Forth, it doesn't take an hour, if your not an expert mechanic (which I am not). If you go at a good pace it will take a little bit more. If you change the hose, even more time. I took about 4-5 hours, but I wasn't in a rush.
and lastly, after you put the heater/vent box back in, take a look under the dash (take a look under the dash while it is out too). I looked underneath mine and the following picture is what I saw.
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This is a photo of the defroster ducting (top) and the heater/vent box on the bottom. I always wondered why my defroster sucked, and now I know why. The two pieces were misaligned and there was a decent gap between the two pieces. I took metal duct tape, wrapped it around the two sections and sealed it. I then took a roll of pipe insulation wrap and wrapped that around the same area to protect it and give it a little insulation. Man, what a difference. I now have huge air flow from both of the defroster ducts and the heat/air flow in general seems much better.
Again, while things are apart it pays to have a look around.
Cheers.