ERA heater installation

[USrowboy]

I purchased a heater, AFTER my roller was set up. I cut the mounting holes/heater hose holes as per the template, installed the on/off switch, and moved the wiring harness out of the way as much as possible.

The heater won't go in.....AH! I must be related to Mr "murphy".
Will I have to dismantle the wiring harness, remove the dash, and insert the heater?
OR (please) is there a simpler way???????

Thanks for any help,
usrowboy
ERA #647

[CJ428CJ]

Rowboy,

Installing the heater is a really really tight fit. I've removed mine and reinstalled it. A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Make sure you disconnect the battery. Otherwise you're sure to short something out.

2. You do have to loosen the screws holding the dash in. This allows you pull the dash back out about 3/4" or so. You won't have to remove it completely. You'll probably have to loosen the steering column a bit too but that's not hard to do.

3. I have the street dash and Stewart Warner gauges. The clearance between the heater and the oil pressure gauge line is about .001". Be careful. It's easy to bend the plastic oil pressure gauge line by accident and cause an oil leak (I speak from experience). The competition dash or the Smith gauges may not have this clearance issue.

4. If you decide it's easier to just remove the dash, it's not that hard to do. There are several large connectors that connect the dash harness to the chassis harness.

Hope that helps.

Chris

[USrowboy]

Thanks Chris,
I was hoping that there was an alternative to removing the whole dash and wiring harness.
I'll work on it this week time permitting (weather permitting too, my garage is not heated!)
zig

[strictlypersonl]

Note - As per the manual, the positions of the oil temperature gage and the ammeter are interchanged.