[DeTomaso] Heater control valve

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/22/11 14 58 22, JDeRyke at aol.com writes:


> Wrong. There are two, as Tom mentions: the late one most often seen uses 
> a
> small sheet metal lever that runs in a cam slot cut in the top of the 
> brass
> valve body. Our '72-1/2 L model has this valve. The earlier one uses a 
> bent
> rod that cams internally in a different style brass valve body. There's a
> photo of an early valve in the May '07 POCA News, on the same subject. 
> It's
> true there's only one listed in the Factory Parts Lists, but that's not 
> the
> only mistake in there..
> 

I was always under the impression that the 'later' style valves you 
mentioned were, actually, aftermarket replacements rather than original Ford 
valves?   The Ford valves apparently had longevity issues and it seems likely that 
many of them were changed out with generic valves long before current 
owners (including you and I) ever got our hands on our respective cars.

My car has Charlie Puckett's '74 heater box on it, with a totally frozen 
valve of the kind you describe, and I always assumed it had been changed 
because I can find no reference anywhere to the type of valve you talk about ever 
having been fitted originally.

Here's what I consider to be the one-and-only Pantera valve:

http://www.panterapartsusa.com/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?prod_id=12007a

What would be interesting would be for somebody with a known original later 
car (Chuck Engles perhaps) to eyeball it and tell us what kind of valve 
lurks there?

Mike