90 nissan maxima, replacing heater core (yuck)

[bobotech]

Okay, my buddy and i have torn into my daughter's 1990 nissan maxima.

We have removed all the lower instrument panels, the consoles, the center peice that holds the stereos , the speedo gauge assy and the entire upper dashboard assy.

We are now stuck. The heater box assy is on the left, the A/c unit is in the middle and the fan is on the right.

From what the haynes manauals have told us, we just have to remove the heaterbox out as an assy and then we can take the heater core out.

There is a massive tube bar going from the left of the car to the right, it is in front of the heater/ac/fan assy, does that bar have to be removed? (the haynes manaul says nothing about removing that bar).

Does the a/c need to be sucked and the a/c portion of the unit need to be removed? Are there any bolts/nuts on the engine side of the firewall that need to be removed?

We are just very confused but very deep into the project at this point.

Thanks....

[s13sr20chris]

i feel your pain bro. i have never done it on an older max but i have seen another guy in the shop do it. i dont think you have to evac or remove any a/c components. i dont think there are any nuts/bolts on the engine side of the firewall but the heater hoses are there. still, there may be nuts and bolts over there too. i dont know about the bar, i know on a b15 sentra the crossbar does have to come out but i never saw the other guy take it out of the max to do the heater core. sorry if thats vague.