1970 E-body a/c water valve

I’m looking for old magazine road tests showing underhood photos of a 1970 cuda or 1970 challenger with air conditioning to confirm which type a/c valve was used.

I know the parts books show different #s for the 70 compared to 71 valve

is it the metal valve or the red + black bakolite valve

Does anyone have or know of a magazine road test that would answer that?

I’ve heard too many conflicting stories and nobody i spoke to is 100% confident either

Thanks for the help!

When I did my former 1970 Challenger.
I bought an NOS 1970 Valve in the box. and it was the black and red bakelight valve

Its also what was on the car when i bought it as well. and at the time the car was completely unrestored original paint

Now whether or not the one on the car was factory original, ???? i have no idea

thanks,

nos of those are still around, and i believe that is the 71-74 type, but not 100% sure

thats why im looking for some old school road tests, theres got to be a road test of an 1970 a/c e-body

The 71 Barracuda (318 with AC) that I now own was purchased by my father in October 1971 with 13,000 miles on the odometer. The SPD was 115. It had the metal control valve. I know that for a fact. I was a teenager at the time. My dad and I worked on the car. I remember when the valve failed. Now, could it have been replaced during the first 13K miles? Possibly, but I doubt it.

In 2014, I purchased another 71 Barracuda (318 with AC). I bought it from the original owner with 116,540 miles on the odometer. The SPD was 625. In his garage I found a big box of junk that included the original carburetor. Also in that box was the red-black control valve that I believed to be the original.

I believe that during the 71 production run, the valve was transitioned from the metal style to the plastic style.

David

Check with Mike at AMS obsolete. Think he has a bunch of those.

hi,
thanks, i have at least 4 myself, just was never 100% which was correct for 1970
thanks for the help!

My 1971 Challenger had the red one.
My early 1970 car had the metal one.
Had a late 1970 i parted that today would have been easy restoration
That had the red one.
That car was never messed with.

have 70 cuda convert with air has metal valve early nov

thanks guys!

Tony.....next trip you take to GYC, walk around and look under some hoods. Surely as many cars are sitting there, more than one will have factory AC, and if you're lucky they might have the original valve. Long ago, I had a 70 Challenger R/T with factory air. If I remember correctly, it had the metal valve. Can't confirm it because I never took any pics.

I looked up part #s for 70-74 and came up with the following-

70 - 3441034
71 - 3441884
72 to 7/73 - 3502346
after 7/73 - 3502723

The first 3 #s if I'm not mistaken, are all variations of the red/black bakelite unit, and the last is the metal valve.
From what I've heard the bakelite unit was prone to leaking so it was replaced by the metal one.
So I think that's why we are sometimes seeing the metal valves on the earlier cars.
I took a metal valve off of a 70 318 Challenger back in the early 90s myself.

3502723-
https://www.ebay.com/p/1722984198
https://www.ebay.com/p/1722984198?iid=381892222026

3502346-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-MoPar-...2?hash=item21688c01b8:g:2VUAAOxyjP1R24ii
http://www.bradsnosmopar.com/cornosebunac.html

Is it possible that the aftermarket started producing metal valves in 1970-71-72?
https://www.hiltopautoparts.com/pro...rol-valve-1970-3-e-body-1972-3-b-c-body/

I used to have one of the NOS metal valves mentioned here,,, back when I had my challenger and I saw NO WAY it would mount to the inner fender like the red/black phenolic valves does. I got lucky and found one nos valve in the 1970 part number box ( found it on ebay not to long after I bought the car in the mid / late 90s time frame ) and it was the red / black valve. Its what was on the car when I sold it

MY personal opinion ( Its worth what you paid for I know ) is the 70-71 had the bake light valves ,, metal came later.

I would agree. From what I can figure, the only difference between 1970 and 1971 would not be in the red/black valve vs the metal one, but the different metal bracket to mount that valve to the fender. 1971 production(after all the 1970 ones were used up) had a notch in the passenger side fender with a hole in that notch for mounting the bracket, where the water valve was attached to it. 1970 as you know, did not have that notch. The mounting brackets are very different for 1970 and 1971. I can post a picture of the 1970 version tonight if no one else posts one before then.

This is the bracket on my un-restored 71 automatic 318 air Barracuda. The distance between the mounting holes is 1 7/8 inch from center to center.

The witness marks sure look like a bakelite valve was on there to me. I had a 1971 318 barracuda that had a metal valve, looked original, but can't say for sure.

Hey 4406bbl, I agree with you 100%. I took that picture this evening. When I looked at the image on my laptop, I was shocked to see that imprint on the bracket. You don't really notice it with the naked eye. But the flash from the camera really highlighted the imprint.

I have always taken pride in having an excellent memory. I remember the valve being metal. When it failed we put another metal one (aftermarket) in its place. I have the red-blake bakelite valve that came with my late June 71 Barracuda. I am going to trace the mounting surface onto some paper and compare the tracing to the imprint on the January bracket. If it matches...well, I won't know what to think!

David

I notice several different opinions , it would be nice to see side by side comparison

Here is a pic. of an original 1970 water valve bracket.

Another

Another

Last one. Comments please.

It is definitely different from my 71 bracket. What is the distance between the mounting holes (where the valve mounts to the bracket)? On the 71 bracket it is 1 7/8 inches from center to center.

I have attached pictures of a metal replacement valve. It is made by Everco. You can see their logo "E" stamped on the top flange. It mounts perfectly on my 71 Barracuda.

Does anyone have an old original metal valve? Would it have had a Chrysler part number stamped on it? Or maybe the Pentastar?

David

i was thinking, and ive had alot of NOS parts throughout the years and i cant think of when brackets were included, everything is ala carte.
but, these red/black bakolite water valves come with brackets.
had me thinking why.
best guess is because they were to replace the 1 piece valve used on 1970 cars maybe????

i wish someone could find an original 1970 road test of a e-body with air conditioning to show for sure

or even 1 of those old school videos

I just pulled that old bakelite valve out to take another look and take a few pictures of it. The red bottom half is not bakelite, but cast aluminum or pot metal. I looked at some of the new ones listed on Ebay and they look to be all bakelite or plastic. Can someone confirm?

David

Thats what I was thinking, in the 75-80 time period I changed a lot of those leaky valves and the bracket was always in the box. Have to dig, have an old nos red valve here, and the metal one off the 1971, and a pair of the moulded heater hoses for a charger in a box here somewhere.

Brackets were sold separately with their own part number from what I recall.
Here is an NOS C-body bracket with correct finish unlike the re-anodized one shown.
The 1970 E-body one is also available in reproduction as shown in second picture

I have always been adamant about my 71 Barracuda having a metal valve from the factory. Even though my memory still tells me that to be the case, I can't argue with what 4406bbl noticed on the fender bracket. I did a pencil rubbing on an old red/black bakelite valve and then a side by side comparison with the "witness marks" or footprint left on the bracket.

Here's a screen shot from a 1971 Challenger road test I found on youtube, you can just make out the bakelite valve.

video-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=zbzrxowPjZw

And the other pic is of a 1970 383 R/T SE Challenger that just surfaced over in England on another board, it's been off the road since the late 80s according to the guy who found it - looks really original under the hood, '171' master cylinder and all.

Regarding the brackets - first pic here is a 1971 without a/c, but in the notch if I'm not mistaken sits an emissions line. I'm not really up on all the details on the 71s but I think they all had this line? While in 1970 only cars with California emissions would have a similar setup here, federal emissions just a dimple for the screw that would hold the line clamp, and the water valve is mounted further down regardless of CA or federal emissions. For 71 it seems to be the same - did they change the shape of the bracket to accommodate another difference in the inner fender? The repop valve brackets are listed as fitting 1970-74.

Second is one with a/c and the emissions line but no notch in the inner fender, maybe a 1970 with CA emissions.

Well it won't let me attach the pics
Car is 70 barracuda built d ec 69. 383 with air. Never been restored (needs it bad) it has the metal valve on it

There is a maximum limit on image size . If so resize them and try again.

David

here's the engine compartment shot from a 383 4BBL Challenger (JH23N0) road test in the December 1969 issue of MOTORCADE

Dan: Looks to be a Bakelite one to me, because of the round areas on top. What say you?

Bakelite for sure.

Here's mine off my early build 72 Charger.

Great find 6bblgt. And now with the 1970 model year, I wonder if there was a Hamtramck versus LA plant difference with this part.