So, I was taking off the heater hose on the driver side of my 87 N/A. My car has 181,xxx miles, so it was really stuck. I used channel locks to get it off; but, I crushed the metal tube in the firewall, pretty well closed but the lip is still a bit open. With the confined space between the S4 throttle body and the firewall:

How do I fix the metal fitting so that it is or equal to a circle again?

I don't want to connect the two heater hoses together because I need my defroster(Oklahoma weather is up and down) to functhon randomly.

 

replace heater core

or maybe remove whatever you need to gain access, heat the pipe a little bit and work it, find a dowel that fits inside and try to get it back into shape

 

Pictures

 

My temporary solution in to run a 3/4" rubber hose from the inlet to the outlet. When I plan to take off my TB, I'll fix it; because I can't get into a good position or enough leverage to make it into a circle.

Thanks "Rob xx 7", I may do that if I have the confidence to do it right

 

**** sucks lol. Good luck man

 

That piece isn't actually part of the heater core. It's a separate metal line that just passes through the firewall, then connects to valve and hose that connect to the core itself. Replacing that thing would likely require removing the entire blower unit (lots of fun!).

Remove the TB, get something in there and start reshaping it. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle.

 

I'd be leery of attempting a repair given the consequences of it's failure.
Much better to replace than risk it.

Seems likely that uncrimping that tube will just cause stress fractures in the thin brass, fractures which then get retraumatized when the hoseclamp is tightened.
Catastrophic coolant loss is a death blow to an engine, so do you want to risk the motor to save a day's worth of labor?

 

bend it back to a relatively round shape...should be fine if you do a decent job of it. the metal doesn't fatigue that easily, it's very soft and recovers well.

 

bend it back with a small screw driver and then some needle nose pliers. I've had to do it on my truck.

 

leave it to mazda to make a cluster **** like that

 

...channel locks...really?

 

he did gorilla up that fitting pretty good, lol

Putting a new hose on a razor blade across the old hose makes more sense but I know no one else on the board has ever done something stupid before, we are all perfect.

 

holy crap, too much powaaa!!!

 

lol dang i did flatten that pretty well, looks fixable if your careful about it

 

OK seriously though, that thing is FUCKED. There is no way in hell you will fix that without removing the heater core. I lol'd when I saw the pics Sorry.

Removing the dash isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Remove the dash with the metal frame, thing is like 6 bolts I think? Some connectors, two bolts on the steering column, etc. Its not bad and you can replace the crappy stock clamps on the hoses that connect the core to the pipes with worm gear clamps and pretty much never have to worry about the system leaking.

And FYI if you don't want to do the repair now you can loop or cap the lines and live without heat for a while.

 

You are going to freeze your *** off. It gets cold in Claremore/Oolagah area.

Aw, it's just a scratch. I've had worse.