The radiator and heater core have been cleaned out and the car now has all new hoses. I've done several flushes and will do one last flush just before it gets cold and add the anti freeze and water pump lube. All is good except that weird heater control value and it will start to be getting cold soon. It seems like nobody has one of those valves for sale brand new. I started looking around I found one on eBay for an ALFA 145/146/155/ Coupe/ FIAT Tipo. I decided to take a chance since it was only $20.00 shipped. It kinda sorta looks similar to what I need. One of issues is that the two bolt holes are too far apart.
The seller included a new gasket for the 850, which was real nice. You can see that it is close, but no cigar.
Since it was plastic, I decided to do some grinding and got the gasket to fit and also to fit to the heater core.
This is what it looks like after some careful grinding.
Here are some pictures of the installation:
It actually looks pretty good.
Next is the installation into the vehicle.
In order for this larger value to fit, the plastic heater cover had to be notched as follows:
This is in the right front on the passenger's side.
Now for the heater control, you have to remove the plastic arm, this just pops out, but please be careful since it is all plastic. You will also need a cable lock which are cheap and plentiful since they come from a VW for the heater cable or throttle cable locks.
Please remember to drill out the arm of the heater control value so that you can insert this lock.
Actually I installed the heater core with the value attached and I was able to drill it out, but it is much easier to do now before the installation.
Next, you have to drill a small hole in the heater control lever and reverse and install the original rod back as follows:
Finally, you attach the rod to the heater value and lock it in place by tightening the heater cable lock. (see red arrow)