I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with the following.... I am thinking of reassembling my heater box, which involves the two halves of the box coming together, as well as gluing the foam door flap gaskets in place.

My questions are as thus:
1) What adhesive do you recommend for the foam flap gaskets to metal? I dropped by a fabric place in town, and they sold me some spray adhesive that is meant for foam. I was going to use a brush, and brush the adhesive in place on both the metal and foam, then press the gasket in place.

2) When the two halves of the box go together, they are not flush. What do you recommend for a sealant between the two halves? I was going to get black gasket maker and run a bead along one side, but that might get a bit messy. I was thinking some dum-dum, but I am not sure if that would hold up to the heat.

The answers might be obvious to some, but i don't want to dive into a situation that might involve redoing the box over again. Thanks!
David

When I did mine, I used 3M weather strip adhesive (commonly known as yellow snot) for the foam gaskets and i used body seam sealer to seal up the heater (black - applied thin). I would caution you against using RTV - once sealed, it would be very hard to take it apart. For example, I'm working on a car right now with no working heater valve because someone changed the heater valve but didn't open up the heater box and install the wire in the box. They need to be able to come apart. Instead of doing it properly there is an in-line ball valve with a handle. In the engine bay. Just saying - fix it the right way.

FWIW, the ball valve is what the customer requested. The installer of said ball valve is not willing to take said customer's car further apart than necessary.

Sorry, I didn't know it was you! You've got to imagine my eyeroll when I saw that valve. Now it didn't help that I was taking the car for a test drive at 7° C and couldn't figure out why there was NO HEAT.

The point remains the same. I'm not a purist and don't care if you use the correct screws or bespoke fittings on your car. The heater unit was meant to be easily removed and serviced if necessary. For those driving 240's, you should see how long it takes to get one removed and compare. Please note that I would sell a 240 with a bad heater motor rather than replace another one!

I find that there are things that can be improved with modern materials and methods, but most of the older Volvo's are well engineered and a great deal of thought went into each part. The heater valve isn't cheap, but it works as intended and the replacements are available and made to original specification. These were not cheapo cars in their day. If repaired properly, they will continue to work every bit as well as they ever did.

No worries. You were probably also cursing at the guy who hacked together that throttle linkage... same guy.

+1 on doing it right the first time, Craig. I have put a good amount of effort into this particular part not to do everything as right as I can. I got the new heater valve (factory style), new foam gaskets, etc etc. Once this goes together, I don't want it to come apart unless something breaks. Although I don't want to get bogged down in the details, I would prefer to do it as best I can and take my time. I don't exactly know how the valve gasket and valve fit together, I have to look at it closer. But a dry fit process is in order regardless.