Unfortunately the foam tape I put on the heater core was too thick. I wasn't able to use the extra piece of foam for the plastic cover and the plastic cover might have some small gaps in the top left. I tried taking the heater core out to peel some of the foam tape off put I would have to damage it to remove it, it's that bad.
I ended up with one extra screw and the piece of cover foam. I'm wondering if maybe the gap in the cover is what's causing the wind whistle coming from the vents. It gets louder as I increase fan speed. It goes away at a low fan speed though.
tldr; Don't put foam tape on a heater core too thick. It will be hard to get cover on properly. I would just put one strip where the pipes are and just enough on the sides. The cover foam is good enough for the back of it.
Iam still trying too get the two heater hoses off the firewall to change my core out, what a pain...! How did you get yours out? Or do you got a dohc engine? Mine i s a vulcun and the core I got came with the strip of foam .
to get the top hose off I removed a hose from the throttle body area (iac maybe idk). then I jumped onto where the battery is and reached in needle nose pliers and moved the clamp just past the bend.
for the lower hose I had to jack up the front of the car with jackstands on both sides. I then laid on my back and reached up with needle nose pliers and wiggled it just past the bend. I used the needle nose pliers sideways on the clamp sometimes too.
Once I got the clamps moved, I went in from the top of the engine and put the tip of needle nose pliers between the top of the hose and the firewall and pushed on the handle of the pliers to pry on the hose. I also clamped the vice grips on the hose and wiggled it around. Once you can reach a hand in to the bare heater core outlet/inlet (between the hose and the firewall) you can pull it off by hand. I also just grabbed the hoses and pulled on them as hard as I could from time to time.
It wasn't easy and took me almost an hour to get the hoses off, putting them back on took about 10-15 minutes.
I had a little book light to help me which was a god send. It's insanely difficult without the proper lighting.
When I went to put the clamps back on I realized vice grips were way easier sometimes, although sometimes needle nose pliers are needed because they are get in tighter spaces easier.
I got the remote cable clamps, took off the upper intake manifold and got enough room to turn the stupid factory clamps upright cause they were facing down. Took a couples hours, now its to dark outside and gonna finish tomorrow. And what do you mean cutting the hoses off..? Don't tell me they won't come off if I pull and twist with a pair of plyers????
Add a little penetrating oil to the connection and clean it off right after. You can get a ice pick or a bent awl into the interface to let the oil in.
^ I meant if you were struggling to get the clamps/hoses removed, it may help to cut the hoses off right at the nipples to facilitate access to the clamps. Of course, you'd have to replace the hoses, lol. And since you're replacing the core, just follow Automender's advice with a hose pick or screwdriver or twist/pull by hand or with pliers. Anyone not replacing the core but removing/replacing the 2 hoses, it's recommended to remove the clamps, slit the hoses vertically the length of the nipple and peel off to avoid damaging the delicate nipple connections or risk damage to the core (leak).
I'll get a pick and plyers, I was thinking about just cutting it up and put a new heater hose Assembly on but that's not an option right now so I don't want to damage it.
OP, 9/10 I am sure that the whistle is from the missing tape. Maybe you could used a razor to cut the foam down to thickness?
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