Disintegrating interior heater tube foam!

[Jerome damato]

Hi, I am new to the forum (stalker for ages) and really appreciate both the knowledge and sly humor of the place thanks for many a great read and insight-

I have a ‘66 912 resto I’m into the metal work on. Just replaced floor and am onto the rockers- noticing that the interior heater tubes which are metal on this example look to be in solid shape with just some surface rust which comes off with a scour pad.
The issue is that on reaching hand inside the tube I felt that there is a foam tube INSIDE the tube- and on one side it’s sort of deteriorating.
We blew some air through it and nothing comes out- however, my concern is that once the engine starts kicking out that good heat in the winter that a funky smell might arise (this car spent a lot of time dank/damping away in a Long Island barn. Like 50 years.
My metal guy is eager to seal it up and move on as he believes it’s a non-issue. Wondering if anyone has any familiarity with this.
These are not the cardboard variety tubes and I also just wanted to share a pic as I don’t know if the metal type is unusual and might be useful to see for someone else-
It’s an interesting design. I think like a muffler. Outer metal canister, presumably some layer of baffling or insulation, then inter metal liner, THEN the foam tube I mentioned! Must really be concerned about noise transferring from motor.
Thought I had a pic of the foam tube but I don’t- basically if you peer into the hole at your ankle where the heat comes out you can see the end of it in there - or just feel around with fingers.

That’s all I got- thanks again for all the great reads 🙏

[SFE]

Interesting post !
When I put the heating lever up heat is coming but I ear some noise coming from the engine so I don't know what they put inside during the restoration of my car ???

[VintageExcellen]

Yes sound transfers through the heat tube without some sort of dampening. I had a car one missing all of the baffling in that tube and you could hear engine noise coming right out of that tube in a way it is not supposed to be. Also mice like to make nests in that tube so I have got a car back on the road after a long slumber, pull the heater and the cabin smells like mouse urine.

You can cut out the muffler tubes and replace them with new tubes. I have a set of new if you need them - I sold off a rusty project but still have those tubes in new condition, pm me if you do.

[Jerome damato]

Hi Mark! So sorry I missed your reply long ago- I am new to the whole forum thing and will need to get the hang of where to look for replies! At any rate, thank you so much for the offer of the tubes- my metal guy did hi-tech test wherein he stuck a hair dryer in the heating vent and let it cook for an hour to check if under high heat conditions if it would give off any odor or other issues- fortunately passed with flying colors so thanks again to all for the feedback!