I'm getting coolant coming thru my vents even with the heat off. I'm thinking its the heater core. I've never changed one and was curious how much of a pain in the a$$ it is.

 

Just bypass it. It will be cold all winter but your car will be faster.

 

Don't just bypass it do things somewhat right. There pretty easy to change its just behind the glove box.

 

Dont bypass the heater core! Thats a bad idea and wont do anything better for you.
To change out the heater core is pretty simple in these cars, unlike most. Its just time consuming. All you have to do is take all the top, bottom, and front pieces of the dash out. Than you have the dash that all the pieces you see sit on, that needs to come out. After that you have all the heating passages. They dont need to come out, but it sure will make things a lot easier for ten minutes of work.
Now, once you see the heater core in its spot which would be behind where the glove box was, youll need to go under the hood. Look for the 2 hoses that go in your firewall on the left of your engine, directly right of the ECU. You will need to pull the clamps back, and pull the hoses off. Be careful, coolant might go everywhere. Now after you have the hoses off, go back in the car and remove the heater core. It will take some messing around to get it to come out, but a few completely weird angles and youll have it out without having to cut or bang the brace.
Then its just reverse procedure to put the new one in and get your car back to the way it was before. Remember to put in more coolant and burp the baby.
This will probably take on the side of a few hours average. So make sure your day is clear.

 

Chaotic just did his, he said its all behind the glove box, no need to pull the dash.

 

How did he manage that?! He must have been really creative to sneak it out of there. I couldnt get it open enough until i took the dash out and got the ventilation system out of the way.

 

If yours was a summer only car, I'd bypass the core. If you never use heat, it's a waste of time and money to replace it. However, if you do use heat, then yes.

 

I second Camaro 69. I've had 3 cars in the past that I've bypassed the h core and never gave me any trouble. It's completely safe.

 

Heater core has no positive or negative effect on the cooling system.....until it leaks.

 

It wont do anything directly, but if you dont have the heater core, you may run into a problem later. Basically, the heater core acts as a second mini radiator. Now lets say your car is beginning to overheat. It hasn't completely blown a gasket but if you dont get somewhere fast, you probably will. Having that extra 1.6lbs of weight in your car can help you out big time. You blast the heat like crazy while driving down the road, pulling air off the heater core, helping to keep the coolant from boiling as fast. Having the heat blowing has saved my neck a few times. And I dont see what real gain would come from removing the heater core, so why not keep it in to be cautious?

Im not trying to be a know it all, because as a lot of people on here know, i definitely dont. But I have had my fair share of experiences, and I just figured Id try to help and put in my opinion on the matter.