We were able to order a
SCS heater core assembly 084-00305 for $159 plus shipping. It was the "new design" with copper connector tubes from PDX RV LLC, of Portland Oregon.
https://pdxrvwholesale.com/products/...mbly-084-00305
The new cores no longer use the two OEM steel screw-in hose connectors into the brass heater core end cap (see photo). The older design wasn't reliable this was our third core in 20 years, but was easier to remove if you unscrewed the hose connector extensions. The new design with the integral hose connector extensions (see photo) takes a bit of case-half *and* new core maneuvering to get it slid into the heater box slot and also out the two hose connector hole/ports. It took two sets of hands to accomplish this.
We were able to replace the leaking heater core without removing the RV lower front cap, but did remove the front access door and associated hinges to achieve the minimum clearance needed to split the heater box (16 clips, 4 on each side, spaced evenly on each side), remove the old leaking core, and install the new heater core.
This task was do-able and avoided $1,000 plus shop and parts bill. It is not easy due to limited clearance. You can split the case by removing the 12 black oxide coated spring steel clips you can access (total of 16 on the whole case), with a flat head screwdriver, but the four clips on the passenger have to be popped off by opening the case halves after you have removed the 12 clips you can get to.
Reassembling it the reverse of this process. You have to replace the case half retaining clips largely in the blind but is you can feel the clip attachment points and you can do it fairly easily if you have a reasonable amount of dexterity. We found the four clips on the passenger side of the box (that we popped off by splitting the case) too difficult to reinstall due to clearance and reach.
Note - the newer Victory heater/AC box uses small screws in molded attaching points as opposed to the spring steel clips.
Extra clips (see photo) are available from Comfort Air Grand Rapids Michigan at
https://www.comfortairgr.com/shop/cl...cooling-units/ if any are missing/you lost a few.
The total job end to end took about 3.5 hours.