Seems to me that it can be made to work... The gremlin in the mix is that the automatic climate control has a fan speed control module that slips down into the heater box. This circuit board is known to be problematic and reportedly burns out within thirty seconds if it does not have air moving across it. In other words, if the blower motor fails, it takes the circuit board with it. ASSUMING that the non- A/C heater box has a provision for - or a place where this board can be mounted in the air stream, it should be OK. BTW, If you decide to switch to a manual control, I just may be interested in some of the auto climate controls as a backup for mine ;-)