Tail light access panels, a/c continues

I shifted to working on the trunk area AL panels.  A few builders added rear access panels on the back of the sidewalls in the rear to access the tail lights.  The lights on the Type 65 are integral to mounting the fiberglass body and once that is permanently installed it can be a pain in the rear end to change light bulbs and check the wiring.  Given I am doing the wiring myself I will probably need to access these lights at some (many) points.  I made my panels over sized.  I can stick my arm all the way in there without having to slice my hands to ribbons.  The photo above shows the access panel from an odd angle so the cover plate for it looks much larger than the hole.  It is one inch larger in all dimensions to provide a lip to completely cover it up.  The black bar running along the left edge of the hole from this camera angle actually sits a couple inches away from the AL panel so it is not blocking access, veen though it looks like it does.  I originally planned to size the panel with this cross bar as the left edge of it but I needed the extra space to make sure I can actually stick my hand all the way in.  The angle approach worked well.  I've seen a couple of other efforts on line with much smaller panels.  Would probably work well if the lights were a straight shot from the side but they are back and angled down from where the trunk area is.  Long term I will put a gasket between the access panel and the inside panel (same for all access panels like battery and fuel filter) and then install some sticky backed sound deadening panels on the outside of the side panels.  The floor of the trunk area will be covered in dynamat or raam mat and then carpeted.  I plan to paint the interior walls with either a textured paint or just use undercoating from a spray can.  Same thing I used on the battery box.  To install the panels I used my new favorite item, rivnuts.  McMaster Carr sells lots of options and I am close to the distribution center they have in GA so for me everything ends up being next day from them regardless of how I pay for shipping.  Their website is a little lacking but I can always find what I want and their customer service is excellent.  Not a paid advertisement for them, just passing along a good source for weird stuff.

I think I do finally have all of the knowledge I need to wrap up the A/C work, when it is time.  A male trinary switch screws into the supplied dryer.  A female trinary switch is screwed into a separate fitting in the high pressure supply line.  It took me a lot of digging to figure out what most people already know who have chosen to do this.  The dryer in the Type 65 is mounted to the front of the engine compartment on the X-frame member in the frame.  I will run the A/C lines and evaporator drain lines through the front of the passenger footbox compartment.  Nothing else for the A/C will be installed until well after the engine goes in as I need to run A/C and heater supply and return lines around the lump.

As much as I keep pushing it off, installing the motor and trans for the first time is pretty much the next thing to do.  But first I will paint all of the cockpit AL panels and put them in again.  And then I will do the motor, maybe.

Wiring continues, thoughts on a/c work, rivnuts

Since my last update I continue work on the final form of the dash, and fitting all of the components behind it.  What you finally see is the easy part.  The wiring, ducting, and connections behind the face are the frustrating part. 

I chose to wire my dash so all items can be easily removed in the future instead of permanently connecting wiring harnesses before installing the dash.  Perhaps if I was more confident in my ability to produce the correct connection on the first try I wouldn't go with easily disconnected wire looms.  I broke down and finally bought a decent spring loaded wire stripper.  Should have done so years ago.  I varied the kind of connector I used based on what kind of thing I was wiring.  I used blade-style and male/female insert-style connectors so I can't incorrectly connect the wires.  This took a lot more time but in the end should help when I need to disconnect something after the dash is installed, if for instance I need to change a burned out light bulb.  As I also added a clock, and the Vintage Air slider knob panel has built in lights I needed to wire those into the Ron Frances loom (which come wired for five small and two large gauges).  The picture above shows the five main gauges for monitoring engine performance. 

I also installed the battery cut out switch and will install a separate 40 or 50 amp circuit breaker.  I avoided doing so for a while but it just makes sense now.  Too much work done to fry it all if I did something incorrectly.  The CB should help avoid that.

The Vintage Air A/C system instructions are confusing at best.  FFR provides two sets of VA specific instructions and their own FFR set which really just tells you how to install the brackets for the Sandon Compressor.  I had The Engine Factory do that so much of what FFR provided doesn't do me much good.  Even though the slider panel for controlling the system indicates it will control the A/C, it doesn't.  I must also install the old-fashioned A/C knob somewhere close to the evaporator.  The instructions also call for a vacuum line to the heater regulator valve but my valve is only cable operated.  The VA system discusses the importance of an optional trinary safety switch (to shut off the Sandon compressor if the system pressure is too high/low or turn on the engine fan if the system is too hot) but did not include any fitting into which the switch goes to sense temp and pressure [late addition, after much webpage viewing I figured out the switch is screwed into the dryer cannister - NOWHERE do any instructions mention this].  Plus the wiring diagrams show the switch having one black wire with a green stripe, one black wire, and two blue wires.  My switch has two black wires with no green stripe and two blue.  Kind of critical as one senses temp, the other pressure.  Most builders recommend using another manufacturer for A/C as the VA one is difficult.  I see why and wish I had done more research before charging ahead.  Final comment is the "complete kit" comes with insufficient amounts of ducting and vents for the kit.  I can't recommend the other kit most people use as I didn't buy it but I would strongly recommend checking out both before buying either.  Once I solve the wiring and plumbing problems I will post what I did.  I spent a lot of time scouring the internet looking for solutions. 

For now I moved on to rough fitting the trunk AL panels, and once again chickening out on doing final install for cockpit AL panels.  I did some more work on making the dash look pretty with the center console control panel removable front plate.  The Rivnuts work great and look good.  Picture here is work in progress - idea stolen from cbergquist1 flickr page.

One final planning piece is I decided to paint the inside (unseen) part of the dash panels appliance white.  Should help me see stuff behind the dash when the inevitable happens and I need to figure out why something isn't working.  I figure the white should provide a good background and additional visible light to see what I did wrong, or what part failed.