This picture shows the top dash panel (I split my dash panel into two pieces) lifted up to show the under dash window vent on the passenger side and the main supply plenum I made to route the five dash and foot box vents into to primary lines feeding the dash. The Vintage Air system came with seven supply ducts explained below.
After a couple months of recovering from the flu shot (down for two weeks with the nose spray version, never trust Navy medicine),
travelling to the Indian Ocean, and then Norfolk I was finally able to design a
supply duct to fit under the dash and still allow me to run a line to the
passenger side window defrost vent. The
A/C came with outlets for seven supply lines: two for defrost, two for feet,
and three for dash. As my control panel
doesn't have a separate foot and dash diverter it made no sense to keep those
lines separate, and I never use foot vents on any other car I own anyway so I
decided to combine them all. Instead of
five tubes for heat and feet crammed under the dash with a resultant Igor-like hump in it I
combined five into two and will then split the line for the dash center and
driver side vent in the middle of the dash area. The two defrost vents still work
independently but I had to design a new inlet hole and plenum to route it to
the pre-cut dash vent on the passenger side. Driver works fine with the plastic piece the kit came with. Once again I
borrowed from cbergquist1 for the basic idea and modified it for my needs. The FFR instructions are (as previously
wanked about) useless as they only really discuss mounting the compressor to
the engine block and given I went with The Engine Factory's recommendation for
the March Pulley mount the FFR instructions were unvaluable (as opposed to
invaluable). The Vintage Air instructions are generic to something sort of like a 40 Ford Hot Rod and explain nothing. I have very few complaints about the whole process of building this car and ALL of them stem from this heater/ac system. The picture shows how the
two work together under the dash with the resultant four lines feeding the vent
locations. Although not visible in the
photo I did cut corresponding holes in the bottom of the main supply manifold I built (the long metal box taking up most of the picture to match the five supply vents from the dash unit. I wanted to ensure as tight a fit as possible
and make it fit in the space provided under the dash panel.
Separately, I also made the correct connections from the Ron Francis wiring
harness to the corresponding sending units, coil, choke, etc. I had to relocate the water temp sending unit
as I finally got around to watching the excellent video The Engine Factory sent
with my 351W and found they had explained much of what I stared stupidly at,
like which port to screw the temp sensor into on the manifold. The un-seen but named "Robert" who
built the motor did a great job pointing it all out. It finally dawned on me to watch the CD they
sent with it to see how they hooked it up when they ran it. Stupid will get you a long way, but always
short of the goal.
I am finally ready to final-install most of the cockpit
panels so I ordered a box of RAMMAT acoustic mats and some of their
padding. It is far cheaper than dynamat
and they make a good point that 500 degree mat doesn't matter when everything
else is on fire already - including the occupant. "Sorry ma'am, the car and your husband were destroyed in the
fire but the dynamat is still intact."
I am initially just going to do the inside foot box panels as they will
be challenging at best when finally installed.
This way I can cut and fit the mat before I rivet the panels in
place (afternote - didn't do this as I got busy and realized I needed to wait until I had them each installed). I will also use heat insulation
on the engine side of the fire wall,
wrap the headers in exhaust wrap, and paint it all with heat resistant BBQ
paint so the inside temp should be manageable, for a Cobra-style car. Thus the decision to struggle through
figuring out how to make the a/c work.
My dear wife told me to just throw it away and buy the 'other one' the
smart guys use. What I make up for in
stupid I balance with stubborn. A magic
combination. I did find though that fitting and refitting these panels, plus fitting everything else on the car before finally installing them was the right way to go. If you follow the build manual you will not do this and will likely regret it. I used white Silicone II (doesn't interact with Aluminum like regular silicone sealants will) and riveted everything quite solidly. I will also do a thin bead of Silicone II along all panel seams when I am done to make sure they are water tight.
Finally I prepared the rear compartment panels with the undercoating paint. All of them are ready and will be installed over the next couple of weeks.
For a really big deal, my friend Carl who is also a fantastic graphic artist with his computer, created a digital file to use as a basis for trying out different color options on the car. You can literally create any color combination in the world, save the file and use it as a basis for making paint choices. We did a few sample color panels which I will print out and compare for a few months. It was great to see him and I really appreciate the effort he put into giving me a fantastic tool for choosing colors. Carl my friend I can't thank you enough.
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and are off to the beginning of a Happy New Year.
