46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

Thanks for the reply, started doing some measuring on mine yesterday. Not sure I can make it fit even getting rid of the glove box.

Mine is dog housed for a cummins though so without that I think it would work pretty easy. Only going to be driving this in the summer so I definitely want AC

Yes, it takes up most of the space between the cowl vent lever support bar and the outside of the cab, so I can see that being an issue. There's so little room in those cabs I'm not sure where else it could go.

Since you won't need defrost and probably not heat much at all I almost wonder Vintage Air could fab a heater unit with just an evap coil in it. Kind of like the old cab heaters just for AC. They are simple but small, or failing that you could try and modify one of the old cab heaters to do the same thing. Find an evap coil that is the same size as the heater core and swap it out. You'd just have to rig up the electrical so that the compressor comes on when you turn the fan on.

If you wanted really fancy you could try and fit both in the same box, hard part would be rigging up a valve to shut off the coolant flow when you didn't want heat.

[gyman98]

Thanks for the reply, started doing some measuring on mine yesterday. Not sure I can make it fit even getting rid of the glove box.

Mine is dog housed for a cummins though so without that I think it would work pretty easy. Only going to be driving this in the summer so I definitely want AC

[Desoto61]

How is it fitting? Would you pick the gen-II mini again?

Too early to tell really. There are no major issues so far with where it's at but I haven't finished figuring out plumbing or gotten everything else behind the dash. I'm sure it eats into glovebox space as I have it mounted far higher then a normal heater, and I can't comment on performance yet naturally.

Only think I don't like about the mini is that all the connections come out at the bottom of the passenger side of the unit. That puts them close to your feet and the outside edge of the firewall. I need to cut some templates for their different bulkhead fittings to figure out what is going to fit where, but it could make for some tight bends or longer runs inside the cab.

But honestly I'm not sure what else I would have used. They have a slightly larger gen-II that isn't drastically bigger, but until I get a chance to actually use the system I won't know if it's enough. If you do heat only they have some very small options, but it gets too hot here in the summer to go without AC, even if I'm still not sure where the compressor is going to fit. Their Gen-IV systems are almost all designed for specific applications, and none are as small as the Gen-II mini.

[dieseldude4bt]

Let me know when you are done with it you can email me at dieseldude4bt@gmail.com
Thanks ....Jevon

[gyman98]

How is it fitting? Would you pick the gen-II mini again?

[Desoto61]

Don't remember exactly but it was under $100 vs closer to $500 for the real thing.

I could do that, I kept the box knowing I would be shipping it out. The other advantage of the mockup unit is it's light so shipping is cheap. Not sure when I'll be done with it though.

[dieseldude4bt]

What does a mock up unit cost? Or better yet I may be interested in yours when you are done if your are close.

[Desoto61]

I probably missed it but who's AC system are you using? I would like to install one also.

Vintage Air. Specifically their Gen II Mini unit. It's the smallest heat and AC unit they offer though my neighbor has one in his Z and doesn't think it's powerful enough. Though while small I still think the cab of my truck is smaller, so I think I'll be fine.

The unit in the pic is a mockup unit. Just the plastic housing with no guts so it's easier to position and mount. Plus when I'm done I can put it on e-bay and recoup some of the purchase price.

[Doc Dave]

That's really neat!

Also, you taught me a new word I did not know. Binnacle.

That's ok Gordon.
Iowa is far from the ocean; would not expect you to use that term very often out there ;)

[dieseldude4bt]

I probably missed it but who's AC system are you using? I would like to install one also.

[cj7ox]

Nice!

[Gordon Maney]

That's really neat!

Also, you taught me a new word I did not know. Binnacle.

[Desoto61]

Vent mounts

Decided to try mounting the vents under the dash. For that I needed to make some binnacles for them. I drew out a shape using round items I had around that were about the size I want. Tape rolls and similar in this case. Once I had the shape I wanted I cut it out of the poster board.

Since I had the plasma cutter out for another task I figured it would be the easiest way to cut the shape but I needed something to follow. If I just traced a line and tried to free hand it the results would not be pretty. So using an old cardboard box I traced out and cut two pieces of cardboard same as the template and glued them together.

Then I clamped that to the piece of 16ga plate and traced the form with the plasma cutter. Only downside is I should have cut the template slightly smaller. The plasma tip adds about 1/4", some of which will be ground away to clean up the edges, but I didn't need that much extra.

After cleaning up the edges I bent the piece up, found center and then cut the hole for the vent with a hole saw. I tried cutting the hole before bending on one of the three I built, but the hole weakens the shape and made getting a clean bend harder.

Ultimately I'm really happy with these. I temporarily clamped them to the underside of the dash. I'll decide on the final location once I have a seat in the truck and can make sure they will not be in the way. They look good, and they free up space in the dash for other things.

[Desoto61]

The Durango/Dakota has an almost identical measurement between the B-pillars so I was looking for a seat from one of those. Durango's are much more plentiful near me, but since they are a four door they do not fold forward either. They also have a tendency to tear in the lower corner and loose foam.

Plus if the vehicle has been hit in the front or rear you have to question if one or both of the seats has been compromised. This eliminates a lot of issues and should be easy to mount with one of their universal brackets.

[defdes]

That looks like a nice option. My truck came with some comfy seats, very similar to those, but the backs are a bit thick and can't be tilted forward..it's a bit tight for my 6'4" frame.