Project No-Flight Update
December 2003
After much searching I finally found a company who would work with me to fabricate a custom AC unit for No Flight. I ended up getting everything for an AC system except the housing for the in-car unit so that I could fabricate a housing that would fit the very limited space available. They even helped me find a SMALL compressor that would work with my motor plate installation. The guys at www.ackits.com proved to be very helpful.
First order of business was to fabricate a mount for the compressor. Due to the motor plate the compressor had to be short enough to fit ahead of the plate. A normal "street rod" Sanden compressor was about 2" too long. I was able to obtain a special Seltec compressor that was short enough to fit and align the belt to a standard "long" water pump installation. I can use the adjuster mounted on the roll cage tube since the motor plate eliminates any movement of the motor relative to the chassis.
As I mentioned, none of the off the shelf in-car units would fit in the space I had available, so I ended up just buying the blower assembly and a special evaporator coil and fabricating a housing myself. It tucks into the space below the cowl support (the space above the support is being reserved for the FI computer and ignition box) and is just narrow enough to clear the trans tunnel. The housing is fabricated from G-10 fiberglass sheet, which was much easier than carving a foam plug and then glassing a one-piece housing. I still need to paint it, then get something to seal around the evaporator connections.
Installed into the car it nestles nicely among the roll cage supports and the relocated cowl brace (it was raised to pass over the forward roll cage tube so the body could at least be lifted from the frame to paint the chassis).
I also finally got around to glassing in the hatchet holes in the dash left by the prior owners and closed off the remains of the radio opening. Of course, no sooner were all the old holes glassed in than I proceeded to make some new ones to put the AC outlets in. I bought both rectangular and round AC outlets, but decided to go with the round ones as being a better fit with all the rounded contours of the rest of the dash. Here's a picture of the "hatchet hole" I started with.
And the end results with the new AC outlets and controls. I placed the controls at the spacing to match the Ac kit pieces, but may plug the holes again and move them farther apart to match where the original controls would have been.
The condenser installation turned out to be one of the easiest steps. I ordered a high efficiency parallel flow unit along with the rest of the AC parts and welded in some tab brackets to hold it to the radiator support. Finding a place to mount the dryer took a little trial and error, but the final location on the header bar support bracket looks like it will work fine.
I still need to complete the hose routing (down along the frame rail) and install the bulkhead fitting mount to the firewall to pass the lines to the in-car unit. Then I can take it all out and box it up until the car is ready to be reassembled following frame painting, adding the carbon fiber to the interior panels, and a few hundred other little things.
Not part of the AC install, but while I was out puttering I installed the trans dipstick I got for Christmas. A "stock" dipstick wouldn't work as it ended up being tucked under the cowl overhang, so I "asked Santa" for a trick Lokar flexible one. I had to shorten the housing 3 1/2" (just remove the dipstick end fitting and shorten the braided hose, then remove the flexible dipstick and shorten it to match) to get it the right length but the final installation looks pretty good and easily clears the firewall opening and the trans tunnel.
