'46 Chevy Shorty

[Tango]

Buses, bikes, trikes and a whole lot of seriously crazy shite!

[Tootalltechie]

All street legal or do some get trailered?

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[Tango]

Many are street legal, nearly all get to drive there (and all over town) on Parade day and a few get trailered. What is surprising is that some of the most bizarre rigs are actually full time legal. And when I say bizarre...I mean Bizarre!

[Tootalltechie]

Originally Posted by Tango

Many are street legal, nearly all get to drive there (and all over town) on Parade day and a few get trailered. What is surprising is that some of the most bizarre rigs are actually full time legal. And when I say bizarre...I mean Bizarre!

That is too cool, up here in Canada there is nothing like that, that I know of.

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[Tango]

When you have a little time to waste...go through some of the builds from previous years too.

[REDD]

Lookin good Tango, taillight wings add some flair.

Auto art, pretty crazy stuff! I looked through quite a few pics, some have put in a lot of time building/creating.

Closest thing we have around here is best dressed/paint on smash up derby cars.

[Tango]

Roger the crazy --- It all goes waaaayyyy back. I remember a couple of bizarro rigs on the street when I was just a kid (and dinosaurs roamed the Earth). And it has just grown from there. As I mentioned, we even have a full time Art Car Museum here. They routinely purchase some of the more "artful" rigs and display them as well as presenting other forms of art. They have even sent a few overseas for various events. If you ever find yourself in Houston, it's definitely worth stopping by.

Yaw'll come on down!

Quick story...

there is one ground up build that looks like a 20 foot long lizard. Has a VW engine inside and the rider/driver sits on top in the middle. As it rolls (even at highway speed) the tail swings in a snake-like fashion. The nutcase that built drove it from Houston to Blackrock, Nevada and back! Almost died in the desert as the all steel scales got up to about 160 degrees! That is dedication.

And yes...he did get pulled over by every Highway Patrol unit between here and there.

[Tango]

Simply Dashing! --- Well, at least it's a start. Below is the template for my wooden dash. It will be finished with curly maple veneer...someday.


Seems to fit so I will proceed with the finished version.


This is just the back half. Some insulation will go into the cutout area, then another 1/2" thick piece will be laminated on top and close it all in...then the curly maple. Will have another major element in the middle to accommodate the Allison mechanical shifter. That still has to be designed/figgered out.


ONWARD!

[cadillackid]

this is cool!! I love old school wooden dashboards!.. are you going to go modern or old school with the gauges? pete-style or Dakota-digital blackout?
-Christopher

[Tango]

Thanks Chris --- Gotta go old school. Not only do I like the look, but I still trust mechanical analog more than digital anyway. Will very likely have to mount them above the windshield somewhere.

And...by any chance...do you know of a fairly slim A/C evaporator/blower unit? I am thinking about hanging that part of the system above the windshield as well but it cannot not be very deep. The compressor is an '02 Ford Expedition FS10 with an 8 groove belt. The condenser and plumbing still need to be sorted out. Been looking at some "underdash" units but have not seen anything that looked workable.

[cadillackid]

we are going to have to get creative to find you a good A/C solution.. Theoretically it would be possible to repurpose an indoor coil from a mni split as an A/C.. and hang it above.. using our own expansion device...

ill see what i can find for slim units.. but when needing A/C and heat and vent redirection (defrosters, floor heat, and A/C) things tend to get big if you look for an all in one unit.. there are some fairly slim A/C , heat units that could be mounted in the sidewall behind the driver seat and then ducted to wherever.. (you would not fill in that part of the wall to gain that extra couple inches to recess it)..

I havent seen your layout plan.. I know you are probably running out of room underneath to duct a system in and locate the unit under...

the FS-10 compressor is a decent capacity unit.. make sure you buy a new one.. they have a bad rap for going bad and clogging up all the lines with "black death".. but taken care of a new one will last a good long time..

-Christopher

[Tango]

Thanks for getting back Chris --- The Ford unit is new from the factory so hopefully it will hang together for a while. Anything I can do to avoid the "black death"?

As for a "plan"...as they said in Mad Max..."Plan?...'er ain't no plan!"

Just trying figure out how to stuff 500 pounds of **** in this ten pound sack. There is zero "underdash" since it is now also my firewall so above the windshield has becomes appealing. I can construct some sort of shelf or containment there as long as it does not protrude out too far. Hoses can be run up the pillar next to the door. Heat will be small a separate unit going...somewhere...unless there is a combo alternative that might fit. Any suggestions whatsoever will be greatly appreciated.

Used to have a brilliant A/C guy here but he has long since retired and moved on. He built two systems for me over the years that were as outstanding as they were unorthodox. But then, he used to build custom systems for oil field computer trucks that sat out in 135 degree heat for months on end and had to remain a constant 65 inside to keep the gear happy. He seemed to know how to squeeze a lot out of otherwise ordinary parts. He built a reefer that would freeze meat using a little Sanden s10 unit (?). Wish I knew more on the subject.

Heck...I wish I knew anything on the subject.

[cadillackid]

in my own house I repurposed mini split coils so i could have "ducted" splits back before they actually made such things... so yeah i get it whenm it comes to havng top be unorthodox..

heat is easy we can get real compact with that.. esp if you arent needing to defrost the windows in -14 degree weather..

as far as the complexity of any system.. an A/C is really always just 5 parts and they can be pieced together as long as somewhat matched sizewise..

1. compressor - does it what its name is.
2. condensor - the freon is compressed and "condensed" into liquid in here.. heat removed here is equal to heat removed from the evaporator.
3. expansion device - effectively its a "clog" in a pipe with a little hole so just a little freon can get through. (in its simplest form called orifice tube in the car world)...
4. evaporator - the freon getting through #3. is liquid.. when you lower its pressure it evaporates.. some physics law says if a substance evaporates it has to pick up exactly the same amount of heat that it shed when it turned to a liquid.. (the coils get cold.)
5. Fans - a way of moving heat away from the condensor and adding heat to the evaporator..

thus you can see why sizing it somewhat important... otherwise we can mix and match alot of parts to pull this off...

heaters are easy and compact.. the defrost heater in my DEV bus is small enough it can fit under a seat and be ducted out.. technically one on the right could be placed right in the door way on the dash and not obstruct...

some examples of compact (some ductable) heaters...

JEGS Hot Rod Heaters | JEGS

for A/C theres always this..
deadspin-quote-carrot-aligned-w-bgr-2
-Christopher

[Tango]

Thanks again Chris --- I have a small "hot rod heater" that I may or may not use depending on what else can be scrounged/cobbled together. As for that roof mount A/C...what I have is not that far removed!. I simply added a permanent 14 gauge box for my WallyWorld 8K window unit to reside in as seen below.

[cadillackid]

the biggest issue is $$$ on coach A/C pieces.. I can get really nice super slim roof mount combo evap / condensor combos.. that we could use slimline duct to run to vents in the A-pillars, etc.. but dang those buggers are pricey...
theres a lot of neat stuff made for the sprinter / NV used as flower shop "pseudo reefer" vehicles with tie-in to the factory compressor.. but put the word "commercial" on any piece of metal with a fan in it and the price triples.. GRRR!
-Christopher

P.S. but then we both just spent a bundle on transmissions.. but somehow that seems more "worth" it than A/C lol

[Tango]

I will agree on the tranny vs A/C "worthiness" issue...but only until an August day in Houston with 100 percent humidity.

Won't be able to run anything inside the pillars, but I can tack hoses and electric on the face of them. Like everything else on this bus...they are small. Really small.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Tango

I will agree on the tranny vs A/C "worthiness" issue...but only until an August day in Houston with 100 percent humidity.

Won't be able to run anything inside the pillars, but I can tack hoses and electric on the face of them. Like everything else on this bus...they are small. Really small.

that was what I meant by inside.. i figured thered be some nice interior bezel or such that the A/C hose could run inside of.. .. in actualiy the A/C line-hide stuff makes great interior "Bezel" or such.. to make it look like the plastic chaseway on a more modern vehicle... and its functional you can run hoses and wires in it..
snaps apart for adding stuff..
-Christopher

[Tango]

Ya...exactly what I have been thinking. Some type of simple cover that will keep access easy while hiding/protecting the hoses and such.

The area above the windshield should be fairly easy to build onto for the hard parts of the evaporator and fans as long as it remains fairly slim. Would be nice to be able to direct a little air onto the glass for de-fogging but that may well be considered a luxury when all is said and done.

[cadillackid]

be kind of cool for nostalgia sake if we retro fit the old 'Wayne' deforster ducts in there from a more modern wayne...

wayne was the first in 1979 to run full-across defrosters in a school bus instead of just the round black school bus defrosters everyone else had..

they had a nice slim-line plastic duct that went below the windshield fed by air at each end..

putting round rotating vents (similar to ford trucks in the 04-08 era.. or current issue Jeep wranglers) in the panel above the windhsield would allow you to rotate them around and redirect for A/C or defrosting.. have to have something heat wise down low for the feeties...

-Christopher

[ol trunt]

I'll be watching for your heater solution. I did manage to squeeze in a long skinny ac unit under the shallow dash but I haven't figured out an over the road heater.

I found a cool old rubber bladed 6 volt fan (on a resistance block) that does pretty good as a defroster on the inside at least.

Jack