Time to finish up installing a few more pieces of equipment.

Transmission Cooler

I originally had planned on using the tranny cooler from the Durango, but since it was mounted vertically in the Durango, I could not find a decent mounting position for it. I broke down and bought a couple of B&M coolers that gave me about the same surface area as the Durango cooler. By choosing two coolers over one large one, I was able easily mount them under the front splash pan where they would be protected and still get excellent airflow. The cooler lines were touching the transmission hump on the passenger side. I dinged the hump enough to clear the lines for now, after I pull the engine and transmission again, I will cut the floor in this area and fabricate a recess for the lines.

A/C Evaporator, Condensor and Drier

Early on I had ordered a A/C kit from Hotrod Air, time went by and shipping date after shipping date was missed and I was getting the ol’ dog ate my homework types of excuses from the owner. I canceled the order and replaced it with Vintage Air. I ordered the largest system that they make to provide enough cooling and heating for the wagon’s large interior. The evaporator is HUGE! It basically fills the behind the dash area to the extent that there will be no glove box left, and I will have to buy a radio that I remote mount the PA and power supply. The area where the glove box would go, will now be the mounting location for all of my fuse and relay panels.

While I was working in this area I mounted the bulkhead fittings for the A/C Heater lines. The fittings are at a 45° angle right above the ECU. This provided a straight shot for the lines behind the dash and also hid the lines behind the inner fender panel on the firewall side.

The final issue with the A/C was fabricating a mounting bracket for the condensor to mount it infront of the radiator. I basically used some aluminum channel that was large enough to fit over the flanges on the condensor and boxed in the ends to secure the condensor. All that was left was to weld some mounting tabs/brackets to the channel to fit it to the core support.

Fan Shroud

Once again I end up with not having enough space to use a manual fan and I am forced into playing the electric fan follies. Most, if not all, after market fans neither move enough air to really do a good job of cooling or are reliable enough to survive summer conditions in Phoenix. The fan to use is the one that Ford uses on the Lincoln or the double fan set up that is used on the Tarus. Based upon the dimensions, it looked like I might be able to fit up the Lincoln fan, so I bought one off of eBay. Long story short, it was too big. A friend of mine had just upgraded the fan on his ’56 F100 Ford truck which used a Mustang fan that had close to the specs of the Tarus fans but was a single and was mounted in a nice aluminum fan shroud, which of course would not work with my Chevy radiator.

I used the opportunity to try something a bit different. I designed a new shroud in using the free Google CAD application. I output the file to an autocad format file that I emailed to JL Steel in Taylor. The took my CAD file and downloaded it to their computer controlled plasma cutter and cut the piece out for me. All that I had to do is break it in the right locations and weld it together. It actually fit like I had designed it! WOOT! One of my friends had leant me his TIG welder and Plasma cutter, of course it was after I had finished all the major fab work, but it still came in handy for projects like this. My TIG welding is not pretty, not enough practice to be able to drop a row of dimes, but it is as I like to say, Good Enuf! to put stuff like this together.

While I was at it, I cut off the lower radiator hose connection from the radiator and repostioned it so that the hose would have a straighter shot to the water pump on the engine.

ECU and Harness

Next up was mounting the ECU into the passenger kick panel. Tony Squire, who made the harness for me suggested that this would be a good area to mount it, out of the way and protected. I modified the stock Dodge mounting bracket and welded some studs to the firewall side of the kick panel to mount the bracket. The ECU snaps into and out of the the bracket for easy service. I also cut a 2 1/2″ dia hole in the firewall behind the passenger side cylinder head to feed the ECU harness and plugs through.

Modify Brake Pedal

Next up was connecting the brake pedal to the new GM 9″ power master cylinder. I had to do a few minor modifications to the stock ’56 brake pedal mount to accomadate the heim end on the accuator rod for the master cylinder. I also had to provide an adjustable mount for the brake switch that tells the computer that you have applied the brakes, and also turns on the brake lights.

Drive by Wire Throttle

Once the break pedal was installed I fabricated a mount for the drive by wire throttle pedal that I took from the Durango. I have several friends who have told me on many occasions that they would not rely upon a drive by wire set up. I asked them how they were going provide throttle position info to the computer. To a man they told me that they were using this neat little adaptor box that they hooked up to their cable operated foot pedal. I didnt tell them that the position switch on the Dodge pedal was all that was in the little box that they paid several $100 for. So all that they are doing is adding either a rod or cable to activate what is mount on the stock gas pedal. Go figure… I gave up trying to tell them how it all worked.

Plumbing the Condensor

Last up was to mount the A/C condensor and dryer and run the lines through the core support so that they can be connected to the Vintage Air System. Oh, while I am thinking about it, I am using the stock Dodge A/C compressor which will be hooked up to the Vintage Air condensor and evaporator by using a set of block connectors to adapt the compressor to AN fittings.