Thoughts on hand building a heater box to gain AC

[Ranchero50]

Been thinking about this while I'm doing the diesel swap and replacing the cab floors, mounts, etc. I really want to put AC in, especially since the engine has a compressor already. I want to put the AC condensor in the box with the heater. I have the bump heater box out and I have a late model mustang AC box and had considered modifying that to fit, but it's just too big.

So I'm thinking about fabbing a new main box out of thin stainless (from a crapper door that got whacked at work) that has the heater core and condensor right next to each other and the fan sitting on the inlet side of them. The goal is to keep the factor passenger side vent fixture and replace the flexible rubber with the new box and then put the diverter box back on the back (or make that out of stainless as well) I figure the heater gets turned off by the coolant valve so it should be able to cool the truck and with the fan on the inlet side it should push air much better. I know I'll need to allow for a condesate drain and figure out some way to insulate the cool side.

Any thoughts? I'll probably pull the stang box apart tonight and see how the condensor and heater core fit up under the dash to see if it's feasible.

Jamie

[flyboy2610]

Find a bump with factory AC. All the work has been done for you.
Or post something in the parts wanted section. maybe someone has one to sell you.
You can't put the condenser in the box. Ir's WAY to big! It has to go in front of the radiator. The evaporator goes in the box. It looks like a heater core.
Get a factory AC set up. Save yourself a LOT of grief.

[FORDification]

Don't go trying to reinvent the wheel. Find a factory A/C setup and bolt it in...you'll have a LOT less time and money invested.

[Ranchero50]

Yeah, but the factory AC boxes are nightmares. I'm not much on the design, they are huge and don't look like they belong in the cab either. I can build something that fits better and probably works better as well. The time isn't too much of a factor and I don't have any money invested in parts or materials. Plus it's just plain fun to fab stuff up.

Jamie