73BLWN

Hello
I'd like to button up my dash today, but I don't know where this thermocoupler thingy is supposed to go. I'd sure appreciate some input. Does it wrap around one of the AC lines, get stuffed into an air vent tube, or....I can't find it anywhere in my instructions.

Here's a picture. It's the coiled up silver wire looking thing.



Thanks

carriljc

....it goes in there. Coulda sworn it was mentioned in the instructions? Mine cools to ~37°F..it's wonderful. My heater doesn't work, so one of these days I'll have to look at that.
How did you center duct work out? I had to fabricate the rear ducting for mine...the stuff I got from the manufacturer just wouldn't fit.

73BLWN

Ok? "it goes in there" Meaning just leave it kind of coiled up on the tranny tunnel?

I thought the center ducting was rediculous. There was no way I could see to make it work. I ended up cutting back there mount, and angling the ducts. It fit when I mocked it up. Once I get the thermocoupler thing figured out, I can install the gauge cluster and hook everything up.





Did you notice my fancy solonoid mount for the controls in my original post? How did you mount your solonoids? It would have been nice if the instructions had a hint as to where and how to mount the solonoids.

37 degree cool air! Wow that will be nice. I hope mine cools as well as yours.

I'm out in the garage working on the car today. Wireless doesn't reach the garage, so I have to keep popping back in to see if I've gotten any responses.

Thanks for the help.

73BLWN

Sorry about that, I just noticed the title in your response. Duh to me.
Great! Thanks a bunch. Off to the garage to find the little hole. Whoopie!

73BLWN

So much for the celebration. I can't find any small holes on top of my AC unit.

I've emailed tech support at Hot Rod Air hopefully I'll get a response.

Any other thoughts, pictures, links, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If it is referenced in the instructions, and someone can point me to the page or something that would be great. I have the kit that retains the factory controls. Those instructions, and the main AC instructions don't show or comment on the thermooupler.

carriljc

let me know. I'll see if I can get a picture of where it goes...
I may not be able to, but I can take a look. It's in the center top behind the hose duct tubes.

I mounted my solenoids behind the passenger side panel. Up under the dash area.

TXredc3

If the solenoids are the 3 units that the 2 vacuum lines are hooked to, then I don't think it matters where you install them. I ended up finding a couple places just under the top dash pad. Already had screws/bolts there and I just screwed them in. As for the thermocoupler, I found an area just below the main unit where I could stretch it out. Make sure it's not touching any metal. I initially wrapped it aound the metal bar support that goes from the right side of the car and hooks just behind the stereo. Little did I know that it grounded out the system and kept blowing my fuse. Also, make sure you find a very good ground for the motor. I couldn't figure out why the motor wouldn't turn on even when I had it grounded. Ended up moving the ground wire around to place that provided better contact and it fired right up.

I understand your frustration concerning the instructions. They suck to say the very least. Feel free to pm me with any questions.

73BLWN

Thanks carriljc. Hmm? I pulled the dash pad on the drivers side, removed the air ducts, and looked with my eyes, an inspection mirror, and felt around with my fingers. I looked at the "instructions" to see if any of the images showed a hole. Nope. I'll take another look this afternoon. Knowing where to focus my attention should help, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a hole behind my ducts. Behind the four ducts right? (see picture)



TXredc3. Thanks for the support. I'm thinking if I don't find a hole today, I may just fish it into one of the vent duct holes on top. Yep those are the solonoids I'm talking about. You can see mine in the photo.



I'm putting a new bathroom door in this morning with my wife. Vette or Door? Vette or Door? Wife factor equals door.

I'll be anxious to get out in the garage. Must be patient must be patient.

Thanks.

carriljc

....and you gotta have A/C in the Vette!

It's a little bitty hole in the flat surface behind the area you referenced.
I'll go see if I have the email from Hot Rod air.

Can't find emails....but I did write to the contact I had at Hot Rod Air to ask if he had a picture.

Not that you can see the tube, but I was going to direct you to take a look my corvette pics off to the left here.....
<<--
but it's not working for me half the time. Anyway, if it works for you, you can see my unit early in the installation phase.

73BLWN

My wife just walked by repeating computer computer computer...she loves giving me a hard time. I say the same thing to her when I find her on her laptop.

I tried opening your photos yesterday, but it didn't work. Today, it opens, but the individual photos won't open up large enough for detailed viewing. I remember viewing those photos in the past when I was doing the initial mockup. They were helpful.

Back in I think November, I posted my first test picture. I told Durango Boy I'd post a build up of the car and my motor. I figured I'd wait and finish the car so I could get some completed photos. These projects sure take a lot of time. I'm close to driving it around the block. I plan on shooting a little video. I'm curious if the sound quality will be acceptable with our little camera. I do have a friend with a high buck camera. I was going to use it when I dynoed. I brought it with, and unfortunately the dyno broke and I had to come back later. The camera wasn't available the second time. blah blah blah.



Like I said I'm anxious to wrap things up, and start driving it. It's been about 8 years since I last drove it. I don't remember not fitting in the car. (6'3" 225). I was fitting the t-tops last night and found out that my head hits the t-top without the vinyl headliner/insert installed. I think the new seat foam makes me sit higher. Well it's not like it's built for driving in the rain. I guess the tops will be off most of the time.

I'm beckoned to the bathroom.

Later.

73BLWN

Wayne Potter from Hot Rod Air emailed me this morning and sent me a picture of an older HRA assembly showing the location of the small 1/8" hole for the thermocouple.

I'm an idiot. :o It was right where you guys said it was located. Behind the vents on top. It is small and hard to feel, especially when wearing rubber gloves. I had more of an idea where to feel because of the Wayne's picture, but I also wasn't wearing rubber gloves tonight. Back to assembling the car. YES!

I'll post the location picture tomorrow for others to reference.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

73BLWN

As promised here is a picture for future reference in case someone else can't find the 1/8" hole.

ImBatman

Hey guys! i don't want to high jack this thread but i am wanting to put the same kinda unit in. Does it supply, heat, AC and defrost? Anybody have under hood pics of the stuff installed. Does it replace the stock underhood box? How about the push pull thumb wheel controls. How do those get modified.

Thanks
Wade

73BLWN

It has duct hoses that run to the two side ball vents, and center bezal. You have to modify the factory defroster duct. Directly below the defroster duct is a flapper that appears to direct heat to the floor. So yep, it does it all.

You remove the big AC box in the engine bay.


Then you replace it with the supplied plate. This is what mine looks like now. I don't know why there are white specs in the photo. You can't see them in person. It must be the flash.



Here is a shot of the compressor when I was mocking it up.


The center control is easy to modify. The directions seemed straight forward to me.

ImBatman

Thanks for the pics!! Cool I already removed my old under hood box and smoothed out the firewall. It shouldn't be that big a deal to cut the hole again. As for the console controls. did you remove the peices that were related to the old vacuum controls?

Thanks
Wade

carriljc

under my corvette pictures off to the left here:
<<--

RobRace10

I have a Hot Rod Air system that I'm starting to install. I think I must be missing a part as I have the controls that I thought were to replace the factory control. It has a separate bag with ***** and a decal but I can't see anyway to replace the existing controls for the Hot Rod Air controls. Anyone have a picture of the controls installed?

OK so I called Hot Rod Air and there is not a face plate etc included. So what have you guys built for a faceplate as the HRA controls are narrower than the factory control? Pictures please!

73BLWN

I had purchased a whole new roller controll. I would have transferred my old roller hardware into the new one, but I mounted the HRA hardware instead. I didn't take any pictures of mine when I converted it. carriljc has nice shots in his "my photos".
I didn't have any fitment issues.

73BLWN

I thought I'd post what I did to make the center AC vents work. I realize some will consider it bubba'd, but it really works well. I originally cut back HRA's dual vent adapter and managed to sort of smash the supplied duct hose into place. After turning on the fan and feeling the amount of air coming out, I thought it may actually work better to just duct one non-squished duct tube to the center vent since the vent shares a common plenum. It ended up blowing more air with the one vent tube because the two previous hoses were squished nearly closed in order to route them to the AC vent.






Turned it on the lathe at work. Any 2" OD coupler would work. I just like the rib idea because the HRA ducting pretty much just threaded on, and it gave the heat riser something to hold onto.









I hope this helps someone out, it was a frustrating part of the HRA install.

carriljc

Mine ended up rigid so I'm guessing that yours flows more air. I think I'll modify mine to your design.

I can't see from the pics, but how did you attach it to the backside of the center console?

And, did you just roll & pinch the end? Or glue with something?