Thursday, June 10, 2026

I’ve been in the garage a lot of late, but just not working on the 55 wagon (despite the looming deadline for the Tri-Five Nationals and my wife’s requirement the car has working AC by mid-August [gulp!!]).

I’ve been recording content for the Shade Tree Garage, though most of it seems to be kitchen chair repair content or wiring repairs on my daily driver 2017 Dodge Journey.

So far, I dont’ have any major projects on my radar screen for the wagon OTHER than the AC system. I would love to get carpet laid, but that’s probably going to have to come after the AC system — and the AC system is likely to introduce some problems inside the passenger compartment.

UNDERDASH SPACE. Most of the 12v AC systems use an under dash evaporator that’s 16 inches wide and about 14 inches deep. Not bad, but when you consider i already have a 4-gauge console in the middle of the lower dash, it’s likely going to require me to relocate the gauges to the left to make room for the evaporator.

Now complicating the evaporator installation is the fact that the original heater core assembly fills up a lot of real estate under the dash. Now I can remove the original heater core assembly, which isn’t a bad idea. The car without hoses connected to the heater core, so I have no real idea if the core actually works. One thing I DO know is that the cables are all rusted frozen. So rehabbing the original heater assembly wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway.

Of course, if I had plenty of cash, I would spring for the complete Vintage Air upgrade for the entire system. But honestly, I don’t have $2.5k to drop on that. Plus, I’m not interested in connecting the AC compressor to the engine via a belt.

So what MIGHT happen is this: Remove the original heater core with plans to rebuild/rehab it in the future. Near term however, the removal would free up underdash space for the AC eavaporator. Now most of these systems also offer heat, and have connections at the rear for heater hoses, so yes, they can give you both heat and coolness! The only shortcoming is that without the original air box, you have no practical way to have a working windshield defroster. Well, its a hot rod, not a grocery getter, right??

ORIGINAL HEATER REMOVAL. Thankfully, removing the original heater box is not complicated. And yes, the removal would give more underdash space, though I fully expect I’ll have to move my gauge cluster left of center to make room.

I’ve got some outstanding invoices to collect, and as soon as the money is in the bank I’m going to order a 12v DC system. The system I want though will not have premade hoses — I want to be able to cut the hoses to length and then crimp the fittings as needed. I don’t want coils of extra refrigerant hoses to be floating around under the hood.

JOB COMPLICATIONS. My wife just accepted a new job — she begins at the end of this month — and it is possible she won’t be able to go to the Tri-Five Nationals as we planned due to her being new at the job. That’s fine, this job thing is important. She suggested that my son go along, but I’m not sure he would give two shits about going. I haven’t mentioned it to my wife, but if she can’t go I might just cancel the trip. Spending 4 days on the road with my son, well, that might wear thin on both of our nerves, lol.

He’s 30, and not a car guy in the least. I might find one of the locals who might want to go with me, but frankly, I don’t know that I know any of them well enough to spend 4 days on the road. What I might do is find out if anyone else locally is going down to the nationals. Might caravan with them or something like that.

Honestly, if I don’t get to go I’ll be fine with that. My wife’s new job takes precedence.

But I think this year the trip will be much more fun if my son goes. For starters, I have a golf cart reserved for the weekend, so we’ll get to go around the grounds and spend time at the drag strip. I think my son would enjoy that a great deal. I know I would!

Enough speculation for now. My son and I are working to repair a countertop ice maker, so hopefully we’ll get that done this weekend. Bad microswitch. Ordered and will be here Saturday.

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