Heater / AC unit mounting location

[earlymopar]

My mid-30's pickup seat mounts to a perimeter sheet metal "skirt" that finishes off the seat mounting nicely. This mounting scheme also creates a reasonable volume between the floor and the underside of the bench seat so I'm considering mounting my heater / AC unit in that area which would free-up the already small behind-dash area, as well as the firewall (hoses would route under the cab instead of going through the firewall).

I know under-seat heaters have been around for a long time. Anyone ever seen the A/C unit included?

[Bob Parmenter]

Vintage Air http://www.vintageair.com/ makes a couple models that combine both and are built to be compact. For a truck cab it shouldn't take a large unit.

[earlymopar]

I already have the unit Bob. My post relates to the under-seat mounting location.

Thanks much.

[Bob Parmenter]

The evaporator and heater core really don't care where they're located, as long as the cab air can circulate to the location and you can plumb it. In the mid '50's both Ford and GM mounted the evaporators in the trunk. The cars had clear plastic ducts that came out of the package tray and followed the curve of the back glass up toward the headliner.

[Mike P]

Bob's right on on his last comment about the recirculation of the cab air. If you can make it work, it will be a neat setup.

Everybody has their own vision for their project, which is what makes rodding so great. Personally, I tend to go for a nostalgia look if it can be pulled of well. My plans for my 37 Dodge PU are to use a nice 50s vintage under the dash AC unit with a rather unusual chrome face and built in thermometer. The heater will be a vintage fire wall mounted unit with the three individual doors (which I will send out to be chromed) it also has the defroster vents that can be plumbed into the existing dash vents (Which may be a problem for you with the under seat installation.

[jeffrey leonard]

i do know that a toyota pickup ac/heater unit is conciderably small and could be mounted in many places, the unit is usually mounted inside the dash but i think that it could be put under the seat with little modification

[earlymopar]

Agreed Mike.

In fact, I've been building my pickup for 5 years now and have kept to a resto-rod theme. The under-seat location keeps my dash front "clean" and original while behind the dash volume is left more open. As you know, these pckups have very little "extra" room.

The exit ducts and vents will be easy. 2 can exit the same sheet metal "skirt" already mentioned and 2 can exit above and behind the seat back at the door post/cab corner area. All can be hidden such that they will not be visible yet remain completely functional.

I also plan to mount my AM/FM radio under the seat and use a credit-card size remote to operate the system. This also allows the same benefits as the under seat heater/AC in that the pickup never had either of these items and I do not want them visible. Case in point, an inside rear-view mirror wasn't even standard.

[Weeg]

Studebakers had a heater under the passenger side front seat. To take care of the windshield defrosting duties there was a small, 6" or 7" round heater coil with a blower motor in the middle under the dash. A little bit of copper coil and a small blower motor would be a fairly easy fabrication to take care of the defrost.

[earlymopar]

Interesting stuff Weeg.

Typical of Studebaker in my opinion. They were always ahead of their time and had the neatest and most unique mechanisms.