My custom dash with front an rear ac/heat etc...

I wanted to add modern features to my van but didn't want to butcher the dash.  So, I decided to build everything I needed underneath.  I added a nice Pioneer head unit which connects wirelessly to my phone for everything from Pandora to GPS.  I also included the necessary old school gauges as well as my Chinese underdash ac/heat unit.  More on that later.  It's been a fun "driving" project as do drive the van year round in Chicago area.  My original plan with my van was to just make "driver" quality upgrades little by little and keep the van looking basically stock on the outside.  I thought I would share a few pics of my dash fabrication for all you guys/girls to see.  I will be posting in the future as I go through each project/upgrade to my econoline van.  I always have a goal of doing things on the cheap, and re purpose, reuse and/or rebuild where possible.  I almost always buy parts used or shop for the cheapest new parts or wholesale online.   I did a front and rear ac system running r12 freon.  













For the air conditioning, I mounted the condenser between the rear end and the gas tank underneath.  I encased the condensor in sheet metal with two 16" Chinese fans(approx 40 dollars on ebay) and mounted in the rear to minimize heat build up in the dog house.  Also, I bought the largest condensor china makes and sells on ebay lol.  It was about 70 dollars I believe and took 4 months to get to chicago (somewhat kidding).  Also, I purchased the ac lines from random bulk/old stock distributors on ebay.  The refrigerate lines were more expensive than anticipated as I have almost 50 feet worth of high pressure lines.  Also, it changed my religion to be drilling all those holes in the frame rails etc... That was the worst part by far.  I should have figured a better way like running the lines inside the van or something.  No easy solution that I could come up with.  I bought a Chinese knock off Sanden 508 for about 99 dolllars on ebay that works great! I also bought a bunch of r12 freon off craigslist locally for 20 dollars a can.  I figured r12 might be better after doing a ton of reading.  I was able to mount the compressor down low just behind the old voltage regulator and also built a custom fan shroud which I read was essential for proper cooling.  This I do believe helped.  I used a stock water pump (the performance one sucked) and stock radiator (tried aluminum but sucked monkey balls).  Believe it or not the old radiator re cored works great and the van runs cool on the hottest of days.  I also insulated the dog house with high tech shittt and added an over flow radiator tank (just incase) and run distilled water in the cooling system with a bottle of water wetter.  This made a tremendous difference in cooling.  I experiemented with electric fan on the radiator and found a performance plastic fan (i think 16") from autozone with the shroud works the best running off the water pump..  In addition I mounted a remote oil cooler and dual oil filter set-up that I had laying around for better cooling.  In part because I have a 300 six bored 30 over with a ported 240 cylinder head, electronic ignition and mild cam.   Finally I wrapped the fuel line in high tech material and also installed an inline electric fuel pump for any vapor lock issues.  we only have ethanol based gas in illinois which sucks.   I am basically a hobbyist and by no means an expert but have done a lot of experimenting with many combos of various upgrades etc...  the. "Runcool" performance water pump I tried immediately bumped my running temperature by 10 degree increase!!!  I don't know why but read online that others have had similar experiences.  If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer if I am able.  Thank you,  Ken

Nice work!

Cool. That head unit adds a modern touch.

Love what you did with building a separate unit below the dash. If my dash wasn't all hacked up already, I would probably do the same. You've gone through a lot of trouble to find ways of making things work the way you want them to...for that, I applaud your efforts!!! Keep up the great work and please keep us posted on new additions.