AC Evaporator kit arrives

The AC evaporator kit was shipped in to the house in what I call reasonable time frame. The kit was dropped shipped from the factory to me with the correct style registers per my request at time I placed the order. The packaging was top notch and the kit arrived in excellent physical condition. I opened the kit for inventory and inspection and was only disappointed a tad in the controls. I did ask for total analog set up with temperature and thermostat controls being slide levers. Analog I did get but I got instead pull knob controls..not a real big deal as I am going to use the original control panel as found on the 51 Plymouth from the factory. So no new cables and will reuse the originals. The left fan control will be replaced with the new 3 speed control switch and utilize the stock 51 factory knob. The defroster control of the original 51 unit is a rotary model and will stay intact as is and functions to match the new unit exactly and thus retain the original right side knob. The temperature switch will function to control the hot water valve and only the cable will be substituted with the longer "Summer/Winter" control cable. The Winter/Summer control will now be set up with the shorter cable and a bell crank affixed to the remote mounted rotary thermostat/de-ice switch. The control panel that came with the unit has a built in center louver that will not be used in my set up as I have instead installed two center louvers in the dash just below the stereo unit. The indicator light is factory wired to lite when power is applied to the fan and I do not want this function. I instead will tap the power on the output side of the thermostat to indicate when the compressor is cycled to the ON position. I will also install inline on the power feed from the de-ice/thermostat to the compressor a binary switch to open the circuit in both low pressure and high pressure conditions so to protect the system from blowing the safety pressure release and lose freon and to prevent pump on when there is not sufficient charge of freon to circulate the lubricant oil throughout the system. This setup will retain the original looks of the car's factory enviroment controls and be completely functional for heat/cool/defrost modes. Being analog will also cut down on wiring and vacuum hose routing that is required in the mid-line control setup and totally eliminate the proprietory control of the the totally electronic motor driven evaporator cases. The left and right dash louver is all chrome finish trim ring and directional diffuser. These will look right at home on the dash.

As I pretty much figured and mentioned earlier the mounting of the unit will be a tad lower that I really wanted. The attached ducting is prime concern here. I studied the setup and concluded I could easily remove and remote mount the plenum. I will be doing a bit more precise measureing now that I have the unit in my hot little hands and so cannot say 100% if remote mounting of the plenum will be needed at this time. The small package of the unit does allow for easy mounting and will be splitting the area behind and below the dash lower line but totally within and above the passenger foot well so will be of little hinderance to the passenger. The drain hose also comes with a duck-bill seal which is great as we have a small variety of mud dobber here that finds these orifices very handy to build a nest into.

Anyway..I am happy to have my kit on hand now and am anxious to get to where I can start the install. I will first address the manufactuer of the bellcrank for the thermostat and the manner in which it will be attached remotely. The stubs on the unit are of ample length to easily make the hose connections in the engine compartment. The firewall is clean on the engine side and hopefully will make the transistion easily with a thin foam gasket to seal unwanted air or odors entering into the passenger compartment.