Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Project Rotary HVAC Control

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #16
    Originally posted by slymer View Post
    epic!

    can't wait for the write up.
    x1000 on that one. Great idea and even better application - GREAT JOB!!! Bobby


    "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

    "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

    "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

    Comment


      #17
      If IRRC my '87 GM has the Rear Defroster switch in that group to that would have to be accomodated for.....


      "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

      "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

      "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

      Comment


        #18
        Thanks guys.

        "that would have to be accomodated for....."

        Or not. ;-) Do you actually use the rear defroster in florida? I don't use mine anyway as I don't trust it to not cause the window to shatter in the middle of winter.
        So now I have a spare fuseable link power feed to the cabin.

        Alex.

        Comment


          #19
          Alex, actually I do use it. When the weather is very humid it REALLY helps! Bobby


          "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

          "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

          "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

          Comment


            #20
            So the first step in all this was finding out what vehicle still used a cable control blend door. Mustangs came up first since you can't turn anywhere on the net without stubbing your toe on one.

            One downside, the pull-pull control. Basically the cable is a continuous loop, and the blend door actuator actually mounts over the arm and has a notch for it to sit in. That presents a bit of a problem in that, there ain't no where to mount that contraption in a box. (note: 1990+ may have an extra option available to them, but you need to do your own homework, starting with Matts (p71interceptor) writeup on converting to an electric blend door actuator. If thats the case, you just need to get everything from vacuum to wiring to control head from a 1996+ manual hvac cvgm).

            So spending some time at a variety of places I came across the f150 control. Best of both worlds since they use the same vacuum logic and have the desired single cable control, and we're off to the races....

            First get the pretty stuff outta the way.


            Incase you ferget what car you are working on...


            The various bits that make it work. The ac electrical is tucked around and behind a support making it a bit of a bear to properly disconnect, which is why its hanging down below the ashtray. It'll get woven back up there so there is slack when you need to go back in.


            Well, what do you know, exact same connector! Just move the wires around so they are in the correct location and you are set.


            Blower motor connector. Not the same. Colors are the same as on the new cars, so, swap color for color if your connector came from a cvgm. Trucks if I remember right use the same color combination, mustangs do not. Check wiring diagrams first. Who knows, I might be trying to mislead you...


            Out with the old. And a broken piece of dash trim, corner cracked sometime while mounted. Saw the crack before I even got the screw driver into the screw. An omen of things to come in the future.


            Vacuum block. Upper pic is the new one. That vacuum connector changed shape in 1990/91. Same shape on the trucks also. Don't do what I did and snip off the white and black thinking you'd be a smart-ass and reuse the original connector becuase you need to replumb the vacuum lines & colors. You don't have to. They stayed the same! I found that out after I got the parts. So remove the entire length of vacuum lines with the switch to the cans. Same connector still in use right to the bitter end of the cvgm. Plus, when it comes time to replace the vacuum selector switch, it'll be plug and play.
            Overall, it couldn't be easier. If you had to due to leaks and not having everything yet, you could just adapt a new vacuum selector to an old car and have a fully functioning hvac system without changing anything else.


            Test fitting. Notice the two screw heads that are in the original location. Bit of plate size discrepancy there. Not unexpected, thats another known, the plates changed size in 1996 when they went to rotary controls in the cvgm.


            Fiddle it around until you are happy with control location...


            ...and then, hack 'n slash! Yee haww! Okay, it ain't that much fun. You only need a round file to elongate two existing holes on the left (one longer to the right, the other extended upward). And move some clips around.


            continued in a minute... (no replies yet please)
            Attached Files

            Comment


              #21
              Heres where everything ends up.
              Take note of the clip on the upper right. The locating tab you had to make a notch for is very close to the mounting hole (also the existing hole in the 89 dash), you gotta break off the bottom part of the clip since it is in the way. Its only job is to hold the two halves together, so worst case is eventually the upper cracks and it falls apart. Get another clip. A narrow clip. And your in buisiness again.

              You can see the elongated hole on the left for the locating tab. Clips moved to the appropriate spots.



              Walla! If it wasn't for the right side, you'd say it was meant to be there. A couple fender washers on the right will hold things securely.


              And now the part I was dreading. Blend door control.
              The '89 as you can see uses a clip on the blend door arm, this allows for a fudge factor, if you hit the end of travel of the blend door before the slider gets to the end of its travel, this clip will let the cable slide (also how you "adjust" it if you remove it, slide the slider to Hot, and it'll pull itself to the correct location). Not much room up there....


              And the "new" cable. You can see the differences. Shorter cable stub. Different mount. But you know what? It works as if it was meant to be there.
              There is 1 inch of movement of the rotary control cable. Which is less than what the original 89 cable movement is (1-1/8"). 1/8 may not sound like much, but if the blend door is not fully seated, you ain't going to be full heat or full cold. This could be trouble, I was ready to make a clamp for the blend door arm so I could pin the rotary cable at a point that 1" = full travel. Didn't need to do that. Playing around with it a bit, I got an easy out. The f150 cable affords you a hair of adjustment of the white clip. Theres a tab you lift, and few grooves in the red part. Move the white bit to the extreme end of the red part and with the cable positioned where it is in the photo, you get, FULL TRAVEL! Luck was shining down on me that day (well, it was 30º and humid, so sweat was also pouring down). The white clip is what mounts the cable to the f150. What you do not see is the broken off wings that lock it into the f150. Don't need those anyway, just need the white stubs for locating and securing the cable from sliding around. And unlike the original cable, just drop the cable loop over the blend door arm and you are set.


              A couple ty-wraps in a criss cross to lock it down...


              ...and I dare ya not to play with your knob when you are done! =-)


              Overall, it was an easy swap. The blend door connection was just dumb luck that it worked out as easy as it did. Regardless of that, even if I had to rig up a blend door control I had to do the swap anyway as my vacuum control was leaking. Leaking more than I thought it was as my test drive was met with silence. Only other thing, when I had my plenum out, I must have put the control cable in the wrong place, as I cannot get it out of the little gap that it is trapped in. New cable simply runs behind the duct work across the top and my old cable is currently ty-wraped in place to keep it from rattling until I drop the plenum and release it from its trap.

              Night pictures at a future date since I still need to take some.

              Alex.
              Attached Files
              Last edited by GM_Guy; 08-25-2012, 06:56 PM.

              Comment


                #22
                Dark Shots!

                I takes good free hand night photos...



                I have a slight artistic moment...


                Almost dark...


                Dark(er)...



                Alex.
                Attached Files

                Comment


                  #23
                  Looks great in there.
                  ~David~

                  My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                  My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                  Originally posted by ootdega
                  My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                  Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                  But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                  Originally posted by gadget73
                  my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                  Comment


                    #24
                    Tripminder and you're all set - GREAT fab job. Love both the idea and execution!! Bobby


                    "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

                    "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

                    "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

                    Comment


                      #25
                      You would never know it didn't come from the factory that way. Nice!
                      2020 Volvo XC90 T6 Momentum (Ice White / Blonde)
                      2022 Ram 1500 4x4 5.7 Etorque, Built to Serve Edition, (Granite Crystal / Black)
                      Past Panthers
                      1989 Grand Marquis LS (Cabernet/Grey), 1989 Lincoln Town Car SS (White/Blue), 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis Ultimate (White/Black)

                      Originally posted by Lincolnmania
                      if its got tits or tires it's bound to give you trouble

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Thanks guys.
                        I'm happy with the result, and would do it again. Works like a charm, and you can't beat having a lot of potential junkyard parts sources if/when things fail, or for that matter, able to buy the selector switches new if you prefer.

                        A tripminder will eventually find its way in. Next one that shows up in the yard, I'll be making the time to extract it and its wiring.

                        One nice thing about factory parts, they look it. =-) I'll be grabbing late model cvgm knobs to see how they would look in the box. Didn't much care for them when I saw them, but now I'm just curious. Also helps that the green matches the radio.

                        Alex.

                        Comment


                          #27
                          looks good.



                          clean up the hortons cups
                          sigpic


                          - 1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria P72 - the street boat - 5.0 liter EFI - Ported HO intake/TB, 90 TC shroud/overflow, Aero airbox/zip tube, Cobra camshaft, 19lb injectors, dual exhaust w/ Magnaflows, Cat/Smog & AC delete, 3G alternator, MOOG chassis parts & KYB cop shocks, 215/70r/15s on 95-97 Merc rims

                          - 2007 Ford Escape XLT - soccer mom lifted station wagon - 3.0 Duratec, auto, rear converter delete w/ Magnaflow dual exhaust

                          - 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis Ultimate Edition - Daily driver - 4.6 2 valve Mod motor, 4R75E, 2.73s. Bone stock

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          X