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Master EcoModder
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: sw Washington (state), a little north of Vancouver
Posts: 1,154
Thanks: 298
Thanked 122 Times in 88 Posts
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Hot Weather: Dirt cheap cooling help!
Summer's knocking at the door! Is your car/truck/whatever w/o factory air? Is it there but not working for whatever reason? Is it there and works fine, but you would prefer to be without for more mpg, and to eliminate that load off your eng. for it to have a longer life? Let's look at the cheapest ways first. We all know about beaded seats (I haven't tried these as I wonder if a 13 hr. drive w/o much padding in my rear would be that comfortable...lol!) ... and many of you know about thr mesh Lumbar support air flow seat covers from earlier posts; in which some have customed w freezer gel packs. Cool vests, and homemade ice box air conditioners have also been mentioned, but these are more costly, and fairly short term hrs. wise! Think the opposite of all you've been taught about winter cold..... If the feet are warm and dry, and the head is covered.... Most newer vechicles in the last 20 yrs. or so, have a much lighter tension on the gas pedal. Try driving in your socks. Your feet will be much cooler, and you have the additional benefit that you will "feel" your gas pedal in a much more sensitive way to increase your mpg. On longer cruising trips, a very small pillow under your right foot will cushion your heel from the firm floor. Dampen one or two washcloths, and put them around your neck. If you keep a squirt bottle w water around; you can carefully refresh them w/o having to stop. In higher yet heat/humidity; there is always the wet t-shirt. If you are not a shorts person; short term wise... uniform type pants are light weight...w a blend of cotton/ some polyester; won't stain when part of them gets wet. If you happen to have a PU, and know nothing about sliding rear windows; it is a wonderful tool very effective at speeds 35mph and up! JC Whitney used to sell a plastic or vinyl tint patch that statically stuck to the inside of your windows for sun protection. Also of course, are the suction cup type shades, that even though the cup might not stay attached as long as desired; the shade could easily be wedged into the window area with your window down not more than about 20%. A few yrs. ago, I found a pull down retractable shade that just hung from the top of a side window. Also currently at many Dollar type stores, is a visor that holds many CD's. If you forget about that purpose, you can about double the length of your factory side visor as it has an elastic band that quickly helps on/off. This is a godsend for taller drivers who never seem to be able to sheild the sun from the side! Thanks for your patience during my INTRO.... Here's the MEAT!!!.... I have never really gotten along w factory air conditioning that works well; because it seems after a while my nasal passages feel plugged, and my throat tightens up, and I feel as if I'm coming down with a cold or worse! It's always pretty much directed toward the face for effectiveness. Using the fan for a POWER vent; is more of the same.. but w hot air in your face, and usually a wimpy flow at that! What I suggest is an all metal 2-spd. trucker's fan. Back in the '50's; they were bolted to a metal dashboard! The size I mean is around a 10inch dia. or so. At any auto parts store, plastic 1-spds are plentiful, but I've found them to be rather wimpy, and their bearings don't seem to last very long. Get a real all metal 2-spd.!!! Now!... buy a collaspsable clothes bar that fits across your interior to the hooks on each that practically all vehicles have to hang shirts etc... on. Mount the fan so that the flow hits the right rear of your neck in your driving position. It may not be COLD, but will provide much relief w/o closing up your throat or nasal passages. Here are simple instructions for anybody who has been afraid to ever try anything electrical in you life!!! At an Auto parts store, or section; buy a little spool of black and of red automotive wiring. Somewhere in the 12-14 gauge size should do nicely.... Look at the size of the nuts that hold the positive and negative able ends to your car battery. In the electrical section; find a loop end with a depression (female) ended attachment.(most of the ones I use are yellow colored. Buy what I call electrical pliers... the handles kind of look like pliers, they usually very fat handles...you will use these to strip off the outer insulation on the wires to make connections.... buy some female to female connections (usually a blue or yellow color) I just don't like the hinged crimp types.Make sure that the battery loop piece and any connectors are compatible w wire gauge (read on the Packages)... buy an in-line fuse holder (some come w fuse already in )... I prefer without because I like to run a 30amp fuse. I prefer the old glass type, so its easy to see if you don't ground things well enough.. it's easy to see the break in the middle of the fuse.... buy a box of the 30's... buy a roll or two of electrical tape, and a roll of a low key color QUALITY Duct Tape (like 3M- better than ACE or cheaper brands) The beauty of this install; is that it is not scary, and even if you screw up; it won't effect anything else on your vehicle! At your battery connection , you may find you need to use a couple of metal washers to make sure the loops are nice and snug. The red wire is POWER, (Positive, the PLus symbol on your battery)... the black wire is the Negative (Ground wire) _ like a minus symbol... Strip the ends of both wires w the electrical pliers about a 1/2 or so ; so that the insulation is gone and you see shiny copper! Feed the ends into the loop ends; crimp it securely in there... it needs to be firm and not wiggle! If you are a perfectionist, you might want to use a hair dryer or heat gun to shrink the plastic over the connections. It's not super critical. Wrap over that junction tightly w the black electrical tape. We want to absolutely be sure that no bare copper wire is showing at all! Fasten one wire at a time. When 1st one is done, disconnect the whole battery cable. Probably a good idea to do all this with the Negative(ground) side 1st! You don't want to be touching both wire combinations together as you will see sparks, and you could get shocked... wear safety glasses! Do the positive connection w ALL the Negative cable disconnected! Now you want to determine where by what route you are going to run those two wires back to the interior of your vehicle. If you are brave; you could drill a hole in your firewall, and put a rubber grommet in it so that vibrations won't eventually wear through the wiring. You might be able to share an existing firewall hole if its big enough to fit 2 wires through. If you are chicken, and don't want to drill any holes, or mix this wiring w anything else on your vehicle; I suggest running both wires on top of the inside of the front fender. I prefer the pass. side because my batteries on 3 different vehicles were on that side; and because most of the time, only I am in the vehicle, so for me...the passenger front door wasn't opened as much... Either side will work.... but before you get there; use common sense in your routing through the eng. compartment. Keep those wires away from hot places, or anywhere where they might get caught in a linkage that moves, or in an area where it might be in the way of some minor repair like maybe an alternator. Be neat, use some dull colored zip ties , top fender bolt washers can help hold the wires in place.... in any area of potential vibration, strained... use plastic wire wrapping... pick an OD as small as meets the need for those two wires together... lengths are easily cut w scissors...near the windshield; by where the top and back end of the front fender meet...there should be enough room to FLOSS both wires one at a time down into that crack there, to where you don't even see them... now the 2 wires enter the front door area.... Carefully provide enough SLACK w the wires, so they can go through the door hinge area, ... the plastic wrap would be good for dirt, moisture, and some protection from being pinched... Repeatedly open and close the door for pinch testing! Make sure this area is clean and dry as you may want to Duct tape the dual wire enclosed wrap in that area. Now you feed into the interior under a door sill plate, or maybe there is a loose door gasket, or a slight hole or tear in one to sneak in somewhere... to where you or a passenger won't be always banging your foot into the wires...and that the wire situation is not too fat here so that you get a rain water leak. This may be slightly more difficult with a practically new veh., but use some creativity!!! You'll figure it out!... now I liked to run under the crack at the base of the kick panel if possible... totally hiding the wires up under the dash area just under the front of the passenger side front carpet... This is where I splice in the inline fuse holder on the red positive wire; using the double female connections.. (most of the time...the fuse holder will come in a closed loop of wire...you want to cut that wire so equal ends stick out w holder in middle) Now after the fuse holder setup is done; I like to have 2 pair of compatible male/female connectors that serve as my main plugins!! ( during winter months, the final wires to the fan itself are unplugged here so fan w clothes bar can be instantly removed or reinstalled in less than a minute! You may want your plugins to be closer to the fan and more hidden..that's up to you... NOW!!! ...we are finally at the FAN!! The one I bought was designed to ground attached to a metal dashboard... so I had to drill a hole near the base of the fan and run a bolt through it for the end of the black negative ground wire...to be GROUNDED using a smaller bolt w a smaller loopend than was used at the battery. The end of the red positive Power wire is spliced to the pigtail wire sticking out of the fan... WALLA! Test... make sure you put the fuse in.... fasten the battery cables (red positive 1st) Once you are sure it works good; I like to put a little duct tape over the black electrical tape used on the battery cable wire connections that you built! Eng. compartment heat, with outside air passing through; with some form of moisture also being present; it just is a little extra protection... My fan hangs upside down, and is attached to the clothes bar with a good sized industrial (blue) zip tie! I purposedly explained all this almost as to a 6 year old; so you would not be afraid to try it!!! No holes have to be drilled in your car! When you are ready to sell your car; ALL of this can be removed very fast! If I can do this; ANYBODY CAN!!!!!!! I hear the snickers from you pros!!!! They would be comfortable relocating the on/off fan switch to a console or dash location so one wouldn't even have to reach back for the switch. I've used mine the most in an '87 CRX on long trips... Long gone seems the vent windows, and even manual vents in the kickpanel areas... In the dryer humidity wise far west here, up to 86 degrees is quite bearable w the fan on Low w the side windows equally down only 2-3 inches w the help of the visor extension, the suction cup screen. HAPPY TRAILS!!!!
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