One of our TDROC members in Houston air conditioned his roadster. The hot
rod shops and big swap meets sell aftermarket kits with compressor,
brackets, hoses, evaporator, etc., that is easily adapted to a roadster.
Also, JC Whitney sells a complete custom underdash kit for various cars for
$700-$900. The setup I saw had a fabricated metal box in the trunk for the
blower motor and evaporator, with long lines to the compressor and condensor
in the engine bay. He cut two three inch holes in the trunk wall to push
air into the cabin and used standard air ducting to connect the box to the
holes. He did not have return air ducting, but you could easily add two more
holes with return hoses to the box. You can't use the a/c with the top down
because the plastic window covers the holes in the trunk wall, but with the
top up the cabin got fairly cool, and in Houston the conditioned air is also
much less humid.
I was thinking that if you wanted to use the air conditioning with the top
down you could add a few more feet of hose to the holes in the trunk wall
and route the hoses between the seats on top of the driveshaft tunnel. Add
a little velcro to the mouth of the hoses and you could provide personal
conditioning to any part of your body. With the top up you could velcro the
hoses to the top bow and let the hoses hang down in front of you. Or get a
seat cushion from JC Whitney and duct tape the hose to it, giving an instant
"cool seat". I can furnish you with such a seat for a slight fee, and if
air conditioning is not in your budget at this time, I will connect it to my
"ram air" induction setup, also available for a slight fee, and you can have
a "ram air cool cushion" that will be the envy of all your roadster buddies.
Leisure Suit Terry
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