thanks jim, I really like watching your truck come back from the wreck, and all the fun you and your wife have in it.
but wait, there is more! first: fire watch: its the 30-40 minute period after a welding session where you wait for things to smoke or outright burst into flame. years ago there was a local forum for projects and builds and it was fun to see what guys were working on. a guy was doing an old dodge on a dakota frame and posted pictures of him welding up some of the cab floor. then his next post was an hour later of him standing next to a smoldering truck. he was lucky to push it out of the garage after he noticed the fire but I wouldnt have even done that. since that day I always hang around with all the fans off and look for smoldering insulation or a smoky haze, so that I dont have to make that push it out/dont push it out decision.
so while I was hanging around I grabbed the old HVAC firewall side box from the donor for my last 41. here is the problem with trying to use the s10 box. the blower side hangs out further than the hood hinges.
IMG_0522 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
bummer right? well, the reason its where it is, is because the fresh air/cabin air valve is in that corner on the s10. the inside box doesnt actually come over any further than the AC evaporator. and the blower housing is a scroll style blower, it works on high pressure flow and not just on air direction. so if you resign yourself to a fresh air system (for defrost to work, also having AC on recirc in kansas humidity will freeze up the system) and you respect the very important scroll housing of the blower, you could actually change the system to fit.
the old verse is "if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out!". so I plucked. that must be eye juice (its mineral oil from inside the evaporator)
IMG_0523 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
viola!
IMG_0524 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_0526 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
scroll intact! I bet I could even reverse louver the hood (maybe even cut the louvers off the cab side in front of the door where the accessory heater pulls air from and relocate them on the hood) and use a closed cell foam gasket to let you open and close the hood.
IMG_0527 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
you can see the scroll section is intact. I have the firewall section, this could actually work. its actually less work than that time I used a tahoe air box.