Adding AC to a C-Cab

Make the hoses longer with a loop in them, and then if you have to work on the trans you can drop the AC unit and move it to one side without unhooking the lines.

Carl (I can't recall his exact last name) had an AC unit mounted BEHIND and UNDER the passenger seat on his mint green CCab. It was hard to imagine there being room but if I remember correctly, it wasn't nearly as crowded and crammed in there as it would seem at first!

I believe he's a member of the North Texas or Oklahoma chapters....Dave should remember him, he's been at several of the Regional Meets in Tulsa and Denton. It's a really fine looking truck...seems like it might even have had a Mopar powertrain.

C'mon Dave...what was that guys name?

Bob (I'd forget my butt if it wasn't permanently attached!)

Rick Courtier wrote:

Did he run his duct work over the center hump and build a center console over the hump up to the under the dash to hide the duct work and then put the vent into the console?

"Rick Courtier" wrote ..

Well, this one only sticks out 5" from the dash. . . starting to think going to a behind the passenger seat unit is the way to go I got more room there then under the dash.

Maybe something like this one. . .

The factory units I have seen for T-cabs are mounted to the right. I put a Mark IV in my T-cab and it fit nicely under the center. Since the T-cabs had the glove box in the center which brought the dash down further than a C-cab dash, I don't see why you couldn't mount it in the center. Paul Johnson

I am the one with the green C-Cab with air behind the seat. But am in the progress of putting air in the 48 Business coupe and heat. I bought mine from

Hi, I have a 51 C-cab and have a project that I am just getting ready to start on. A lot of people that I know that have a C-cab wish that the wiring and gauge cluster was not exposed to the heat, moisture and dirt from the engine compartment. It is also pretty ugly under there even if you do a lot of nice work making all the wires run straight, curve together and look tidy.

In addition, I keep having to replace my radio/CD unit since it gets contaminated by that same dirt and moisture.

Add to that the desire to have heat AND air conditioning.

I am running a stock climitizer unit that sticks out into the engine compartment. My plan is to remove that (ebay it later) and install a vintage air or similar unit where the climitizer now sits. The problem is that the air conditioner needs to be open to the interior of the cab, and not to the engine compartment. To solve this, a friend and are are designing sheet metal sections that will seal off the dash from the horizontal shelf up to the top sheet metal under the windshield. The sheet metal will curve gracefully from the bottom to the upper attachment point and will be a nice place to put a Studebaker emblem or decal if you so desire.

We plan to make it in sections that has a sealed-off area that houses the air unit and separate areas to the right and left that finish off the back of the instrument cluster and fit around the wiper motor and glove box.

I made some simple patterns out of poster board. Now the next task is to make some prototypes out of aluminum.

If anyone has thoughts or is interested, please give me your two cents worth. I have seen several hot-rod C-cabs that have had similar fiberglass treatments done in this area, but our goal is to make a kit that will allow plain folks like me to convert to air and finish off the dash area.

Ideas???? Allen

Rick Courtier wrote:

I already Have a fabicator working on my enclosure to seal up everything for nice. . . I should have some pictures of this in a few weeks.

Sounds great! make an extra two for me?

Allen Siekman wrote:

Carl Purdy, better known as studeluver here on the NG.

Why are AC units in T cabs mounted to the right, but in early Larks, with the same dash, it's in the center?

Jeff DeWitt

Paul Johns>

My guess would be that Larks werent available with T-98's and NP540 OD floor shift trannies. Or the truck engineers were just doing their own thing again.

At least one of the factory T-cab A/Cs I saw was a five speed floor shift (long shift lever). Another possibility is the '59-'60 Larks had that funny little evaporator with fan blades. The later units had squirrel-cage blowers and were deeper. Paul Johnson

That's it! All I could come up with in my fuzzy emory was "Carl Perkins"...and I KNEW that wasn't right! I could even picture his face...and the truck...but not the name to go with it! Dang! I'm glad one of us still has a memory!

I didn't even realize that Carl was "Studelover"...and he replied pretty quickly, too! Thanks, Carl...I h> > Carl (I can't recall his exact last name) had an AC unit mounted BEHIND