Finally got most of the cab finished. Here is a pic with all the windows in, doors on, latched and painted. The rear windows got tinted Plexiglas, why I don't know, just thought it would look better. BTW, I HATE WINDOW TRIM !
Here's the hinges I made because I didn't like the ones I bought and needed the doors to swing out further than that. Took me about 2 hours to make but allows the doors to be lifted off the hinges to be removed.
Door latches I also made out of some scrap plastic. Have installed a screw in framing and made the other end longer for weight. Have ran it about 12 hrs with the doors NOT flying open, so I guess it works!
Here's the gaps in the doors that I may work on later, but for right now, I left them open. There is a lot more open spots that I thought might need closed up to keep the heat in until........
HEAT !!!
Had bought a electric fan off of ebay that was 12VDC and only 2" thick. Roughly guessed on the distance and thought that would work. Had planned to run it pulling air from motor to cab in winter and reverse it during the summer. A....yeah. That didn't work. Anybody need a fan?
After disassembling the entire radiator section, fan, belts etc etc. found out that it is less than 2" clearance between radiator and water pump. Looked at moving radiator forward a tad because it was just so close, but still wouldn't work. I figured there had so be a better solution so I walked away from it for a few days.
The thought of pushing snow without any heat led me to one last attempt. Acquired a 10" Alum fan off a old AC unit that had the reverse blades of the OEM one. Drilled out the center hole for the water pump and drilled the four holes that would mount it to the pump. The whole time I was reassembling this I was wondering how warm it would be and if so, how hot it would be in summer, because I sure wasn't gonna switch this out every 6 months!
Filled the fluids back up and let it warm up to see the results. Have to say, it seems to work well in a 70 degree garage.
Took it out for it's 1st trial run pushing snow in 20 degree weather and I will have to say, It was pretty damned toasty in there. Even with all the gaps in the door, under the seat and levers slots, it forced me to take my coat off while I was in there. Will have to rate this as a success! The only drawback is there is no control over how much heat comes in the cab. You can increase the throttle and seems like it gets hotter and slow it down and get less. Snow plowing doesn't require too much HP so that works for me. (until summer, still wondering about heat stroke in the cab!)
* Two concerns I do have for the few people who have contacted me about interest in this: First, the alum blade I used was rated for 1700 rpm. Don't know if running this above that will cause much problems but have kept my eye on it and looking for any cracks or any other signs of failure. Second, the battery sits right behind the radiator on the inside of cab. I'm sure blowing hot air on it might not be the best thing for it and have frequently checked it for water but so far so good.
Had a lot of fun doing this and spent a great deal of time on it and as before, If you would like any more pics or like any info on anything you see here, feel free to email me and I will try to send any info I can.
I'm pretty sure I'm not quite done with it yet........
I'm pretty sure I'm not quite done with it yet........
