Cooled seats in a Mark?

[Warden]

So I had this thought a while back and now there is a thread about cooled seats in the LS section I think.

Anyway, what is the possibility of modifying the seats and ducting in the air vents that run to the back seats? Then a damper to turn on and off the flow of air?
I picture a strong flexible duct from the center console to the seats and making channels in the seats for the air to flow to the perforations in the LSC.
Am I just crazy? I really think it could work - not sure how good though.
Then I would have heated and cooled seats in a Gen I.

 

[lscmkviii]

Anything is possible,just ask Chip Foose!

 

[unity]

It would be doable if not a considerable amount of work. High quality vacuum hose would work well for the feeds I would guess. Problem is where to run the ducting. But good news, you could tap off the vents in the center console but you would probably have to block them off after the tap point. I never tried it, but I am very sure AC runs in "floor/panel", "floor", "floor/defrost" modes. Those are only HVAC modes that vent to the back passengers. You would probably have to block those rear vents though, or restrict enough so some air gets to the seats. The biggest challenge I see is in the hose and making it look good with the way the seats can glide so far forward and back.

 

[Warden]

It would be doable if not a considerable amount of work. High quality vacuum hose would work well for the feeds I would guess. Problem is where to run the ducting. But good news, you could tap off the vents in the center console but you would probably have to block them off after the tap point. I never tried it, but I am very sure AC runs in "floor/panel", "floor", "floor/defrost" modes. Those are only HVAC modes that vent to the back passengers. You would probably have to block those rear vents though, or restrict enough so some air gets to the seats. The biggest challenge I see is in the hose and making it look good with the way the seats can glide so far forward and back.

I agree that there doesn't seem to be enough room to Hide the duct work. I plan on taking a good portion of the interior out of the car to clean the carpet and see about making the panels a little more quiet with some strategically placed felt. I'll have to work up a plan of attack and see if I can figure something out.
My other concern is actually moving tha air inside the seat.

 

[unity]

Heck, just take the carpet out! The interior is not too hard to remove really.

I used Great Stuff® to foam all the dead spaces in the body, in the rocker panels, etc. Really quieted things down. For the panels I did nothing, but I would suggest picking up some dyomatte stuff from an audio shop. Not cheap, but it will do a great job. The doors are the only area I still have annoying sounds.

 

[Speed Demon]

They have kits that do this online already. Even heat and cooling sets. Not cheap but reasonable.http://rti-products.com/automotive.ivnu This isn't the link to sales, just what I had on hand. No spoons left, sorry.

 

[kustomizingkid]

Anything is possible!

I would just cap off the HVAC the goes to the back vents for the console and reroute that air into the seats maybe add a booster fan!

 

[Warden]

Heck, just take the carpet out! The interior is not too hard to remove really.

I used Great Stuff® to foam all the dead spaces in the body, in the rocker panels, etc. Really quieted things down. For the panels I did nothing, but I would suggest picking up some dyomatte stuff from an audio shop. Not cheap, but it will do a great job. The doors are the only area I still have annoying sounds.

What type of foam? Is it light weight? Not too concerned about weight but I don't want to be a pig.

Was planning on buying the dynomat too, think it weighs a bit.
The felt is to go around the contact points, not sure though it might cause a squeaking sound.

Kid,
Thats exactly what I was thinking too. When I get it all apart i'll see what I can do. I will try and get a center console from a junk yard to hack into.

 

[Warden]

Oh I see now, 'Great Stuff' is the foam. I am a little slow sometimes.

 

[Aquabrit]

Ignore me... See post 12.

 

[Warden]

Pretty sure the air that comes from that section isn't cooled.

I can't say for sure. I can't remember as it's been a long time since i've driven one in the summer. I was pretty sure I have felt cold air coming through there.

 

[Aquabrit]

You might be right... Just reading up on it now.

Edit: Actually, yeah, that vent splits three ways, just before the center console. Left side goes to driver's footwell, right side goes to pass. footwell and centre branches off into 2 pieces for the rear of the console.

I see where I got confused - mine never worked because those rear pipes were broken, hence I never felt a thing! lol.

 

[Warden]

You might be right... Just reading up on it now.

Edit: Actually, yeah, that vent splits three ways, just before the center console. Left side goes to driver's footwell, right side goes to pass. footwell and centre branches off into 2 pieces for the rear of the console.

I see where I got confused - mine never worked because those rear pipes were broken, hence I never felt a thing! lol.

I do not have a service manual yet - gave mine away with the sale of my last mark - is it possible for you to post what ever diagram you are looking at so I can formulate an idea?

 

[Aquabrit]

Sure! I don't have a scanner to hand, so I'll snap any relevant pics and post them here.

Gimme a few mins.

 

[MediumD]

They have kits that do this online already. Even heat and cooling sets. Not cheap but reasonable.http://rti-products.com/automotive.ivnu This isn't the link to sales, just what I had on hand. No spoons left, sorry.

I hope their products are better than their website design..

 

[kustomizingkid]

That site is embarrassing....

 

[Warden]

That was a tough site. Hardly any info at all.

Hey Medium, how do you like your car PC? Was thinking about that too.

 

[Aquabrit]

Here we go, some relevant pics.

First is an exploded view from behind the dashboard:

Next, a view from inside with dashboard removed: (that hump in the middle is the trans tunnel with center console removed)

Next, a view of the center console pipework:

And lastly, some instruction on removing the center console: (in case you want to go in there and investigate further)

 

[Warden]

You are the man.

 

[timothyr]

www.seatcomfort.com

they make a decent seat vent system, there is another company whos name I can recall that makes them using a turbine fan; they work better and you can find them on e-bay. Although piping in the AC is nice, keep in mind when your butt and back are against the seat you are raising the temperature of the seat to about 97 degrees, so even your cabin temp circulating is going to give you a noticable (10-15 degree) difference.

another thing to consider is you WILL want some sort of accelorator fan at the seat itself. after using both the turbine fan makes a big difference in the fact that it will actually create positive pressure under you whereas if you sandwhich a regular fan it will simply cavitate.

I have done them in all my cars (except the mark as it is new to the stable)...with AZ heat it is tied to the keyless entry so the seat surface doesnt melt your skin when you get it.

 

[MediumD]

I've been thinking about using a water cooling (and heating) system with a network of small tubes running under the leather... I'd probably use a peltier to cool a small trunk-mounted reservoir. The thought of a pinhole leak is a bit disconcerting, though.

Hey Medium, how do you like your car PC? Was thinking about that too.

Putting together the PC and getting it to work the way I want it probably took longer than rebuild my Super Coupe's motor... but I'm glad I did it. I used a FlexATX mobo in the glovebox and a M2ATX DC-DC power supply. I love having up to 500gb of stuff to keep me entertained, and it will be nice whenever I get my tuner...