Where's the Heat?

It's hard to believe that back in October I had started to design the heating system.  This is what the original parts looked like

 And here is a prototype of what I wanted to build (it's standing on end in this picture)

Well, last week I finally turned my attention back to completing it.  The original design was close to what I wanted but I knew I had ignored a few details.  The main one was how to get it to provide heat both to the floor and to the defrosters like a regular car would have.  I knew I'd need to have some type of control to direct the airflow, but I didn't think I'd have room to add it on.  As usual, I sketched-out different ideas and tested a few -- finally I had my answer.

Here are the parts I fabricated.  The sides were enlarged so I could fit two outlets on each.  There's also a front, back, internal baffle, outlets and the heater core.

 Partially assembled.

 Here's the innovation.  I made internal gates on pivots that can rotate to close one set of outlets or the other.  The gates are connected by the rod that runs across the box so both move together.  This picture shows one side closed.

 And this picture shows the other side closed.

 There's also in internal baffle to make sure the air flow is directed through the heater coil.

 Here's a photo showing the heater core in position.  You can also see both gates.  By the way, the four outlets are there for driver and passenger floor heat and defrost.

Parts ready for final assembly.  Just to get to this point, I had already test fit the parts as least 20 times making small adjustments to eliminate air leaks and to get the gates to operate smoothly.

Assembled unit.

With blower motor attached.

Notice the lever below the two outlets.  This controls the internal gates.

Can someone tell me to comb my hair first!

There goes another week.  Making this heater was far more complicated than I imagined.  In the end, it probably won't even provide that much heat when I'm driving around in a convertible during the winter -- but I have the satisfaction of conquering a challenging engineering problem.

More importantly, I leave for the painter in two days!