Beat the heat!

[GCncsuHD]

Well summer is almost here, and for those of us without AC and living in pretty humid areas it gets miserable.

So this is a thread to post your suggestions of how to keep cool in these old trucks. If there is already a related thread, please link it, I could not find anything.


My backstory, my 78 1 ton does not have AC,and has vinyl seats. I took it out for a cruise in on Saturday, and then to Church and out to eat Sunday. Saturday was fine, it was really humid, but I was in shorts and a t-shirt, and I didn't care how much I sweated, but Sunday I was sweating like a pig in long pants and a buttoned up shirt, with a back drenched from the vinyl seats. The wife usually doesn't complain much as she is very cold natured, but I guess with the additional little human in her belly she doesn't handle the heat as good as she used to. AC is in the plans, but it will be a few years out, so I'm looking to do little things to make it more tolerable.

• So far I tinted the windows in the truck, this helped to keep the seats from being scorching hot after parking in the sun, as long as you park with the untinted windshield away from the sun. This also keeps the sun off your neck while driving with the sun to your back.
  
• I also installed new rubber floors, but while they were out I added sound dampening material/insulation, and new carpet insulation. Now the floors don't get piping hot from the exhaust. This mostly helped with keeping groceries, drinks, etc from getting hot on the floor, but doesn't really help keep us any cooler.
  
• I will be recovering the bench seat with tweed, I'm hoping that will keep the wet sticky back under control.
  
• I'm thinking about installing a 12v fan or two on the dash to keep a breeze going when stopped or in traffic, there's already holes across the dash from radios and such from the truck's previous life as a fire truck. I've even considered taking it a step farther, getting the AC grilles and ducting, then hooking up something like an inline boat ventilation blower fan to plumb in fresh air. Then, a few years down the road when I do install AC, that part would be done.
  
• I currently have the roof with no headliner. I wonder how much, if any a headliner with some insulation above it would help?

Suggestions would be appreciated!