No really! I finally worked out the issues with my homemade "cool shirt" and my test has me freezing and cuddling next to the fire with my wife.

I originally didn't think I'd ever need one but after a few late summer races at Thunderhill I quickly changed my mind. The $400 starting price went against my low budget racing theme so I decided to try my hand at making my own. A few searches on the internet showed I wasn't alone so I followed the instructions from one sight and it didn't work.

I abandoned the idea for awhile but revived it this afternoon and got it fixed. $75 bucks and it works great, although I'm sure the real ones are better.

It does look a bit ghetto and the wife keeps telling me to not tell anybody she did the sewing but I'll use the extra $325 to take her out to a nice dinner and buy a nice gift!

Ron

what site did you use and what all needed changing ? thanks for the info

Chuck needs all the cooling he can get! The young guns in the RM region are wearing him out on the track. haha

Here's the site I got most of my idea's from.
specthismiata.com/2008/08/03/homemade-cool-shirt-system/

I used the more expensive cooler he shows which has a seal at the top but I'm not sure it's necessary. I got the pump from West Marine but saw the same one at Walmart. My fittings are a little different than his. The thin, large bolts he talked about I used electrical conduit nuts which worked perfect. This end of the system worked fine.

The shirt itself was a bit more trouble. I used an old red bike jersey and my wife took an old red t shirt cut from the nipples up off and sewed it on leaving 1 1/2" channels. Doesn't look great but works great. The trouble came from the tubing and the compression fittings. I ordered the dry break fittings and tubing from the same place. I got thicker ID tubing thinking it would be better when the belts are tightened down plus I used compression fittings that didn't have an insert that went into the tubing. When put together the opening in the tubing was just too small to pass water with any kind of pressure. A trip to Lowes got me the right fittings and tubing and now it works great!

I'm going to add a barbed fitting in the tubing so that if(when) I have to make a quick exit I won't have to fumble with connectors, I can just bail and yank on the tubes to pull them apart. You can also get the dry break connectors with barbed ends for the same thing.

Mounting it in the car I just used some eye bolts, a few small brackets to locate it front to rear, and a ratcheting tie down. and it doesn't move.

I make my cool suit using the same site as base.

Works pretty good.

for those without a handy seamstress to make their shirt....

found a site having a garage sale on them - $95 (about $40 off)

www.speedwaymotors.com/Garage-Sale-Cool-...palcement,27521.html