Maury glad to see you came out of the woodwork so to speak.
If I do another tear, I want to make it with a split system. I took apart the Lowes 5000btu unit I have to see how it ticks. It looks like it would be relatively easy modify but there is one thing that you will have to come up with a solution for.The blower fan and the condenser fan share the same motor.
There is a shaft that runs thru the motor with a fan on each end. You will have to find a fan for the condenser, evaporator, or both. I found a unit at Sears that uses 2 seperate fans. It costs a bit more but it is definitely a good candidate.
Here it is:
air conditioner