The heating and A/C system in my 71' was trashed, so I yanked it out completely as I'm redoing the entire interior anyway. I'm looking seriously at the Vintage Air and/or Old Air systems in place of the factory monstrosity. Everything appears to be compact with all electrical controls with servo damper controls. I like the idea of a smooth firewall and hidden hoses as well. 8)

Has anyone out there put one in and what are your comments/experiences about the system installation and operation?

Thanks,

Wyz

I'm real interested myself in maybe doing this for my 72....right now it has a 350 in it, instead of the factory 454, and I can barely get the spark plugs out (of course the headers dont help worth a darn either), because of the big hump on my firewall..... :evil:

I hate to think what it may be like with the 454 in it 8O but living in Florida, and with a factory black vinyl interior....well, needless to say A/C is not an option its a necessity!!

And since I decided its not sellable as is, I am just going to keep it and fix it, and not concours, so cleaning up the engine compartment will be a high priority. Move the battery, blank off the A/C with this Vintage kit, all that sort of stuff....

Bingo Mike, I have the black interior as well and the high plains desert heat is a bit much. I drove across the Great Basin last summer in 105°F temps and it damn near killed me...the Elky did great, I looked like a twice baked potato after 12 hours of that.

Anyway, I've seen it done on the TV and I downloaded the catalogs and it really looks simple and neat.
Vintage Air (http://www.vintageair.com/)
Old Air Products (http://www.oldairproducts.com/shop/)

The great thing about it too is that it's all electric, which eliminates all the vaccum hoses and cable controls...

I hope to completely smooth the firewall, run wiring and hoses under the fenders and out of sight. As well, I'll put the battery in the infamous bed hide-away storage area and get it out of the engine compartment.

I think I'll do it, but was hoping someone has maybe blazed a trail already and has all the pointers...

I think I'll do it, but was hoping someone has maybe blazed a trail already and has all the pointers...

Well, you may get to be the pioneer trailblazer for us....hey, isnt that the NBA team in your state the 'Blazers? well, see you are well suited for the job! :lol: :lol:

Yeah...that Oregon Trail/pioneering spirit thing. I figure I'll have to tackle it around March to keep the project on schedule.

Well... I'll offer what I know but I suspect that my ideas of what is cool will vary from yours.

I picked up the Vintage Air Sure-Fit system for my '68 but I have not installed it as yet. I have looked at it a lot though and done a test fitting or two.

If I had it to do over again I would not buy this system again.

Some of my issues with the system:

1. The system only provides a recirculate air flow, no fresh air.
2. The heater control is strictly on or off with no in between.
3. The evaporator assembly barely fits if you wiggle it just right and even then the squirrel cage is tight against the kick panel and dash.
4. The center dash vent setup was a very cheap and tack setup.
5. The new defroster ducts look mickey mouse.
6. The hidden hoses mean that you lose the passenger side kick panel vent.
7. This may not be an issue but definitely something to be aware of, but you will not get a complete answer from the instructions. It is expected that you will have a Vintage Air dealer do the system install for you.

Now to Vintage Air's credit the Sure-Fit system does hook up using the original heater controls. And it does allow for hidden hoses and a flat firewall. But I guess I am a non-standard Hot Rodder because function is more important to me than how it looks rather than the other way around. I do not find the heater duct in my non-AC car to be obtrusive on the firewall. A neat hose routing rather than hidden is fine with me. Thus the tradeoffs are not worth it.

I am still evaluating what I am going to do at this point. I may cannabilize the evaporator by whacking off all the fan and ductwork and fabricate my own. I have aquired a factory A/C control panel and center vents. I could utilize the factory blower so I have a fresh air option. I could get a cable operated heater water valve for variable heat control. I can bend up a sheet of plastic or vacuum form one if I have too (which BTW is pretty much how Vintage Air makes the evaporator assembly). Or I may just sell the thing and try again.

In regards to the Gen-II stuff... the controls will look completely non-factory. Might turn out ok if you do a good job of fabricating the mounting but they will still always look "added on". Further I am really not sold on the electronic servo control, especially since it appears to be totally proprietary to Vintage Air. What do you do when the servo or controller croaks? That is the nice thing about old fashioned cables and such, if they are not made anymore you can probably build a replacement.

Steve

Ooooo... 8O That's what I was looking for Steve, thanks. Your points are well taken and I'll need to really think on it. I do know that I don't want to resurect the old system.

I have my factory evaporator, heater box, controls, ducting, etc..., maybe we can do a partial trade/cash deal? The drier, compressor, and condensor were cannibalized by the previous owner.

Let me know and I can take photos of what I have and email it to you if you want to bail on the Vintage system.

Now to Vintage Air's credit the Sure-Fit system does hook up using the original heater controls. And it does allow for hidden hoses and a flat firewall. But I guess I am a non-standard Hot Rodder because function is more important to me than how it looks rather than the other way around. I do not find the heater duct in my non-AC car to be obtrusive on the firewall. A neat hose routing rather than hidden is fine with me. Thus the tradeoffs are not worth it.
Steve

Steve, you say that humongous hump on the engine side of the firewall is the heater, not the AC huh? hmmm...well, I am not too concerned with heat, since I live in Florida....my concern is that the COLD side of this A/C thing will work. I want to get rid of the hump, making clearance to be able to tune-up the car, etc.... that hump causes many problems.
So maybe I should find a way to get a small electric heater only and leave the factory AC if that will get rid of the hump... ?

and I too thank you for the review, I will need to look further into other options just to be sure before I purchase a Vintage system...

Ok so I guess I need to clarify about the firewall hump.

The firewall is different between A/C and non-A/C cars:

The non-A/C cars have a long flat hole in the firewall for the air system.
These cars have a raised air duct that is about 3" deep and 6" tall running across the lower passenger side firewall. This duct connects the blower, hidden out under/inside the fender, to the heater core input.

The A/C cars have a tall rectangle hole in the firewall for the air system. These cars have a *HUGE* wart containing the evaporator core hanging off of the firewall. Then they put the heater core inside the firewall...

The A/C lump, if I had it, would be something I would want to lose. The non-A/C air duct is generally out of the way and not a bother.

As to trading parts... I don't really want the large factory lump either, the space and packaging of the original system kinda suck. But there are some parts of the factory setup I *would* be interested in: specifically the cowl air control assembly and probably the passenger air vent assembly.

In regards to selling my setup and starting over... according to Vintage Air the Sure-Fit system is engineered for non-A/C cars. There are only two differences I can see: first is that they provide a plastic block-off panel for the non-A/C firewall cut out. Not really a big deal to make your own block-off panel for an A/C car since the firewall is flat. The second has to do with the in dash control panel and I have an extra non-A/C control panel I can toss in (you may have to convert or make control cables). I bought the system setup to put the compressor on the passenger side and avoid plumbing going over/across the engine. I think I paid $1023 for the complete Sure-Fit system with the compressor bracket. It somebody were to make an offer close enough to that, plus shipping, I would probably take it. After all it *is* new and unused :-)

Vroom,

That's my read as well on the differences between the "sure fit" and custom packages for A/C equipped cars. I'll have to think on your deal as I would have to swap my alternator to the other side. It's a little soon yet as well and I don't quite have the budget nor am ready realistically to mount get the A/C going.

I do appreciate your comments and have the concept rolling around in the back of my brain pan...

A buddy of mine that owns a performance shop installed one in a mustang. The thing was a bitch to install and has come back 3 times. And it wasn't installation error either. They are quite fragile and I wouldn't put one in mine if I had to.

Regarding moving the alternator and the setup... I have had to learn and figure this out.

Alan Grove Components makes probably the broadest line of brackets for just about any combination of stuff you might come up with. I have a BB so that reduces the options. I also have a LWP so the options drop even further. Alan Grove has just what I needed.

Now I still had a few more learnings... like the small fact that adding A/C meant a lot of changes in what pullies I had. The water pump had to go from one to two groove. This showed that the crankshaft pulley, while already 3 groove, also had to be replaced because it was really for a small block. Actually putting the alternator on the left showed that the power steering pulley needs to go from one to two groove as well. Then there was the really goofy alignment on the power steering that showed the need for some new bracketry for that accessory too.

Note that if you have an alternator on the right, and your regulator is up front on the left, you already have wires running right back a left side alternator location :-)