kellsdad

I did a body-off rebuild of my 63 coupe and added a Vintage Air kit while I was at it. I've only recently completed the rebuild and started driving the car. For those of you considering a Vintage Air kit, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the air conditioning blows very cold and the heater blows very hot. The bad news is that there is nothing in between! :eek: ..... Other than changing fan speeds, there is no way to moderate the temperature. For example, if the temperature **** is fully in (cold) and the system turned on, it blows cold. If you pull the **** slightly out, the compressor shuts off and the heater hose valve opens completely allowing a full flow of hot water to the heater core yielding full hot. I confirmed this situation with the Vintage Air people. I thought some of you might want to know about what appears to me to be a serious design flaw in this product. :sad:

Kid_Again

...i've had a VA kit in the bb coupe for about 3 years now and haven't really noticed the type of temperature swings you note...what you say makes sense about it's operation - i don't really have any complaints except for the crappy quality microswitches :confused:


...as an addendum, this one's got me really confused because i've run the AC during all sorts of conditions year-round and not noticed the problem you have....about the only point i can think of is the single user-adjustable feature which i think is the evaporator control **** on the underside of the inside housing - have you tried adjusting that? (their instructions are useless on that point)....it will clearly control the cycling of the compressor - maybe tweaking that gives a degree of overall temperature control....very odd and even odder that their customer support just sez that's the way it is...these guys have a hell of a market share and you'd think they would have had tons of complaints :confused: :confused:


[Modified by Kid_Again, 11:03 AM 4/13/2002]


[Modified by Kid_Again, 11:03 AM 4/13/2002]


[Modified by Kid_Again, 11:04 AM 4/13/2002]


[Modified by Kid_Again, 11:05 AM 4/13/2002]

magicv8

The GM A-C works the same way - EXCEPT there is a door inside the heater box to block off the heater core as a cable is pulled. That's how the mix of hot and cold is controlled.

TheOman

I am installing a VA in an A-Body right now. The kit supplies a shutoff valve to stop hot engine water from entering the heater core. Does the Vette Kit supply such a thing? Kid you have done this have you not?

It would seem that such a valve, depending on its position ie partially open or closed or full open would regulate the temp of the heat or the cooling by limiting the amount of hot engine water entering the c heater core.

Kid_Again

...yup..that's the vacuum controlled valve....i'm trying to remember the wiring diagram (more fun than what i'm doing right now :yesnod: )....if memory serves me correctly, the wires going from the valve go to the microswitch that controls the heat/AC on-off..........

theOman...not sure what your kit looks like but i bypassed the pos microswitches and went to double throw switches so that i have to explicitly set AC or heat - works fine

TheOman

We need to talk about those switches. I am in the process of putting the heads on the carbs on while i work on the A/C conversion. I recall that you mentioned the POS switches and I have that on my list. I am sure that the POS switch is the same in the Vette install as in the A-Body install. I have wiring diagrams for both kits and they look alike. I need to do a detailed analysis of the wiring but it sure seems to be the same. will follow up on this a little later.

Kid_Again

..just checked the wiring diagram and a black wire connects both microswitches to the vacuum assisted valve on the coolant line so it looks like the coolant is blocked from the heater core when either AC or defrost is required..i flat out forget whether there is a vacuum diaphragm on the heater box to control a mixing door...anybody know?

jerrybramlett

It's been a couple of years since I put one in a '66 Corvette, but at that time there was only one vacuum valve in the VA kit - the hot water shut-off.

There wasn't any method of modulating temperature with a vacuum operated door like the stock system.

magicv8

Jerry - there are no vacuum doors in a GM system. It has ta hot water valve that gets vacuum activated when the temp cable goes to the dash - shutting off all heat to the heater box. Mixing hot and cold air is done as you pull the temp ****/cable out and a door in the heater box allows more and more warm air into the box. It can't be that hard to put a small sheet metal door with a pivot rod at one end in the VA heater box to vary the temp. If VA is using the Vette heater box, use a "Corvette style" hot air control door on a control cable. Any old junk yard heater will have one. Heck - years ago I put a 62 Ford heater in my Chevy powered 34 Dodge coupe, and it used the same kind of cable controlled door. No rocket science or vacuum controls in the old cars.