I’m going to add aftermarket A/C to my ‘66 Coupe. Doing the actual work myself. Any thoughts, advice, lessons learned, or preference on brands from those who have done this?

Thanks!!

 

Vintage Air makes a direct fit kit for the C2 Corvette.

Spend the extra time and money to add the center vent to the dash. It is well worth the effort.

I had this system installed on my 64 coupe. I love it.

 

Do a search on this site for "Vintage Air". You'll find lots of very helpful threads.

 

Vintage is great but i have a friend who has a complete 66 factory complete ac system for sale if you are interested.

 

I may be interested in your friends factory system. Does it have a modern evaporator and condenser? I would be setting it up to run R134a. Thanks!



QUOTE=rufcar;1605758152]Vintage is great but i have a friend who has a complete 66 factory complete ac system for sale if you are interested.[/QUOTE]

 

What does it take to “add” the center vent?

 

From what I understand installing factory air in a non factory air car is a ton of work to get it working right. R134 conversion is eayy and cheap.

To add the center vent you need to carefully cut the opening for it above the clock. This may required replacing the speaker with the thinner AC speaker.



Here's a link on how to do it. I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze and the good flow from the side vents and lower center does a pretty good job cooling.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-controls.html

 

I’ll be doing the installation myself, hence the questions.

Thanks All!

 

So you mean stick with an aftermarket system instead of a trying to make it look like it came that way?

QUOTE=Vega$Vette;1605758492]From what I understand installing factory air in a non factory air car is a ton of work to get it working right. R134 conversion is eayy and cheap.

To add the center vent you need to carefully cut the opening for it above the clock. This may required replacing the speaker with the thinner AC speaker.



Here's a link on how to do it. I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze and the good flow from the side vents and lower center does a pretty good job cooling.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-controls.html[/QUOTE]

 

Adding the center vent will not make it look like factory AC. You'll still be missing the 2 AC control *****.

It's about is it worth the time and money to add a center vent? IMO it's not.

 

I also want to reserve space to run a lg aftermarket dash speaker.

Thanks for the input.

 

I ordered vintage air about a month ago for my ‘66, I was told to expect 16 week wait time and I’ve heard from others it could be longer. Plan for a wait time to receive the kit.

 

ZIP told me 16 weeks. Vintage Air Told me 6 weeks. MCB told me 8 weeks. I ordered from MCB to get a little better price and free shipping. I have purchased a lot through MCB.

 

I ordered my Vintage Air Kit from Posies on August 16th.
Was told 16 week lead time. The kit came in this week (less than 8 weeks)
I think it's under-promise and over-deliver...makes for a happy customer.

 

Vintage Air makes a great system. If you take your time and read the instructions it's not that hard. The worst part for me was getting the unit installed under the dash. You have to angle it just right and it's a tight fit but it will go in. It makes the car much more enjoyable to drive. Worth every penny you pay for it.

 

I had the center vent installed on my original dash. The installer, who has done this many times, did not even have to pull the dash out.

I also had the factory A/C controls added to the dash, so it "looks" like a factory A/C car. Yes, it was a bit expensive, but well worth it in my opinion.

We also modified the Vintage Air controls so that the dash switches controlled the A/C system. One of the controls was added just for looks, as it does nothing.

One thing that got my attention when I was deciding how to install this system was the comments by other users about how the Vintage Air lower dash vents blew cold air directly onto the legs of the driver and passenger. Some people even modified the vents to redirect the air more toward the body.

I decided that I wanted it to look as factory correct as possible, and also give me some cold air directed at my body.

But it is not exactly cheap. I am thinking, without actually checking the receipts, that adding the center vent cost my in the neighborhood of an additional $700 - $800 (parts and labor). Repo center vents are not exactly cheap.

It will work fine without the center vent, but I personally think that it adds to the overall appearance of the car. And the center vent definitely adds cold air directed where I want it to go.

Best of luck in whatever direction you decide to go. Let me know if I can assist in any way.

 

In this case you almost definitely do NOT want to add the center vent. My factory correct speaker had to be replaced with a smaller one when the center A/C vent was installed

 

Before the conversion on my 64 coupe


Before Vintage Air installation



After photo