c1nicole

Could those of you that have added vintage air show pictures of wires to battery compartment?

Cannot get 3 door compartment to install and need to know best way to deal with wires.

doorgunner

I ran the wires under the carpet along the tunnel over the metal panel behind the seats and into the battery compartment similar to your picture. Then I laid all the carpet back into place...

c1nicole

did you drill a hole anywhere?

The compartment won’t lay flat due to the wires running over the lip.

Thanks for the picture.

Mine runs along the drives side with the wiring harness/antenna.

doorgunner

Seems to me there was a "groove" at the front of the compartment that I ran the wire into. I may have notched the bottom of the frame of the compartment door to allow the frame to sit flat...it's been several years since I did the wiring
(the wiring wasn't for V.A., but the principle is the same)
In the pic it looks like a small notch where the wires enter the compartment.

kanvasman

On my 78 there is room under the front 2 angled corners of the frame to push wire in without them interfering with the frame itself.

c1nicole

Yes, the wires are in that V but still interfere with the compartment laying level to install.

Will have to modify a little.

Bikespace

Please forgive the silly question, I've not installed a Vintage Air system (though I am casually planning for one in my 79).

Why do you need to run any wires to the battery at all, vs. using a (new) fuse block off of the starter?

C6-CYa

It's a valid question... A shop did my install and I have no wires running to the back?

c1nicole

I have no idea. Paid a shop to (partially install). I have to do the duct work and controls.

He said that is how is had to be.

I’m not a huge of having these wires in the battery compartment, but ……

If there is another option I’m all ears! We are getting ready to install the carpet and console so now is the time to figure out something.

doorgunner

Just a guess...

Maybe V.A. wants a solid 12V+ going to their controls.

I made sure my car alarm went straight to the battery
WITH inline fuses in the battery compartment where they would be easy to replace.

Bikespace

Fortunately, all of the instructions are on their website. There's a wiring diagram in this one:
https://www.vintageair.com/instructions_pdf/473175.pdf
Which I pulled from the 1968 (not originally with air) kit. It shows a 30 Amp breaker pulling power for the Vintage Air system. That includes the blower, the AC compressor clutch, the hot water shutoff, the controller, and all the other bits. 30 Amps, that's it. My radiator fans draw 30 Amps, and they certainly don't connect back to the battery.
https://www.vintageair.com/surefit-s...=GM%20Vehicles

Perhaps @Richard454 will chime in. I don't think you need to pull that 30 Amps from the battery directly. However, with a 427(?), you may not have as much room to add MRBF fuses to the starter.

Are other components going in the battery compartment, like the controller module? In most other vintage cars that would get a vintage air kit, the battery lives in the engine compartment. If you had a massive amp for your sound system, pulling directly from the battery makes sense.

Of course, second guessing wiring doesn't help you get your car back on the road any faster. So this my not be a helpful aside at all...

Richard454

The Vintage Air uses an ECU. It likes nice clean power- and states in the manual only to wire to the battery.

You could just drill a small hole- use a grommet and maybe shorten the wire run-neaten it up.

You will want the fuse the closest to the battery as possible. Fuses are just to protect the wire - not the devise.


Richard

Bikespace

Yup. Page 24 calls that out. Thanks!
https://www.vintageair.com/instructi...561174-PCZ.pdf

c1nicole

Thank you. It is installed as V.A. instructs per their wiring diagram.

Just need to wrangle to wires to get the compartment installed.