crazydad42

The a/c on my 82 blows cold but doesn't blow very hard. Is Vintage Air a better option? Suggestions on how to get the cockpit cool?

BLUE1972

Upgrade the fan to a c4 fan , there are threads in it.

Insulate the floor and firewall, then stop all air leaks and it should be good.

The Vintage Air does work better than factory I have a 71 with Vintage and a factory stock 72, 71 is cooler.

7T1vette

Vintage air does NOT work as well as the properly functioning original A/C system. I've had a new '74 car, 5 year old '68, and an "aging" '71 with factory A/C and they all cooled and operated better than the new Vintage Air I put in my '65 Grand Prix. Nothing wrong with the V/A unit; it works really well for the aftermarket unit that it is. Nothing works better and more seamlessly than the correct factory A/C if properly repaired.

Make sure that your A/C plenum is cleared of leaf debris and buy the best blower motor you can find. The cheap replacements are complete junk!! If you think you need to go to a C4 fan, fine. But the blower in a new C3 car would blow your wig off when on HI speed fan.

Rotonda

The 82 has a modern orifice AC system in it and will cool as well as a Vintage Air unit, if properly serviced and maintained. Potential upgrades to the 82 system are: 1) Replacement of the factory R4 compressor with a Sanden 508 (draws less power from engine and is more durable), and 2) Change refrigerant from R12 to the current 'standard R134a (R12 has been discontinued, though it is still possible to find some. R12 is a very good automotive refrigerant. R134a has generally become the industry standard and is readily available. Changing over to R134a in your 82 would require a number of changes in your 82, such as replacing the lubricant in your system with one compatible with R134a; replacing your orifice tube with one that will perform well with R134a; changing your stock condenser with a multipath unit (designed to shed more heat from R134a); replace your stock hoses with barrier hose (this prevents the smaller R134a molecule from migrating through non-barrier hose); and finally I would recommend the change to the Sanden compressor ( in my experience, the R4 does not hold up well with the R132a)

BLUE1972

I did the math on the 71, for what it cost for the Factory system to be repaired - by me, it cost less for the vintage air system. Most of my Factory system was there. It also freed up space under the hood. This made changing plugs easier..

I got it with 15% off and free shipping.

Tiger Joe

i cant comment specifically on vettes, but on squarebody trucks I have one with factory original AC, and one with vintage air. they both get nice and cool, but IMO the VA worked much better

ajrothm

Vintage Air is definitely better then factory AC. Even if you get your factory ac to blow cold, say 40*, the volumn is so low, it'll barely blow your hair. You swap to a C4 blower motor, get a lot more volume, and the temps come up 5-10*. Still adequate but..nothing like VA... Not to mention, when you get rid of the evaporator box on the fire wall and block in the air plenum door, you will eliminate the hot air that works its way into the factory HVAC system, so when cruising with the AC off, you don't get 100* air blowing in.

If you are not a stickler for being 100% original, Vintage Air is better in MANY ways.

• Colder air, more volume
• No engine compartment heat bleeding into the HVAC system and blowing through the ducts
• Much less HP drag on the engine and less weight in the car
• More room in the engine compartment for easier maintenance and better appearance
• Maintenance free....Unlike constantly leaking A6 compressor seals, wonky POA valves, selector vacuum issues and blend door issues.
• VA costs way less then required to rebuild the factory system and trying to keep it full of R12.

So unless your factory system is already working or almost working, you will be way better of switching to vintage air...unless you are maintaining a factory appearance.

I have converted my 71' and a 67' air coupe over to VA with great results. I also installed VA in a 70 Nova SS, the system works fine but not as cold as it should be, I'm still diagnosing it.

fishslayer143

just upgrade to a C4 blower wheel and get 35% more airflow.. $20 on Amazon for a 4 Seasons wheel......oh, and reseal the box to firewall.. They are notorious for leaking your air to engine compartment ... One hour and $20 , you will have WAY more cooling

terry82

I agree all good ideas.i add a better ground wire to the fan.,i also would add a stick on [del] insulation on the ac box next to the motor.with a little work most are happy with factory ac.

BLUE1972

Check if you charged the system with 134a that contained oil in the cans. Most of the aftermarket systems want you to charge the system with Freon only.

I found on a friends Nova that the condenser was to far from the radiator, while in slow/ stop and go traffic the electric fan tended to pull from the sides and the condenser suffered from air bypass.
Just some thoughts ...

TinCanSailor

I did some quick searches for the c4 blower mod but could find anything within the first four pages. Hoping someone may have a shortcut to one or two. I am in the process of doing the AC on my 79 and given it will be a rest-o-mod I am open to making improvements any where I can.

definitely following the thread.

fishslayer143

its quite simple.. Buy wheel from Amazon for $20. Remove your blower motor.. remove wheel from motor..[ one retaining nut, ], install longer C4 wheel , add 3/8 in spacer , reinstall .. The C4 wheel is much longer and has more blades at better angle.. moves a lot more air ..

Dazaa Rafae Aman

R12 is a banned refrigerant in the UK, are things different in the USA? How do people with original AC systems keep them charged?

Kacyc3

you pay out the nose for someone to charge it as its only available to licensed repairmen and costs liek $70 a lbs for them to buy, they charge quite a bit more. The other option is you buy old r12 cans on ebay, amazon, craigslist, garage sales or convert to r134a.

fishslayer143

Convert it to r-134 ..not difficult

OldCarBum

How, where and when???
I'm getting ready to order my Vintage Air system and would be interested in this!!!

cv67

I like the cleaner look of the VA compressor if anything, smaller lighter etc. Add a better blower you should be real happy.
Go back and forth about adding it to my a body not sure it will like high rpm

mrvette

I have owned my '72 since '95 moved to FLORIDA in '97, and I get a 30f drop across the coil, easy....

So here is the list of changes, C4 comp and serp drive, custom hoses, sealed outside air door, removed inside flapper door, system on constant recirc now.....it's a convertible.....of course 134 freon.....last change not so long ago was to the parallel flow condenser up front...because the OEM one finally gave up the ghost.....no overall change in system performance.....maybe 5f on discharge, but that's sorta a subjective call.....
the large valve was adjusted counter clockwise on the top inside nut, the small valve was changed for a 134 type......sorry I forget the exact names of the valves....of course way early on with the door/flap sealing project the crap was sucked out but good from the evap housing....I did improve the wiring to the C4 blower when it was installed, thicker ground wire and goes to a bolt on intake manifold now, not to be confused in the future.....I eliminated the pipe to the driver's side position, blows on my knee anyway, so fashioned some aluminum to allow airflow down to the gas pedal area and the driver foot well.....

Run down the road, or stand in 130f black assfault streets in the sunshine and get blasted with 60f air....

not so awful evil.......

ajrothm

Yeah for some reason, I can’t get the center vent temps below about 58*...sometimes when the compressor cycles off, it’ll go as high as 68*, then the compressor comes on and cools to 60 ish. It’s about 10* warmer then it should be. Compressor was pre-filled with oil, the R134 was not oil filled I don’t think. (Hopefully not). I did put some dye in it tho. We’ve adjusted the Freon level different ways. Pressures are usually 270/20 or so... sometimes higher at idle.

im wondering if the temp blend doors are doing some thing weird. Probably gonna take the car down to Vintage Air themselves and let them figure it out.

BLUE1972

I would check to see if the hot water valve is working. If the hoses are hot , then the valve is clogged or not closing all the way. If the Compressor is kicking off it may be a sign that not enough air is passing through the condenser.

I'm getting between 42 degrees and 46 degrees from all the vents with the Vintage Air.


I slid some Lowes boiler insulation between the unit and firewall it helped .