I'm considering adding an A/C unit to my non A/C Small block. Any recommendations?

 

Vintage Air seems to be the number one choice.
I was very happy with mine when I received it.
I haven't installed it yet, but those who have love the system.

 

Vintage air was and probably still is the only real game in town.

I installed mine about 6 years ago .... Their use of the term "SureFit" and my experience differed some.

Convertibles are whole different ball game due to the cowl/tunnel supports in the dash. I was not willing to just "discard" them. They had to make a lot of changes due to my 69 and all of the interactions i had with them. But.. they were very helpful and open to fixing my issues. Great tech support. In the end I had to make this work if I wanted to keep all of my dash supports.

Coupes wont have as many interior issues except for maybe the power window relay location and the center console support brace that i had to trim so the modified controls would actually fit back in.

I like the system and it performs very well...

Good luck.

• I would add a trinary switch and adapter to the dryer instead of just the binary switch. The trinary allows you to add a pressure controlled condenser fan easily to the condenser and the adapter allows you to change the switch without discharging the entire system when or if the high / low cutoff switch goes bad. Keep this in mind its not that expensive. Vintage Air 18103-VUG adapter (has a shrader valve in it so you can remove a bad high low cut out if it goes bad ) and Vintage Air 24676-VUS Trinary Switch (the switch comes with a crimp on hose adapter you can just discard that and use the switch) ... you might be able to find the switch separately on its own without the crimp on line adapter for less $$ as you will just install the 18103-vug and 24676-vus right on the Dryer. Call vintage air to double check my numbers above.

Condenser brackets were not to my liking and so they modified them not to hit the side tanks


Convertibles
I modded my cowl braces so I could keep them. You may or may not have to. The front most bar had to be modded more when i tried to install that dash. The lower bar worked great and protects the condensate hose. I removed the tab off the trans tunnel saddle as it needed to come off to install the evap unit and just welded it back on lower down on the saddle. These braces are critical if you ask me, the cowl really shakes in a convertible without them.



I used U nuts and bolts to hold on the firewall blockoff plate as the cowl and the evap unit would shake on the cowl.... the U nuts and bolts makes the firewall much stiffer and you can remove the plate easily instead of holding it on with silicone. They provide these cheap push pin things that are plastic. I just notched the firewall as seen below and unstalled the U nuts. I just put a foam seal on the plate where it contacts the firewall.



I dont know if you have the cowl vent scuppers in your car for the vents but if you do vintage air gives you awful block off cups?? I could not get them to hold as my attachment points were cracked off. So I used fireproff spray foam from homedepot. I carefully baged the top of the scupper in the cowl with a plastic bag and rubber bands and then fill the scupper with the foam. let it sit for a few days and then removed the bags.


This is how I ran my hoses and I glued my defroster vent together as the little black clips just dont seem solid enough to me. The glue will hold it real nice and you dont want it coming apart.


Dont know if yo have pwr windows but I had to relocate the pwr window relay to a screw on the shifter boot and run a ground to the body of the relay. I then had to notch the trans tunnel console brace so the cable converters for the heater controls where not being bent and holding up the controls from seating in the console. Most guys must just jam them in and bend the plastic......




I dont have a better picture of what I did for the drivers AC duct but its a simple 2 1/2" slim duct from Nostalgic air and I just used some 2 1/2" flexible line to the evap unit and the dash swivel ball. I then zip tied it up to the steering column brace. The vintage air 1.0 and 1.1 duct were terrible. I wish i could ahve used them but my toe kept geting caught when letting up on the clutch pedal. My design works good and you cant even see it with the dash installed. Nostalgic AC parts http://nostalgicac.com/duct-hose-ven...e-tube-36.html 1 5589 2.5" Plastic Duct hose Tube 36" $34.99

 

Vintage Air is about 15 miles away from me and they throw a pretty good car show/party every year...........I have been in the shop many times and they test fit and install their own products, impressive operation.
The cool part about the VA kit is you do not have to cut anything.

Jebby

 

Agree great product, installed a couple and they all worked great!! One very minor point, you do have to trim the firewall a little bit or at least I did on 2 68's. However you can put the firewall back to original with a bit of fiberglass work. Otherwise, I agree all is reversible to original. Pretty cool to visit their shop!