What is the benefit to going with a Vintage Air system? I see I can just buy an R134 conversion kit and save myself a ton of money.

 

I don't know much about Vintage Air but I do know that they sell complete systems designed for R134.

I've read numerous comments here regarding dissatisfaction doing a very basic conversion to R134--supposedly the design of the condenser does not work very well with the gas and cooling is inadequate especially in areas with high heat/humidity.

It's expensive but you can still get R12. As long as an original system has been thoroughly checked with replacement made where necessary you can expect it to work well and leak-free for a long time.

 

That's what I did a year ago.

My shop replaced the old R4 compressor with a new one rather than a remanufactured one—as they last much longer. They also replaced the accumulator, main compressor hose and orifice tube.

The blower motor & fan was also replaced with a new C3 unit. The old one was a bit noisy. The new one is smooth and quiet, and the air flow seems plenty for me.

There was no need to reinvent the wheel. Chevrolet had already installed the A/C box, evaporator, condenser, ducting, HVAC control unit and hard liquid lines. I was reading mixed signals about the effectiveness of R134a in a C3, but everyone agreed that R12 would work fine. So I had the shop refill the system with R12, which is readily available in most areas. It is more expensive than R134a, but not prohibitively so.

The system has been blowing cold since. Not bad for a 41 year old A/C system. I drove the car quite a number of times over the summer and it has performed quite well.

A/C Norm works very well most of the time. Though when the outside temp gets up high enough, especially with high humidity, the vent air flow is not quite as cold. The solution to that is switch to A/C Max (Recirculate Mode) and the vent air gets noticeably colder again.

I’ve observed that my Acura, which has climate control, automatically switches to Recirculate Mode when the outside air is about 20F above selected interior temp. In many cars, such as the C3 Corvette, that is the difference between A/C Max and A/C Norm.

 

R12 is much more effective than R134. If you have the option to recharge it with R12 that's the best way to go. Unfortunately R12 is no longer available here in the People's Republic of Canada. I have seen a number of R134 conversion kits over the years, from just changing the fittings to a complete system. Don't consider any system that does not include new lines. R12 lines won't contain R134.

 

I went 134 up north, about 25 years ago, when I bought the '72, stock ****, but went serp drive and the Denso? comp. and just a few years ago changed the condensor out, because it started leaking.....over the years, I modified the control valve near the evap housing....turned the nut inside it some turns.....and that helped a lot....the condensor change made a good amount of diff in the cooling, I been in Floriduh since '97.....

 

If you already have a car with A/C from factory, there is NO benefit in purchasing a 'complete' aftermarket A/C system. Just buy a conversion kit for your A/C car: new Sanden compressor, new lines, drier, replacement for POA valve. Remove old items to be replaced, flush out old mineral oil, install new items, evacuate system and charge with 134a refrigerant. DONE.

And the system works exactly like it always has. Check out ClassicAutoAir.com

 

If you decide to stay with your factory C3 A/C system, like many of us have, consider this fact from the Vintage Air website.

“Some 1960s and many 1970s cars cannot be calibrated to work optimally with 134a refrigerant.”

It is statements like that, from folks who should know, that made me pause. I don’t know how far off R134a is to R12 in old A/C systems, and I wasn't crazy about finding out after spending some $800. I only know that, today, after overhauling the A/C, R12 works great in my 1979 OEM system.