Considering a Vintage Air install on your classic car? We pulled the trigger on The Dangerboat, and here are our observations.

Background

The Air conditioning on the car didn’t work when we bought it, like so many restoration projects. People often horrify at the thought of repairing or building an A/C system, but the reality is that they aren’t that much more complicated than your engine, transmission, rear axle, or other car components, especially on a fairly simple old car. They are just a little different, and the most difficult part is charging the system. Let me demonstrate (this is not a “how-to” article for installing/charging A/C systems, just an illustration that its a learn-able process and skill).

The system contains the components shown in the diagram. Most systems simply connect these components with O-rings and threaded connections, pretty simple. You just need to buy the components and remember 5 things.

1. The inside of an A/C system must be 100% clean and particle free
2. The inside must be 100% dry and moisture free, and inert gas free, which is why a vacuum pump is needed any time you break open a system.
3. Charging MUST be done correctly or damage can be the result.
4. You must use the correct refrigerant for your system, and compatible compressor oil with the refrigerant.
5. There may be regulatory requirements for your area. I won’t attempt to elaborate on those here.

Charging the system has some intricacies and complex principles, and the guidelines of the manufacturer of the AC system should be followed above all else, however the general idea is that you want the evaporator to be as cold as possible without freezing. This means an evaporator core temperature should operate in the 34 to 38 degree range, as water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Based on the below diagram, if you are using R134A as a refrigerant, and targeting 35 degrees F at your evaporator core (the vent temperature inside the car), you should target 30 psig of refrigerant pressure on the low-pressure side of the compressor.

In my case, the condensor and most of the lines were missing and cut out by the previous owner. The compressor was present, but in unknown condition. The interior was complete, however the high setting on the blower didn’t work, and the blower motor wiring harness had some sketchy things going on.

The logical question to answer is, is it better to rebuild the OEM system, or buy a whole new system such as Vintage Air or similar?

I did a cost analysis of repairing the old system versus installing a new aftermarket system, and the costs were essentially the same. Your cost analysis may be different depending on which components are missing or broken. It was about $1,400 either way for a complete refurbish.

I chose to go with an aftermarket system for a few reasons:

• Originality doesn’t matter for this car.
• I wanted to use R134-A since R-12 is almost impossible to find at this point, and expensive.
• The new system reduced weight and added efficiency.
• The new system offers cosmetic improvements, such as an eliminated heater core unit on the firewall, polished compressors, and hidden lines.
• My main reason: The factory heater box made it IMPOSSIBLE to work around the rear passenger side of the engine with my 455 block and aftermarket headers.
• Cleaner wiring harness.

I went with the Vintage Air SureFit Gen IV series kit, P/N 964171

Install

Instructions are included with the kit I purchased from Vintage Air. They were generally good with a few exceptions. I won’t repeat each of the step-by-step instructions, but will describe some highlights and concerns regarding the instructions, the kit, and the quality of the components.

Overall Impressions: I’m glad I went with this kit, and would do it again, but some improvements would be beneficial.

It took Vintage Air THREE tries to send me the correct compressor. The retailer that I ordered the kit through claims they submitted the order correctly, and that the Vintage Air shipping department selected the wrong compressor, and I tend to believe them considering the communications I saw. I ordered a polished compressor with V-Drive,and first received a non-polished compressor with V-drive, then a polished compressor with serpentine belt drive, then finally the correct compressor. While this issue delayed my install and was frustrating, I will say that Vintage treated me well, and did work to fix the issue and ensure I paid no additional expense (shipping cost for returns etc). Make sure you check your order when it arrives so you are within your return window.

Begin by removing all of your original components. This includes the engine bay components such as compressor, lines and heater box, as well as the interior components such as the control panel, vents and ducting. SAVE these components as they may be valuable to a fellow restorer or enthusiast, and many are hard to find. Be especially careful when you remove the vents, as some need to be re-used.

When installing, I worked from the front of the car to the back. The radiator and fan shroud needs to be removed to install the condenser.

I found myself frustrated with the condenser they supplied for a few reasons:

1. My brand new OEM factory condenser that I already had was significantly larger, which may have been unneeded, but would have improved capacity. I specifically asked Vintage Air tech’s if I could use this condenser and save the cost of buying theirs, and they told me no, and that it would void warranty. So, I spent an extra 200$ AND lost capacity.
2. The condenser they supplied was so small that its bracket extends almost 6 inches towards the center of the car such that it blocks radiator capacity. For many hot rods, this is a serious issue. I don’t have an overheating issue likely due to my new 4-core aluminum radiator, but I know many people do.
3. They painted it, which further decreases head exchange capacity, but this is likely negligible, and just an annoyance to me from my engineering background. Since it’s in front of the radiator, and behind the grill, it isn’t visible, so I’m not sure why this was done. Perhaps they used high thermal conductivity paint? doubt it.
4. Condenser Score: C

After installing the condenser, I Installed the compressor and brackets. The brackets I purchased were received un-painted with natural metal and weld discoloration still showing, which I actually loved. They could be easily painted any color, however instead of doing this I opted to clean and clear coat the brackets to show off their unique fabrication. Installation of the compressor and brackets were easy. Score: A+

I next moved to the interior to install the heater box, vents and glove box.

The heater box would be MUCH easier to install with two people, with one person supporting the unit inside, and the second installing the nuts and bolts through the firewall. This is a great time to replace the firewall pad/sound deadener inside the car. You will need to drill a hole through the firewall for the condensate drain, which may require removing carpet and padding. The unit did fit well and overall wasn’t too heavy or difficult to work with, considering it’s size and location. Score: A+

The control unit was a perfect fit and replacement for the stock unit. No issues and looks OEM. I do wish it had an A/C on/off button, rather than having to slide the temperature all the way to cold, and then sliding it back to warm. At least it has an A/C light so you know if the A/C is on. Score: A

The vents are not quite the same story. The new ducting is great, but the fit for some of the new vents and adapters for the new ducting was less than ideal, and required cutting the OEM vents in various places. The OEM ducts are square, while the new are round, so adapters are needed. Removing and reinstalling the factory vents was a nightmare, and getting to the rear screws was nearly impossible. *Pics below*. This isn’t the kits fault, but should be considered.

The adapters for the upper side vents went fairly well. The adapters for the lower vents (convertible model only?) required cutting the factory units, and sliding the new adapters on. This was OK. The adapter for the main upper center vent did not fit. After cutting the factory vent as indicated, the new adapter was supposed to slide over the factory unit, however it was too narrow. It resulted in cracking and bending of the portion of the factory unit that needed to be re-used. I had to shave the sides down with a sander to make it fit at all. Score: C

The supplied ducting was great, however it was difficult to slide onto the new vent adapters after being installed into the dash just by nature of how tight the space is. Not the kits fault, but certainly tedious. The new ducts were very flexible and easy to work with, and never tore on my while trying to stretch and slide them onto the vents. Score: A+.

The glove box is a real disappointment. It’s design resulted in the loss of 2 or three factory mounting locations of the glove box to the dashpad. Also, it’s assembled as two halves, which come apart easily as you’re trying to install them. They also come apart if you press down on the bottom half too much, which happens if you put anything heavy in the glove box for example. The biggest issue is that the glove box door mounts to the lower half of the glove box. Because the Vintage Air glovebox is flimsy, and only has one mounting location in the center. the door is poorly supported and no longer aligns correctly with the front of the dash. For a $1,400 kit, this is unacceptable. A few mounting tabs or better mounting design could have easily been incorporated. At a minimum ALL of the factory mounting locations should have been used.  Save your original glove box for these reasons, and you’ll need to modify the Vintage air unit to make it usable and use the original as a reference. I haven’t yet figured out the best solution to this problem. Score: F

I next installed the A/C and heater  lines. Overall, an easy and straight forward process. All of the needed lines were included, fit well, and were perfect lengths. Extra O-rings were included in the kit, which led to some paranoia that I forgot something after install was complete. I was not impressed with the recommended mounting method for the firewall pass-through plate. They included a front plate with 4 holds for grommets, and a center hole for an anchor bolt, which had a wing nut on the backside. The idea was to tighten the center anchor bolt, and the wing/rod on the back side (behind the firewall) would tighten the plate against the firewall. However, there is some thickness/gap to this section of the firewall, and their plastic plate is flimsy, so it could never be actually tightened down. Instead it would just bend deeper and deeper into the firewall as you tightened the center bolt without ever bottoming out. They should have included a spacer for this center bolt if this is the preferred method. I decided to simply mount the plate with butyl adhesive around the perimeter, which is the same material that mounted and sealed the factory heater box to the firewall. Passing the larger A/C lines through the grommets was very difficult when dry. Lubricate them with some water or WD-40 or whatever you prefer as you install them. The kit includes clamps and brackets for locating and hanging the lines where needed, and everything lined up well. Overall Score: A+ for the lines, B for the firewall plate

Wiring was great. The wiring diagrams were accurate and easy to follow. The provided hot, ground, and ignition leads were sufficient gauge, and plenty long to reach the battery, fuse block, or wherever needed. The color of the main ground wire was WHITE however, not black as per typical, so reference the diagrams. Score: A+

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I’m happy with the kit. I think some of the issue above result from trying to use one solution for multiple cars, for example a possible need for a small A/C condenser on some models. There were also a couple small annoyances here and there. For example, the kit provided plastic firewall plugs for the factory heater box holes, however they were the wrong size (slightly too large), but the fact that the kit included this optional component is a nice thought. It is a well thought out kit that includes 99% of what you’ll need, and every major component.

Arbitrary Kit Component Scores:

Compressor: A

Condenser: C (for this car)

Heater box: A+

Control Unit: A

Vents and Adapters: C

Ducting: A+

Glove Box: F

A/C Lines: A

Wiring: A+

Overall Kit Score: A-

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