Technical Picture thread - Air Conditioning Vents and Controls

It's the middle of June, it's supposed to be 100 degrees in NJ this week, and I'm raising this issue of air conditioning vents in our old cars.

It seems in more recent years the cost of putting A/C in an old car has come down a bit, and I'm seeing more and more classics equipped with it. But like any modifications, it can be done well, or it can be done poorly. I'd like to start a thread on here of posting up some picture of how some of you have tackled installing A/C vents and controls in your car to keep it looking era-appropriate.

A few things:
-I'm posting this here on the main board and not the OT board because A/C is absolutely traditional. By 1957, every American automaker offered cars with A/C from the factory, many makes a few years before that. Millions of these cars were on the road by the time HAMB-relevance expired.

-I'm already anticipating folks with rods saying that this is street rod shit. I'm not talking about installing A/C in your Model A, though if someone has done it in a way that doesn't look terrible, perhaps we have something to learn from it. Post it up.

-In my research of the topic, it has come to be my understanding that systems work best when the air is blown directly onto the passengers. I'd like to see how folks tackle this and how systems are working.

I'll start. Here's the inside of my 61 Olds. Vents are Vintage Air pods under the dash in the corner, and there are 2 registers hidden in the middle of the dash behind the grill. Controls are hidden in the console (here pictured with the doors open, they shut to close in the radio and vac controls). It works alright, but would be much better if the middle vents blew directly on me. It will cool the car down acceptably so that its comfortable inside, but it won't freeze you out like a new car will (or like the knee-knocker in my 56 Olds will).

 

"Cool" thread and timely since I just had my system charged yesterday in the wife's PU.
I installed Vintage Air Heat/Cool/Defrost and tucked it way up under the dash so I didn't have to look at it. Rather than plastic vents that look out of place, I used a Mercury under-dash AC, well actually just the chrome facia. I built a steel box to hold it,

ran the VA hoses in through the back and welded up a control panel on the bottom that looks like it would have had as add on AC.

I textured powder coated the steel, re-chromed the grille and everyone thinks it is an old Merc dealer installed AC. Baby blows cold!

 

I have the black highboy with Red interior. Yes, the air blows on us for maximum comfort. I used everything in black, so as not to draw the eye to the A/C.
If you look closely at the photo, you can see the center vent and controls and the passenger vent. There is, of course a black vent on the driver side, also.

 

I mounted a Vintage Air under dash air/heat on the floor behind the seats. Only vents are at the unit aimed forward no ducting. Air comes out at 42° last I checked. End vents adjusted to aim air into/under seats and center between seats, upwards for about shoulder height. Heat works well too, not much windshield fogging, if any appears cracking a window clears it.

 

Great stuff fellas, keep it coming

 

Roll cage and AC? I think we could be friends.

 

Good idea for a thread. I've been gathering ideas on a dash redo (within budget and having no time) on the daily...
the bitch'n dash with plastic vents is not pleasing to the eye... but I got say having nice cold air blowing right at the dangly bits isn't bad at all

 

Space being tight, I had Ace Custom Equipment in NZ cast a little waterfall panel for my dash. The old Haneline did the engine turning that matched the dash panels they did for me. The unit in the passage side is tucked up tight. The drivers side folds up so I don’t have to deal with it getting in and out. Sitting in the car, the side units aren’t so obvious, and the waterfall paint does match the dash.

 

Hard to see, 4 round vents, center ones just outside the 3 guage panel

 

Made mine. The shop doing the under hood work gave me the electronic controller and the vents I wanted. Aluminum plate has a 90* bend on top and a 45* on the bottom for strength. 1/4” foam under the vinyl trim. Made a cardboard template first. Two 1/4” studs hold it up….

 

Super clean install. Looks great and functional

 

I didn’t do it, this is how it came, original mkiv under dash unit in my 62 Merc, I think it works well as it’s of the period, the under dash units don’t look so good in a 32 Ford for example

 

I gave a MarkIV to a buddy 15 or so years ago. Can’t recall the “trade” we did, because I have nothing to show for it, nor have I seen him since.
I hope it corroded and made a mess in his ‘56 Ford PU.
But I’m like that!

 

Maybe you have not seen him since as it dumped its contents over his nice new shoes

 

I did street rod AC for years, here's what hidden vents do in the vegas heat





























get it?

 

Joe, I've done several installs and I've bought cars that tried to blow through the speaker grill. This never works well. That grill was designed to flow music, not air. I've used the under dash pods and they work well but aren't esthetically as nice as I would like.

On my 61 Buick, I decided to do a better job. I installed a VintageAir Super that just barely fit behind my dash. After looking at and pricing the OE Buick AC vents, I decided I could do better for less. I custom made the side vents from 3" exhaust tubing and installed VintageAir louvers.

In the center, I installed VintageAir louvers in the door that used to hide the ash tray. I also installed gauges and a stereo in the center "console", made a panel for the controls and had it all powder coated semi gloss black. Here are a couple of pictures. I will see if I have more and post them later.

 

this is how ac needs to be if you want it to work,.. cold air needs to blow in your face...

 

My $40 swap meet score. Original plastic vents disintegrated so I replaced them.

 

That looks beautiful under there

 

That reworked dash center looks great and is much more practical. I like the side pods, too.

 

The Mark IV really is a classic look and it's outrageously effective.

I have an old Sears Roebuck knee knocker in my 56 Olds Holiday 98 coupe. It's an old R12 system that was installed probably some time in the early 1990s or late 1980s. It has held a charge for decades with lines held together with worm hose clamps, really goes to show how these old systems run on so much lower pressure than the newer R134a.

This sucker will freeze you out of the car on full blast, once it gets to a certain point you have to put it on medium or turn the temp up.

 

Modern aftermarket a/c dash ducts are too ugly and cheap looking. While on the subject, does anyone here have a good way of cleaning between the vent louvers?

 

Modern aftermarket a/c dash ducts are too ugly and cheap looking. While on the subject, does anyone here have a good way of cleaning between the vent louvers?

 

I like the Mark IV look. I had worked for Sears part time while in college. They did all sorts of installs of AC and some had that unit and also the ones that ran across the bottom of the dash. Not every customer was happy and some installs were botch jobs. There was a pile of AC related parts that the parts manager would smash with a BFH and they went into the dumpster. It would be nice to have some of the un-smashed Mark IV units around.

I have an OT '66 Belair and I would love to add AC to it. We were down in Florida a few years ago, hit a few cruise nights and most old cars had AC in them.

 

A small soft bristle brush.

 

Great thread Joe. One of the reasons I have never put AC in an old car is that they don't "fit" the look to me very often. I did recently end up with an aftermarket AC unit out of a 57 Ford wagon that is kind of cool so I plan to keep the main box with the vents in case I ever decide to put AC in something. If I remember right, it is similar to the one @skooch posted above. I just can't deal with the look of newer AC systems in old cars and would rather just sweat.

 

Maybe this stuff?
https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-Uni...ffa-4692-ac86-a958d4f133fc&pd_rd_i=B081T7N948

 

Approaching 90 today here, I was going to drive my roadster but instead I took the little truck with AC. Had the fan on low and froze! This is the first time I added AC to a hot rod, won't be the last.

 

It could happen!
.
.

 

I turn on the heater.