Wondering if anyone's put a Vintage Air Gen II Compac in their 35 or 36 Ford? Seems like it'll fit, and would have more capacity over the Mini, but it's hard to tell. Anyone have any knowledge fitting either of these units in a 35/36 Ford? Issues you had... tricks you had to figure out... stuff you had to move? Any help, verbal or photo, would be m***ively appreciated!! ~Bob
I don't have the info you need, but if I were in your position, I'd start out with a call to Vintage Air and ask to speak with a Tech.
You know they have a dummy unit you can buy and test fit, I believe if you return it the price is credited to your purchase of the real unit. I'm fitting a compac to my car right now, so if you need some measurement or such, PM me.
I put a Vintage Air Gen II Compac heat/air (no defrost) in my 36 Ford coupe. First off I have a 5 inch set back fire wall. I positioned the unit behind the dash where it fit best and welded 2 studs with 1 inch square mounting plates to the inside of the fire wall. I wanted a functioning cowl vent, so I had to install a power opener. The heat and A/C lines entered the inside of the car the only place they really could, on the far right side of the firewall. I also installed a dash extension, which I set back, to mount 2 A/C vents and the A/C controls and other controls. Good Luck and have fun with your project. Here are some photos which I hope will be of some use to you.
How does the VintageAir products compare with Hurricane Model 2000 units ? http://www.oldairproducts.com/pdf/2011_oldairproducts_catalog.pdf Based on the measurements in the catalog they seem to be a good fit in a 36. The Pictures are extremely helpful!
I've wondered that as well. It's especially tempting to me since Old Air Products is only about a 1/2 hour's drive from my house... makes getting parts, help and ***istance super easy. The Hurricane seems like it would still be a bit taller when hoses are installed despite the outlet direction difference, which is a bit concerning, but the proportions are certainly intriguing otherwise. Hard to picture it performing at good as a VA Compac unit given its size... but who knows? Seems like the VA system has better heater outs as well... which is important to me here in TX since the weather is pretty much drive-able year round here. I've had great success with Vintage Air as a company, doing two other complete A/C systems in the past few years that were mostly VA components (a '68 Camaro and a '67 Austin Healey). I'm open to trying something different if it performs as good or better, but I've never definitively seen data either way (straight out heat/cool performance I mean, not features, size or cost). Every time I look into this and try to find out "which is better", I end up finding very little compelling data to sway me one way or another... so I just fall back to Vintage Air because of great past experience. ~Bob
If I was only a 30 min drive I would check them out and inspect the product and facility in person. It seems like they covered all the bases from looking at the catalog. The unit appears to take less space overall and pretty easy to mount but I haven't done an in depth comparison either. What unit did you put in a 67 Healey? Can't imagine that from my AH 100 days.
I installed one in a customers '34, Do-able yes, Very Tight to say the least, Get it and Keep it tucked as tightly forward toward the firewall as humanly possible to avoid potential back of dash/knob/switch/control/interference problems. Sorry no pics, too many years ago and was before this 'filmless' society we live in.
I put a Gen II Compac in it. There was zero room to spare, but it did fit OK. The dash on a 3000 is way different than what was on the AH 100... I'll bet I wouldn't have been able to do what I did on an earlier Healey. That unit impressed the heck out of me though... working beautifully in less than desirable conditions (small condenser, poor air flow), and still keeping the car "comfortable" in 100 degree Texas temps with a paper thin convertible top. I'll bet it would work fantastic in my '35 Coupe. ~Bob
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