Its gettin' hot in here, who will admit to puttin in A/C?

AC was worth the trouble--a real marriage saver !
it's the difference between making road trips in the wife's focus
or my blue bomber !

 

Vintage Air for me. Used Roger Lewis Makeover's for mine. Best money spent in Houston where it's 95 and 100% humidity.

 

I've got front and rear AC in the '50Burb, and I'd be more than happy to do a tech post, but honestly - I don't know how I'd do that. Every install is different, but the basic rules always apply.
Use the biggest condenser possible, always ensure enough air gets across the condenser at all times.
Base guidelines for 134a is around 35 psi low side, 120 psi above ambient air temp on high side (220 psi at 100 degrees).
Expansion valves are more accurate and adjustable, but orifice tubes are easier and get you close enough.
Condensers flow from bottom to top (as do ****** coolers).
Less than running voltage at the clutch will induce slipping.
Don't forget the clamping diode if you're wiring it yourself.
Never use max-air (recirculate) until the interior of the car is cooler than outside air.

When I converted my wife's 74 Nova to 134a, I was getting 34 degrees at the vent, on max air (recirculate).

 

Done a lot of vintage air in the shop. Most cars are lizard skinned and the weather strip seals great. If properly installed they will work fantastic. Having no air leaks (especially from the engine co.) and good insulation is the difference between having cold air pee on you or having a a/c system that will run you out of your car. Temp at the duct will vary by the car for some reason. Did a 57 Pontiac and she would blow 34 on a 95 degree day. Did a 39 Merc and the best it would get was 38. Lots of others in that range.

One thing I would recomend, if you install a/c and use the electronic heater hose shut off valve make sure it is not leaking past. It will kill the effectivness of your system to have a trickle of hot antifreeze running through it. As a matter of fact, I usually put a manual valve in the heater hose where you have to get out and open the hood to turn it on and off. Just seem to have had a lot of trouble with these.

 

How well do those old school "knee knocker" units work? I guess they wouldn't have the defrost and heat though. Atleast they look cool and not the plastic rectangular vents that come with the kits. I did a couple quick searches on jeep stuff and no luck, hopefully hotrodjohnny can give us the scoop.

 

I've had a/c in my 37 ford for about 25 years now--it's an old R 12 unit--works damn good--built it out of various componants--the best trick I did was mount the condenser under the right fender with duel fans--no condenser in front of the radiator= engine never heats up in the summer--vent temp is between 40-50 all the time.
Got a Vintage Air unit for my 56 chevy--about to get started on it soon.

 

i have heard that the rear ac/heaters from mini vans work good! my daily is a 98' grand cherokee and the ac works great! one thing when piecing a system together stay away from open ones, that causes the dryers to go to ****. if you seal up and insulate the p***enger area the unit will not overwork the compressor and blow shaft seals from the heat.

 

just a quickie the 17" unit I got from Shane at Luckys has heat. The heater core is built into the underdash unit. I dont plan on fooling with heat till I really need to. The condenser was bigger than I expected, and hopefully with that 18" elec fan I got off a '95 tbird it'll keep everything cool. I spent a lot of time patching holes and putting on homemade lizardskin and layers of other insulation, so hopefully that will help. I'm not finished, but that's knocked temps down 20-30 degrees minimum (it was hot!!!) the firewall was one big heatsink. Im mounting my underdash in the middle, so it shouldn't interfere with legroom. Ought to be easier to reach the knobs, too.

 

ill admit to wanting to. when i do itll all be hidden like everything else though. great thing about deliverys is you can hide anything you want under they rear floorboards. i wanna get an original broken radio and rig the compressor switch and blower control switch to the og knobs.ill build the evaporator/blower unit out of suburban parts and hide it under the rear floorboards,and run the ducts and hoses under the car on the inside of the frame and MAYBE try to diguise the compressor to look like an old powersteerin pump or something. the condensor and clutch will be a dead giveaway though. cant do **** without dough though

 

I have it in my wife's 32 3W coupe. Vintage Air Generation II Mini. Almost not visible. I have not yet used it ... but a good friend has the same exact unit in his 32 3W ... and his will freeze you out. I have bought the Lizard Skin for the car and have a DynaMat kit also. The 3W doors are sprayed inside with the Lizard Skin and DynaMat added also. I had the entire exhaust system Jet-Hot coated to help reduce the exhaust heat and I have a 25 vent hood to help keep the underhood ambient temperatures down ( which has to help the heat on the firewall ). Bought new gl*** with some tint ... to help also.

Plan on being cool inside with the A/C turned on

 

The wiffy only made two requests for her plymouth and I quote "I don't care what you build me but it better have a/c and power steering."

 

Hotrod do you have any pics of this setup? What unit did you use?

Clyde

 

I have asthma so AC is a must.
I am putting the Mark IV copy in both the 54F100 and the Falcon.
The AC compressor bracket for 300I - 6 in the 54 was a challenge to build and a work of art , too bad it is in the bottom of the engine bay where noone will ever see it.

jim h

 

You'll hear very little bad press about vintage air, but I guess I got that 'one bad apple' The case on my unit cracked, which caused the selector door to jam up and the blower motor to disinegrate on the way to Billetproof Fl. back in February (it was in the 30's when we left and I was running the defrost). It had been in the car less than 6 months.

They did stand behind it, although I had to pull the whole deal out and ship it back to them -on my dime - so they could 'refurbish' it then send it back. I also had to replace the heat control switch (it's really just a potentiometer), which the Vintage Air rep did admit was 'delicate'.

 

I bought a Southern Air set-up for my 48 Poncho. Its heat/air and defrost. Ain't nothing like August in West Tennessee that will make you appreciate cool air.

48 Poncho

 

its not even hot yet guys, it only hit 121 here yesterday ahah, ******* desert. ac is a wonderful thing.

 

I just took a few photos,,,,

The gas tank in the 32 pickup was originaly under the seat and it has been removed and we built a seat riser and it was just deep enough for the heat/air unit,,,,

I will be the first to admit,,there was a lotta head scratchin' to figure all the hoses and ways to keep them safe from heat and sharp edges,,,,the all run under the truck along the inside frame rail on the p***anger side.

This is the best photo I could take with the seat in place,,,,there are 4 vents in the front panel of the riser,,,and the fan and thermostat controls in the center,,,,the small knob under the drivers side of the seat is to open and close the valve for the heater.

As an added bonus,,,you are privey to the infamous "FRUIT SALAD" seatcover,,,



With the seat removed you can see all the heat and air components along with the wiring,,,,,look at the back of the riser and you will see a hole to the right,,,there is also a hole on the left,,,,these are for the air return.






I got the complete heat and air unit from Shane at Southern Rods,,,He is a Hamber,,,

When I have vthe interior done I will have the air returns plumbed up behind the seat and use a small speaker grill to kinda hid them,,,HRP

 

Danny,

Would my Fordor benefit from a front & rear unit? I could hide the rear under the seat like yours. Would a Walker radiator with condenser handle two units?

JH

 

Hey Primer,That seatcover is the SHIZZZZ>>>>.

 

Jim,,,I used the walker radiator with the condenser,,,as far as two units ,,,i don't have a clue,,,,,

I would think just using a bigger unit,,than the one I used. HRP

 

Would probably save a lot of headache wouldn't it?

Thanks, Jim

 

Thanks,,I think,,,my mom bought that material in 1964 to make curtains in a game room,,,

My dad saw it and said,,,"we ain't putting that ugly **** in my house",,,

It Got stuck in a bag and forgotten,,,,when they both p***ed away I found it in the storage room.

It layed around for several years and I needed something for a temporary seat,,,it works for now,,, HRP

 

Well now that I'm driving my 53 daily, I need A/C... by the time I get my kid delivered to camp I can't get a brush to go through the poor girl's hair.

I have looked at a few "kits" but no one but Old Air shows bracketry for a 53 Chevy car. Will the 55 brackets work with modifications?

 

Yep i am guilty of feeling comfortable while driving my custom!

 

Vintage Air is going in my Nomad no question about it. If you knew how friggin hot it got here you wouldn't even have to ask the question

 

so you guys like a/c.
i've never installed a/c to any of my old cars, but i have removed the a/c system from a hand full of older cars i've owned.
it seems to me if ya remove that extra pully it frees up a couple ponies.
and if you remove the compressor and condenser you can lose easily 8lbs.
less weight=faster(less to power).

a/c is over rated. if ya want cooler air just drive faster.

 

We don't need no stinking A/C. Seriously though, I had a Vintage Air/heat/defroster in my Buick and I hardly ever used it. Didn't put it in the shoebox and I don't miss it one bit.

 

I have vintage air in my 68 Chevy hauler and it will make your ******s hard with little horsepower loss.

 

that's a luxury i will confess to planning on....

I'm looking forward to getting the 440 done and in my truck, maybe next year install a/c.

one of the tech's at work has a mobile compnay for a/c "on the side"...

he's offered to help out.

I thought about scavenging a system, but wreckers here are few and far between for decent stuff with decent prices.

I will seal up the cab well in preperation though.......i'm a sweathog!

Derek

 

I have Vintage Air in my 32 sedan. Had Vintage in my 56 pick-up. Both would and will freeze you out. What I really love though is the heater. It gets hot on Oklahoma but sure is fun driving in fall and winter with that heater keeping your body warm. One reason I left Iowa was to get away from frozen pipes and batterys. I can always cool down but, cold goes clear to the bone.
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Like I told the kid, "Your music not too loud, it just ****s!"