While building the new engine for my car (see 'Project Rumbler 360 Begins'), my wife said to me, and I quote, "Well... if you're going to spend all this money on the car, you might as well put air conditioning in it." To which I replied, "Sure, if you're happy for me to spend $2500 and a year of my life, then I'm happy to do it." I'm a bit fussy though, so I didn't want some kind of hokey under dash unit or vents tacked on under the dash. If I was going to do it, it had to look right. So, after a quick Google search, I found a couple of pics of what the OEM air con outlets looked like. I thought to myself, "Self, I could live with that." Of course, there was no hope of ever finding one of those locally as the Americans never came with a/c in Australia. We got a heater/demister, but that was it. Besides, the quarter windows and footwell vents worked really well and it wasn't too unbearable in my car with the white roof and light coloured interior. But, the wife insisted, so I got at it. Thanks to the wonders of the World Wide Web and tomslik, I managed to score a vent system. I didn't need the rest of the a/c stuff as I was planning on using Vintage Air. So, this is what arrived in the mail. Not real pretty, but the price was right and I knew it would clean up alright. The wife was away, so this is where you clean car parts, right? Got myself a Gen II Mini unit, admittedly, it's probably not big enough in terms of cooling capacity, but it was pretty much as big as I could fit under my dash. Really not a big fan of some of the Vintage Air control panels, but this 4-knob Streamline unit looked just perfect for the job. With a bit of massaging, it would fit right where the OEM controls went. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together.
Perfect fit. I then had to work out where and how to mount the a/c unit. It fit between the glove box and steering column with about 3mm (1/8in) spare on each side and enough room across the top to fit the vent tubes and wiring etc. My brother helped me designn and make a bracket that mounts to the a/c unit and then bolts to the firewall with four studs. The holes on the RHS are slotted so that it slips in from the left and then hooks over the LHS bolts. The stuff Vintage Air supplies is junk, so I was much happier with this solution. Test fitted the vents to see how much room there would be to run the tubing. It was close, but I figured it should be OK. Here's a better look at the bracket. Should have made it out of some heavier gauge material, but that was all we had laying around. Hasn't fallen off yet! As you can see, it only bolts in two places, top right on a stud (a little hard to make out) and then a bolt goes through on the lower left. We put the tray on the bottom to give it a bit more support. Yeah, it's billet, but it's a pretty tidy solution to the heater and a/c hose bulkhead. Now the fun part, making up a bracket for the compressor. It was much easier to work and measure with the motor out of the car, but the problem you have is checking whether things would clear. This design would have smacked into the inner fender (and it would have been shit in the rain). So we shortened it and switched to marine ply, much more robust. I ended up designing my own bracket in Solidworks and after about three iterations, got it where I wanted it. Sent it off to the laser cutters and then had a friend TIG weld it together for me. Thanks Ferret Boilermaking.
In the meantime, some drag racing had to be done. I was out of town, so I leant my car to a friend (a 22 year old!) and he went Nostalgia Drag Racing. He'd never had so much fun in his life and the car had never gone quicker. Ran a 13.30 @ 106mph... but I digress. Spent a bunch of money on some Speedflow fittings for the heater hoses. Had to relocate the battery to the boot, so a bit of magic from another friend, blacky, sorted that out. Mounted up the bracket to test that everything lined up. Got the biggest a/c condenser I could fit (big thanks to Aussie Desert Cooler for that) and also decided to mount the trans cooler where it would actually get some airflow. A minor electrical fault was the encouragement I needed to sort out the wiring and get the a/c fitted up properly. A bit of satin black paint on the vents had them looking as good as new. I figured that if I painted them body colour it would look a bit much. I think it was the right choice. Had to get all serious with the electrickery and put relays in for everything. And after about six weeks of work, the whole front half of the car was rewired and everything was in place and ready for the plumbing to go in. It's a pretty full car when we go for a cruise at the moment! Our six month old twin girls and 4yo daughter sit in the back, while our 6yo son sits in the front. God bless bench seats. So, after much stuffing around, I was finally ready to get the a/c man to come in. Big thanks to David Sear from Mobile Airconditioning for doing a super neat job on the lines, and a big thanks to Frank for putting me on to him. I highly recommend David if anyone is in need of a good a/c guy. And here she is, all buttoned up and ready to go. I mounted the drier to the shock tower using holes that were already there and it worked out really well for running the lines as well as the wires for the binary switch, which will cut the system if the pressure gets too high or low in the compressor. I just hit the fittings with some pressure pack gloss black after they were crimped. I'm very pleased with the end result as I've never been a fan of how a/c installations looked in cars I'd seen before. Lines running everywhere and a big ugly compressor staring you in the face. I think all things considered, it's about as neat as I could make it and although it doesn't quite have the climate control capacity of your average late-model junk, it sure takes the edge off, and the demister works an absolute treat.
Nice job.Very clean install. The only problem I see is the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car!
Boris. the coolest Ramblur in town. Means you have the only Rambler in town!! Jim aka 48HEMI I too have joined the Rambler ranks got the father in laws 1965 660 Classic with 71000 original miles on it
Actually the steering wheel is on the "right" side of the car The install looks great Brootal. Proof that they can be done cleanly and stay mostly hidden.
Nice design work on the compressor bracket. And that "boilermaker" certainly did turn out a beautiful part. I guess you'll have a heater made up by a refrigeration specialist next
I hope mine comes out as good looking as yours, but I doubt it. Oh well, guess I'll keep my hood closed.
Nice car great pics .... so whats a "de-mister" and why is America exporting all our "vintage" stuff?? LOL (you dont need to answer that!)
Hmmm... got a couple of things in mind. The trim needs a little tidying up, I need a bigger exhaust so it'll rev over 5 grand, thinking about a wheel change... But... as Jimbob has already suggested, I really need to get started on a hot rod roadster project.
Doesn't really get cold enough here for frost, the windows only fog up a little. So it's demister and not defroster. These cars were CKD and assembled here in Australia, so it wasn't vintage when it came here.
Sure Frankie. If you're willing to fly over the whole family for a week or two, and put us up, I'm sure we can work something out.
Cheers, mate. I try to stay on top of it. Just takes a quick wipe over usually. The motor is getting a little bit greasy after 12 months or so of solid driving, so I really need to get onto that. Still presents pretty well though.
Very nice job, real clean. Being from Wisconsin and about 45 miles from Kenosha I'll also say thanks for keeping some old Wisconsin tin alive.
Only one thing you didn't show -- how you matched the outlets of the VA unit to the Rambler vents. I'm assuming you just ran three lengths of hose so they say in the back of the Rambler vents, maybe attached them somehow? I know the Rambler vents are about 3.5" in diameter and the VA hoses are only 2". This came along at a great time for me! I'm planning on using a VA Gen II Super Cooler (has four outlets instead of three like yours) in my 63 Classic wagon. I'd really like a Gen IV, but the $700 price tag (compared to $500 for the Gen II SC) for just the inside unit is a bit steep. The original AC system works fine, but the controls for the old system is a bit screwy compared to new ones, or rather the way it operates is. There is a large roughly 4"x8" opening on the passenger side that serves as an air intake for the AC (which recirculates air) and an outlet for the heat (which always heats fresh air) and acts as a fresh air vent when heat isn't on. So the passenger gets 75% of the heat while driver gets 25%. Wife gets hot, my feet are cold! Have to turn the heat/def/air lever to OFF until the car warms up or she gets cold feet for 3-5 minutes. At least I can leave it on when in the car alone -- doesn't bring in that much fresh air when it's not directly on your feet! The VA inside unit will eliminate that. The only other thing is traveling on the interstate. If going east to west the sun is on one side. If on the driver's side my left arm still gets a bit warm through the glass. All the cool air is sent to the middle of the car (you'll have that problem). That's really not that bad, but with the four outlets I'm thinking about putting a vent on each side of the car and running the two center outlets up to the three factory vents. I won't have the luck you did with the controls -- they are more integrated into the dash on the Classic/Ambo. Will probably use a combination of controls and cable adapters to make it look and work similar to the originals. The factory vents are identical to yours, except they are mounted in the top portion of the dash rather than under it as in the American. This isn't my car (another 63 Classic), but you can see the vent location:
As usual Frank, you're way too observant. Yep, you're right, I have run the hoses straight into the vents (for now) but I do have a much more elegant solution, it just needs a bit of fine tuning. My dad had a guy fabricate a plenum of sorts that fits over the back of the vent unit, which is a large rectagular opening. The inlet side has three oval shaped tubes and I'll attach the hoses to that. I had thought about creating a plug and vacuum forming the plenum, but my dad knows better of course and his friend made it from PVC. It's a little bit industrial, but painted satin black it won't be noticable. I've also got some 180 degree turn downs for the air outlets, which will mean I will only need to run a very short bit of hose. Running through a plenum means if I shut off one vent, it should send more air to the others. Handy if you're in the car on your own. You're right, the lack of an outboard vent is a bit of a problem, but I've found cracking the quarter window, and even opening up the footwell air vent gets the air circulating nicely.
The Jalopy Journal
