My car did not come with A/C originally and I am in need of advice. Has anyone converted to A/C? I see that they sell complete kits that come with everything you need for around $900. Does anyone have experience with these, ie do they work well and how hard is the conversion?
I installed a Vintage Air system in mine. It still took some minor fabricating. but it works great.
The kits do not include everything, because you are more than likely going to have to upgrade your cooling system (bigger radiator, fan, shroud) and your alternator.
I have a classic auto air setup in my 68 and it is great. The only problem was the customer service there sucks, the people just are not friendly and are(forgive my french) border line ass holes.
I put the Classic auto air in my 65. Had to have them send me a different compressor bracket,also sent me the wrong compressor. They are not the friendlest people but I do like their system. It was pretty easy to install and works good to.
I put the Classic Auto Air "Perfect fit" kit in my '66. I had visited them on a trip to Tampa. They were pretty good folk to me. Changed up a few things at no extra charge, and sent me another glove box insert as the original was cracked.
The kit was an easy install (I used to do this for a living in the early 80's), although I changed up a bunch of stuff to make it cleaner, and added a relay for the compressor coil to keep the amperage through the switches lower.
Thanks guys! I'm probably going to go with the "perfect" kit by next summer. It gets pretty hot and humid here in Texas and with a car thats going to be black and has black interior, Im going to need A/C.
I have been installing the classic auto air perfect fit in my 65 with a 5.0. Be sure to order the double groove water pump pulley. Also find someone who owns a welder. I had to modify the comprtessor bracket. That part of the manufactoring sucked, otherwise it was pretty cool setup.
I am in process of installing the Classic system in my 65 convertible. The instructions are terrible at best. I could not believe they sent me a 14 year old reproduction of a magazine article as instructions. The pictures are so small and bad that I could not tell if I had the right parts. I finally discovered that the condensor brackets were missing. I called them and got new ones at no charge. Generally everything has fit very well. The instructions talk about a sight glass that I didn't get and do not mention a pressure switch that I did get. I guess that's another benefit of 14 year old instructions.
I feel your pain rsev216. I have the same problem with classic auto air. I'm still trying to figure out the best solution to route the belt from the compressor to ?. I have the same problem with the sight glass incident. Not all of the parts 20% does not apply to the instructions they provided.
65nProgress...do your homework....which ever parts or type of ac your going with...once you get it...lay it out and inspect/inventory what you have. I take a picture of mine before and after of both parts and the engine of what I have and where the kit is going.