Nice time to be thinking of a/c in winter before the holidays and all, but I want to plan updates for next year. High on my list now is a/c. Had it with hot, black vinyl in August!! Anyway, have seen a couple of postings here and there on aftermarket a/c units. Before I plunk down some $$$$, I would appreciate hearing from those who have gone before, blazed the trail so to speak. One estute member noted that each vendor has its pluses and minuses -- I would like to know what those are. How does the unit perform? How did the install go? How was vendor support? Did the kit fit as advertised, or did you have to do some clever retrofitting? Serpentine or belts? Any custom hose work required beyond what was supplied to make it work? What you just like and don't like. Anything and everything would be appreciated as I'm on a data mining mission at the moment. I'm specifically interested in a 67 in-dash unit (have full center console) -- a full kit for a 302. I've heard some good stories on Vintage Air and Classic Auto Air units, but I would like more details on your install experience. TIA -- 67GTFB (PS - Yeah, I already did a search or two before starting yet another thread!)
Your experience with aftermarket a/c units ....
- Thread starter 67GTFB
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I bough the classic auto air in dash kit for my '67 coupe without a console. It installed without any problems and had good instructions (which is a big plus). It works good, nice cold air in the summer and good heat in the winter. It doesn't cool the car completely down in Texas heat but I suspect that its because I did a bad job on insulating the car. I blew a few fuses while running on full a/c but once I got the right one everything has been good since then. The sanden compressor put a load on my 289 and reduces the rpm somewhat but I compensate for that in the summer by idling up the motor.
I live in good old muggy louisiana (where I actually ran my A/C yesterday!) anyway I have the same setup, 67 with factory console and it had factory a/c but it was total junk so I replaced it with the Vintage Air Gen IV unit. LOVE it....it's a very nice compact unit, I installed it myself on a weekend. My favorite feature of this is the cable-less setup, it adapts your original heater/ ac controls to work the new unit. I have only 2 complaints about the kit. 1 is the duct routing...maybe I didn't do it right, but there are a lot of air ducts that go under the dash and I am going to have to come up with a solution to keep my windshield wipers from rubbing the hoses in one spot. Also the belt tensioner, its a dog-leg tensioner and it works, but it don't adjust much, so you might be best off when it comes time to buy a belt to just drive up to auto zone and start trying out belts until you get the right fit. I called vintage air and they said they couldn't request a belt size because of all the different pulley diameters, anyway after about 3 trips to AZ i finally got a belt that fit. But its quiet, it works great, it blows cold (and hard!) It installed easily, looks nice. I'm very satisfied with the unit. I also was able to wire an electric fan into the system to kick in when the compressor kicks on, so if im sitting in traffic I will have proper airflow accross the condenser...works great.
