Well, after almost 4 years, a smoothed firewall and no heat or air, I finally ordered the Vintage Air heat and air kit for my Olds. It's been a long time coming, but I'm sure it was worth the wait. As usual, $ became the problem. Now I have until spring to figure it out. It will be great to cruise in the hot days like this summer with still the windows down but cool air blowing like I do in my truck, and not having to have sweatshirts on in the cool days of spring or fall. Can't wait!

 

sounds great. Post your progress on the installation. This is one of the things i am looking forward to on my next build. the car i am doing is an A/C car.

 

I'll do that. Probably after the first of the year since there will be no rush in the winter. My car was originally an A/C car but everything was gutted pryor to me owning it. I may have to remove the plate that I welded in to smooth the firewall as the new kits replacement panel comes with all the mounting holes and everything pre drilled in it. We'll see on that one. I also need to re locate my alternator to the drivers side (I have the brackets.) They give you your choice on which side to run the compressor on but if it is on the drivers side, the hoses run over the engine and that doesn't look good. I'll keep you posted.

 

Yes, please post pictures of the install. I'm going to do the same thing to my 71 as soon as I get the cash. Iim in the same situation, factory A/C but they gutted out all the parts. I also would like to do a smooth firewall as well. Can you post some pics of that? Thanks Dave

 

Still happy with VA in my car but have noticed the heat is not as strong as factory, but minor issue compared with the great AC performance in the Texas heat. I agree the install for a factory AC car is cleaner but does require moving the alternator and changing the pulley for a non-AC car. You should be able to keep your smooth firewall since the hoses (heat & freon) route behind the inner fender and through the vent into the passenger compartment. Here is the firewall with their plate for reference. Keep us posted....

 

Very timely post, I am looking at aftermarket A/C's right now for my '68. Where did you order (distributor, ebay, or direct)? Currently my dash is out of the car so even though I didn't initially plan on doing the A/C for a few years it seems like now is the time to do it.

 

I ordered direct as I could customize the order to my car. It's the same price. $1,335.00 plus shipping.

 

My firewall is not completly smooth. Just the area where I welded in new metal to cover that big hole that the A/C makes. Looks clean. With the new unit, everything runs under the fender out of the original fan hole under the cowl.

 

Just an fyi, You might check to see if you have a local distributor to buy through. VA was great to work with but their shipping costs were high on little stuff. No shipping charges when ordered through the local shop.

 

I installed a VA system in a 63 Riviera years ago and bought the system from a local hot rod shop that also did custom installations. I did the conversion myself on a factory air car but they swapped out fittings for me, crimped the fittings to the hoses, and charged the system when I was done. I was using a universal kit but it sounds like yours would be set up for your car so hopefully you won't have the fitting and crimping needs. I remember that charging the system was a little tricky and not like doing a stock system so I was glad to have them do it as they had specific experience. after it was buttoned up I used that system for 3 years in Texas summers, very nice setup. Good luck!

 

There are no dealers close to me. However, they only charged me $113.00 from Texas to Michigan. I thought that was a fair price? Maybe not.

 

$1190.00 plus $60 shipping on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-AIR-...sories&vxp=mtr

 

Ouch! I guess the only difference is I combined a non A/C under the dash setup with the vented kick panel (non A/C) and a under the hood A/C setup with the compressor on the passenger side. I don't have the lap vents below the dash and don't care for them blowing down there anyways.