I live in Ca, It's gonna be 85 degrees this weekend, we are still in March. I need air conditioning for the summer or my kids might melt. My car didn't come with a/c though. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best place to get one installed. Maybe I can buy the unit online and have a local shop install it? Any Ideas welcome.

 

Classic auto air, Vintage air, are 2 that come to mind.

 

X2 - not worth the effort or cost to put in an original - too much needs to be done, get one of the units as mentioned that mount under the dash and will work just fine.

 

"The best" depends on what you want. The easiest and least expensive way to get A/C is to get an add-on under dash unit like the old Mark IV system. This is a large, clunky box that goes under the dash. Vintage Air now sells a repro version with late model compressors because it's "period correct" for 1960s cars (and still ugly). This system is completely separate from your current heater.

The "best" system from a looks standpoint is an aftermarket integrated system that goes under the dash and replaces the existing heater box. This typically requires the heater control plate in the dash to be replaced with a factory A/C control head and the dash pad replaced with an A/C version. This is the most expensive but best looking option.

Finally, you can install a factory A/C system, which also requires substantial disassembly of the car.

Your call.

 

Unless you have the connections or the knowledge to do it yourself, a factory system that most likely needs to be gone through, could get expensive real quick. You could go with vintage air or classic auto air. Most expensive but most model specific. Old air products is less expensive and nostalgic air is even less. These are not as specific but basically the same thing in the end. I use to work for Classic Auto Air and they have a pretty good product. They were always trying to stay right on par with vintage.

 

After you make your AC selection, I would suggest you add a few layers of insulation under your carpet.
The firewall does get quite toasty, even with a working AC System.
There are many Insulation solutions available.
I applied 1 layer of self sticking Mega-Mat and 2 layers of non sticking insulation called EZ-cool.
I choose this combination because it was more than 50% cheaper than using DynaMat solution.

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