You and your fancy store bought ac

Has anyone ever made their own air conditioning. I have been to the junk yard several times over the last few weeks to look inside different dashes. I think i am going to give it a shot. If anyone has any advice other than dont try it. I would love to hear it.

Shawn young
memphis tn.

 

Look at a rear Air unit out of a conversion van.

 

a lot of late model mini vans have it too

 

Sure I made my own! It works very well, you just have to recharge the coolant (add ice) at every gas stop! Scoop out the vent window cools outside air, blower not needed at above 30 miles an hour, scoop inside you are on recirculate using the two speed blower. Sorry, it's not exactly what you were looking for.

 

Man, that's a well thought out system...and tucks in there neatly as well! Lots of passenger leg room as long as they decide to sit in the back seat. You might wanna patent that setup before Vintage Air snaps up the idea!

Ok...sorry...couldn't resist being a smart ass. It's a character flaw!

 

That's Larry the Cable Guys' personal limo,He's gonna be pissed you done went an stole it!

 

Actually, I really have!
I wanted to put AC in my 55 Olds, and couldn't afford the typical street rod unit...and this was about 30 years ago, so I thought one made for a 32 ford wouldn't cool a 55 Olds.
So I took a regular evaporator, off a parts car, and fitted it into the fresh air ducting portion of the Olds firewall. if you've never seen one, it is on the drivers side, and looks similar to the heater box on the pass side. I made the box deeper to fit the AC unit, added a blower motor and ducting, from another 55 Olds, so it would match the heater side, and made a fiberglass plenum, with multiple duct outlets for the inside. used 'street rod' underdash outlets, a Chrylser Tacumseh compressor (again, had it available, and it was easier to make brackets) junkyard condensor, and a GM accumulator/drier. Hardest part was gettting fittings and hoses to make it all work..the GM accumulator takes a HUGE fitting. Probably should have went with a variable orafice type system insteadd of the GM type with Accumulator.
Worked well, and it looked VERY cool, like a factory system, since I used real 55 parts under the hood.
Oh, yeah...and had to have a machine shop cut up a crank pulley and add it to my factory crank damper/pulley for the extra belt, and put in an idler, since I had to use a pretty long belt for it to work, and it tended to squeal without one.

 

I think if you took your time and looked over mutiple vehicles until you found one you could work with all the components out of, and just take the entire system from that vehicle and adapt it to your car, it should be a fairly easy mod. (given you have the tools and know how to set up the system)
Mixing and trying to match this with thaat could prove to be a big PITA..
those rear air units in Mini vans like enjenjoe mentioned, or even the ones you find in some SUV's may be a real easy and compact set up.
Give it a go and let us know how you do

 

Find one from a late model Scout, '72-80, all self contained under the dash with vents. Easy to install, have done several.

 

I think a lot of us have cobbled up a air conditioner system from junk yard parts.

I put one in my '40 Ford sedan probably 30 years ago using a add on under dash unit from a late 60's Ford,,the housing had the switches built in.

The evaporator,condenser and dryer were from a different cars.
The hoses were made at NAPA.

Latter on I decided that I wanted in dash are and turned the ash trays in to air ducts and bought a system from one of the major players at that time,,looked good but didn't work as well as my junk yard system.HRP

 

A plastic box an evaperator unit and a blower. Hook freon lines from a condensor byway of a compressor. A switch that lets the thing cycle by temp would be nice. I have an old unit made by ACS in Arlington, Tx in my 5W I can freeze myself on the hottest days. The unit was Tom's display when he shut down. I worked some for him assembling the units in the early 80's. You had a cycleing switch that you contoled. His unit was ac only and a sperate heat unit. Knock on wood it has been trouble free since 95.

 

My wife walked up and was looking at your pics, and ask what the hell is that mess, I told her that was the new ac unit I was going to build for her truck, She says I don't F***ing think so. LMAO that is cool I like your ac.

 

WOW, David Walter for President. This guy can make it happen!!!!

 

Melted ice just runs through the floorboard. How cool is that?

 

There are a lot of late model cars with self-contained HVAC modules. The one I'm using is from a first gen N-body car (1985-1991 Grand Am, Cutlass Calais, etc). The heater core, A/C evaporator, and flapper doors are all contained in a single unit that mounts under the dash. In this case, the blower motor is on the engine side of the firewall, but it would not be hard to rig a motor under the dash. The other unit to consider is from the 1988-1991 Honda Civics. It is completely self-contained under the dash, just like the aftermarket units.

 

Before there was Vintage Air, Airtique, Classic Air, etc. there was Junk Yard Air. Thousands of hot rods and later cars were air-conditioned by mixed parts from cars and trucks, foreign and domestic. Hoses are easily made at NAPA and other auto parts stores often reusing the fittings from the hoses you got from the "yard" on various components!

 

I was going to suggest the Civics, but Joe padavano beat me to it. A neighborhood kid and all his friends build Civics, and I've done a bunch of paint work for them. They strip these units out all the time to lighten the cars. I've been planning on getting a couple of the units in case I decide to run AC. They're really small and compact, perfect for under dash in 30's hot rods!

 

Danger Will Robinson!!

 

There were times in the past when I would have run that setup in the 48 and been thankful for it. Hell, and old beer cooler with a duct in and duct out would work better than nothing.


On the other side of the coin, I think I'll go check out my favorite emporium of junk vehicles this afternoon for one of those units out of a Honda Civic. They seem to kill those cars like flies in this area.

 

I can see pulling a whole setup for a car with a similar engine so some of the front engine brackets match, then finding a inside setup that looks the part, like the early Ford/chevy underdash AC setups. I would recommend when pulling those get all the parts if they're available at the sine, pull the whole system and wiring.


making your own sounds cool, but this is crazy! just had to say it. you might as well install a real square swamp cool at this point. And I couldn't help but add the drivers (muppets) behind this one.

 

If you are running sbc and need brackets for the compressor and pulleys I am told s10 4.6 brackets are excellent candidates.

 

Since I am light on funds I am doing a piece together A/C for my '54 Ford,I have a '65 Mustang under dash unit a compressor and condenser from a '67 Mustang and a bracket and idler from a '69 Mustang since I have a 302 in my '54.Just ran into one obstacle,I will need rotate the dizzy because the vacuum canister contacts the compressor there are some smokin' deals on evilbay for new Motorcraft hoses so need to fab and measure to check for length.Have any of you used Freeze 12 ? I was wondering if that would be a better option with what I am working with than converting to 134a.

 

I am going to put that set-up in my Ford Falcon until I find 63 1/2 factory air conditioning idler pulley for the 260 engine. I may have the set-up for awhile! Part # C0AE-8A617-A

If you know of ANYBODY that has it for sale...please let me know! matrezseller@yahoo

 

Hey Newby Matrezseller...Go back and Introduce yourself...per HAMB protocol...
then look at the date of this thread you are responding to...DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

matrezseller thanks pulling up the old thread.I'd never seen it so I got some good info from it.Welcome to the site.

 

Find a Scout II, 73-80 with factory A/C, the whole unit drops right out of the dash.
Unit is easy to install in about anything, but are getting hard to find. Be aware you
will need an up to date tetanus shot to work on most old Scouts.

 

U could keep your beer cold in that "kustom" set-up there

 

Old thread or not, this is as good a place to ask as any..... Has anyone used one of the rear air units and actually mounted it behind the seat, say in a coupe and plumbed the cold air up to the dash? I wonder if it can be done and keep the air cold enough to work. I hate the idea of an AC unit under the dash. Too much shit under there and I would have to lose my cowl vent. I know....have your cake and eat it too.

 

I have done this twice, both times trying to fit A/C out of sight in a way too small area. Both systems worked, but not great. The biggest problem is stuffing in a fan that is compact but blows enough air to really cool. Mismatched components can give you fits too - trying to balance the pressures. With a big compressor and small fan, the compressor cycles amost constantly. Evaporator icing is a problem too, especially if your homemade housing doesn't get air to the whole surface of the evaporator. And don't forget to add a drain!

Since then I have installed two aftermarket units. The Vintage air in my 36 Nash works great. The Southern Air unit in my Lincoln is not a whole lot better than the old homemade units.

 

Hey fish , your not gonna get hot in that merc driving from 1 gas station to the next with that 460 super cobra jet engine ...