Hot Rods Under dash air conditioner

For under dash I switched to Old Air, was/am happy. A friend was just going to put a vintage air in his 55 chevy but felt it protruded to far out, switched to old air it's a couple inches less.

 

So is swearing and sweating.

 

I headed out last weekend in my truck, 98 degrees out. I got half way to where I was going and turned back. 75 miles of sun beating down on me and no a/c was enough. Windshield open, vent open, windows down still didn't help, and I work in a open door bus garage. Coming back home was better, the sun was at my back. Tinted windows and A/C are coming!

Joe

 

Next time you pick up some Craftsman tools, see if there are any of these left at your local Sears

63wagon19 by 1pickup posted Jun 28, 2016 at 3:28 PM

 

Well said Joe, I'm in the process of installing a underdash ac unit also.

 

Whatever you do, stay away from Old Air Products in Fort Worth or you'll be sorrrry!

 

Okay, not to ruin a thread opening up a rant but was the issue with the product itself?

 

Anyone have experience with mating an old original head unit to modern plumbing/compressor kit?

 

Found a Sears under dash system in a 62 Olds in a junkyard and installed it in my 53 Olds and it worked great and now wish I kept it before I sold the 53.

 

Maybe in PA but not in Phoenix,a local TV station measured the temperature in a black car left outside for 30 minutes when it was 115 outside, in the car was 174 could you handle that ? Another reason the majority of cars and trucks are white around here and have A/C. http://archive.azcentral.com/commun...phoenix-fire-department-cars-summer-tips.html

 

I installed a Vintage Air Mark 4 in my '53 COE. Not wanting to give up the cowl vent, I modified the vent handle to be offset to the left side. Since the mounting of the unit required to be a couple of inches lower, to clear the linkage, I fabbed this storage tray to take up the space.

 

I didn't have a/c in my old 3 window coupe but used those towels that cool when soaked in water to help combat the heat along with lots of water on road trips.

 

Oh Yeah! To keep this as short as possible, I have been working on cars for 48 years and driving old cars the whole time My newest car is 50 years old. I have many ol cars and I do all the work I am not a novice.
Old Airs unit for my 1957 Chevy was the most difficult thing I ever worked on. It would not go up under the dash. I talked to the owner and asked if he had ever mounted one of these in a 57 His answer was NO. I also had to re-engineer the mounts. They said, "Be careful that the mounting bolts dont puncture the coils."!! So why dont they make a proper mount? I made studs the correct length to fit. The firewall clips are pure hell and I never did get them to go on all the way. After everything was ready to go, it turned out that there was no way to cool my car with that unit. To add the final insult, they did not supply enough defrost hose with the kit and when I called they demanded payment for more hose. Old Air SUCKS

 

If ya want it .... VINTAGE is THEE UNIT ... PERIOD !!!

 

I very distinctly remember arriving at the Road Agent's Rumble show in CT in 2004, which was always the middle week of July, literally in my underwear. I ran out of clothes to take off without creating a public disturbance. Engine running at 250 degrees, sitting stopped dead in traffic in-between two Jersey barriers in scorching heat and humidity. I did stupid-ass stuff like that when I was 20, I'm too old for that shit now.

 

Google universal under dash AC kit and look at the views. There are probably a hundred different ones, Slim's, regular small, etc. I know they are mostly Chinese but you can buy just the under dash unit separately.

 

Don't need no heat in south Florida.

 

I have an old vintage air box for the 1950 dodge truck i have whenever that happens, it will easily do the job judging on the the amount of evaporator it has. That said, I plan to add the factory system to my desoto, i don't want to cook in it.

 

OOH. Post #1

 

Visiting my son in Las Vegas has the same problem. You have to be pretty quick opening the doors because the handles get so hot.

 

I see you have nice cool filtered cab air for your carburetor also.

 

I have 2 vehicles with original Mk IV style under dash evaporator. Both use modern-ish under hood parts. One with Sanden comp, other with GM R4. Both have custom hoses, and swap meet condensers.

Cold air works great

Sent from dumb operator on a smart phone

 

Response to manyolcars whinings: Sounds like you're not very innovative. When I installed my Old Air Products air conditioning in my 49 Ford behind the dash I had absolutely zero problems with the installation and I still have my full size glove box. I guess some folks just have problems with details.

Having spent 30 years designing and installing air conditioning systems, and not having any preconceived notions about any products on the market, I did a thorough job of research on features, cooling capacities, sound attenuation, Etc. In my research I found that old Air Products packaged behind dash units are the only ones designed as a draw through unit rather than a blow through which means you can hardly hear the fan at all and the air flow pattern through the coil is much more evenly distributed over the entire evaporator coil surface, giving exceptional cooling capacity in a very small package . Since you don't seem to know a great deal about air conditioning, a blow-through unit has the fan Inlet exposed to the cabin and makes lots of noise.

Note the air conditioning system in this short video. You would hardly notice it's there.
https://49fordcoupe.smugmug.com/The-Interior/i-V4fQLsK/A

 

The underdash will do great in your truck you have less area than a car having a larger condenser can help too.

 

I now have a VA under the dash, and the only thing I don’t like is that the fan is awful noisy. If I could slow it down (it puts out more volume than I need in my truck anyway) I’d like it better.

What resistor did you use? And is there any down side to doing this?

 

As I mentioned above, blow through units are always really noisy. That's why the Old Air Products is superior if you care about noise.

 

That fan speed is the only complaint I have with my Vintage Air system. Low is still to much, I plan to add a resister to slow it down some more. Any '60-'70 GM three speed blower motor resistor should work, I had one on my old VA heat only unit. I was able to slow low speed down three more speeds depending on which leads I hooked to.

 

I have a VA underdash in my 47 Buick. It's heat and air together. I love it. Just turn the stereo up. It will run you out of the car and it's a big car. Lippy