Projects Need air conditioning advice for my 1954 chevy

Hey all, I’ve been out for a while went through a divorce and now my 54 is truly my daily driver. I love my 54 and it has been my daily for a while but I always had my wife (or ex now) car with a/c for trips and warm weather. My kids love my 54 and I want them to be comfortable this Oklahoma summer sooooo. What air conditioning and heating unit would be best for my 54 Chevy? I want something that I won’t have to hack up my car to put it in as I love the original look of her...

 

A lot of the A/C installed back in the day were under dash units by A.R.A,Sears and Wards and would be period correct as someone who sold these years ago they are large copacity and will cool your '54 very well.To find the mounting kit for your '54 try AAPAK in Phoenix,AZ.

 

Vintage Air and Southern Air have under-dash kits. I just had one installed on my '52 Chevy and it works great. However, with all the traffic congestion we have her in Southern California, I went first class on my cooling system first.

 

Vintage air

LOOKS GOOD AND WORKS GREAT....

 

Vintage Air...best there is...

R-

 

thank you everyone... have any pictures of the completed install vents,unit,etc....

 

anyone have pics of it installed also what series did you use

 

Interested too!!! I'm definitely putting a big fat AC system in my '54 so I don't roast my family. Any idea on costs?

 

Not my car but a picture of outlets ( love this car )

 

Complete system -$1000.00 plus your installation time or someone else's labor costs (add $300-$700 -around here anyway)...

Check out Vintageair.com and ask them...they have a tech line...and can give you a better idea of what their compete system costs...

R-

 

I'm about to install a Vintage Air Mark IV in my 53. The under dash units are a breeze to install and they produce a ton of air.

 

That's the way I would go. They work better than an in-dash unit (because the cold air blows right off the unit rather than through warm ducts and vents), and MUCH easier to install.
If you are mechanically inclined you can install it all yourself pretty easily, then go to a shop to have the hoses crimped and get the system charged up. DON'T try to do that part yourself.
Vintage Air stuff is top-quality.

Is your car running the original engine you will need to upgrade to a bigger/better fan OR add an electric fan to the front. Otherwise every time you stop for a red light in 100 degree weather you'll start to overheat!

 

Cool all good info!! I'm not sure about the OP but I'm swapping in a 327 into my '54.

 

All you guys with V8s and A/C, did you make it work with the mechanical fan?

 

I did...hate electrical fans...if you want to see my build, go here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329070&highlight=the+best+55+caddy+build

About the onely thing I can add here is to make sure the fan shroud fits and works...

R-

 

I have a 350 in my '53 with the original radiator recorred with a high-efficiency core. I have a flex fan and shroud. When I added A/C I also added a small electric pusher fan in front. If I had room for a bigger mechanical fan it could have worked, but with the room I have it was not enough to keep the temp steady at a red light when the temp was 100 degrees or above. The gauge would start to climb about 10 seconds after I stopped. (Literally.) However, it runs 185 all day long as long as the car is moving.

My next car ('51 Chevy) will have a big aluminum radiator and I will locate everything so that I have plenty of room for a nice big powerful electric puller fan.

Now that's just for the '49-54 Chevies. Any car that came from the factory with a V-8 has plenty of cooling to run A/C and a mechanical fan. I've had plenty of 1960s cars with that combo and never ever had any overheating problems at all with any of them.

 

Cool project, but I'd wager a '55 Cad has more room under the hood than a '52 Chevy with a V8. I'm trying to convince my buddy to take the time and engineer it right, not use some new-fangled plastic fan on his car.

 

Oh hell, a '55 Caddy isn't going to have any problems at all! Just put a big-ass mechanical fan on there and make a decent-fitting shroud and no worries at all. Paint it all up and it'll look factory.

It's the tight engine compartment in these '49-54 Chevies that cause all the problems. If I had just located my motor and trans back two inches it wouldn't be an issue. And if there were room for a larger diameter fan it wouldn't be an issue. So instead I got compromises for failing to plan this stuff all out ahead of time. (It was my first build ever and quite a learning experience.)

 

I just looked at your build. SHARP CAR!
It looks like you have the same problem I have: radiator hugging the front of the motor. If you can move that radiator forward and/or the motor back, you're good to go. Otherwise I don't see how you can get much of a fan in there??

 

Who would have thought the length of a SBC would rival that of an inline six and give you problems!? AtomicKustom, are you using a short or long water pump? Good info!!!

 

I would have had a H-U-G-E radiator had it not been for the '78 Pontiac Trans Am sub-frame and the front steer box...my aluminum radiator is 19" wide by 21" deep, two 1 inch tubes and a double core, therefore it needs a shroud and a huge six bladed fan...believe it or not, the engine compartment in a '55 Caddy isn't that big...!!!

Thanx for the compliment on the Caddy

R-

 

just a thought. Is there any reason why an A/C set up from a modern car couldn't be altered to fit into a project car?

the diagram shows the basic system, I know that the gassing side needs to be handles by a specialist (well it does here in UK anyway) but i can't see a reason why it couldn't be done?

unlerss i'm missing something basic, and that wouldn't be the first time!!

 

Here's the under-dash unit in my '52 Chevy. I run a 4 row triple pass radiator (copper/brass) from U.S. Radiator (direct-fit). Flex fan with a full shroud. Temp stays at 160 in traffic with the A/C on. Without the A/C, it runs at 140. I may switch to a 180 thermostat.

 

V8?

 

sbc 350

 

So it can be done! Did you have to move the radiator or engine forward or
Back?

 

I thought the same thing! The problem is that the straight 6 tucks into a cove in the firewall that is way too narrow for the V-8.

I am using a long water pump, and my motor is mounted at least an inch or two farther forward than it needed to be. I never built a car from the ground up before and it never occurred to me that fan clearance would be a problem. I just used the motor I had (long pump & pulleys and all) and mounted it to give good clearance at the firewall. Then a few weeks later I mounted up my front clip and dropped in the radiator and went "oh!"

I should have stopped at that point and changed the motor/trans mounts, but everything was already in and I already had a drive shaft cut and it just seemed like I should keep going. I dramatically underestimated the cooling fan requirements of that V-8 in the narrow engine compartment. The first flex fan I put on there just wasn't enough, so I went to a bigger fan. Then that wasn't quite enough so I built a nice shroud. That all worked great until I added the A/C a year later, and that's when I had to add the small extra electric fan on the front.

Like I said, building this car (the one in my avatar) was a big learning experience and the '51 I am building now will not have any of these issues. It just takes being aware of the potential problem and planning ahead for it.

 

Yes, it can be done. It's just so easy to bolt in the universals that few bother with it anymore, but if you search around here on the HAMB there are plenty of threads of people using Jeep units and such.

Also, everything would need to be from the same car to work really well and most OEM cars have huge, complicated units that are integral to the dash and/or firewall. The aftermarkets are designed to go just about anywhere without any hacking, welding, etc.
And you can do an under-dash unit complete for a few hundred bucks including all the required components. (Maybe $600 or so? It's been a while since I priced it all out.)

So...it's a matter of time vs. money AND looks vs. money. But anyone determined to do it can make it work.

 

I hear ya!! My '35 has been a huge lesson in building cars. All that stuff you mentioned is good stuff to keep in mind when I get started on my '54. I like the engines real tight up against the firewall so I'll try to do that right off the bat and then install a small water pump....from there I can order the best radiator I can afford I guess and see if that does the trick. I'll also go real mild on the build as to not get crazy. Again thanks for the tips!

 

I'm putting a gen 4 system from vintage air in my 54. I have it on order as we speak. It is the top of the line heat/cool/defrost unit. It's gonna be tight but I think I've got it worked out and it should tuck up under the dash and be mostly out of sight.

I'm going to post an install thread when I get done. Thrashing for the roundup baby!!!!!!