retrofitting Air Conditioning

[mickeyflorio]

Thanks for all the advice! Sounds like Vintage Air is the way to go. Still not clear on how much surgery is required for Gen II vs Gen IV. Specifically, which systems require you to lose the ashtray, radio and/or glove compartment?

rsxsr: where did you get those great vents? (I'd need black)

edgood1: I followed your poptop-grafting project. We'll all be grateful if you document your A/C install in as much detail!

[MarkWard]

The center vents are from Vintage Air as well. They match the outers the closest. As far as surgery and the Gen II. I had to drill holes in the front firewall for the two AC hoses. Rather than doing complete hose runs through the firewall, I used a bulkhead fitting instead. This allowed me to get the interior finished up and then move on to the condensor, compressor, dryer and hoses, but still have the van driveable. Once the dash is back in, you can't access the AC hoses.

I had to drill two holes for the evaporator drain. One in the cross member where the evap sits, and one through the floor under the member. Drains near the spare tire. The 82 has the coolant hoses on the passenger floor so my AC drain is next to them.

I needed to drill some small holes for mounting relays dryer etc. For blocking the fresh air intake, I used an aluminum .063" plate with weather strip tape and the original heater housing mounting bolts. I had to notch two of the braces on the underside of the dash board to insure the vent hoses would not be jammed when the dash was put pack in.
I also needed to enlarge the radio hole and the factory control cutouts in the dashboard.

So I would call it minimal surgery. I have a zip file of my installation if you would like to see a little more of my install. PM me your email address and I can email the file to you. I could not see the sense in uploading all the pictures here. mark
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[thummmper]

hope these help a little