I purchased a well restored and upgraded 1966 Dart GT earlier this year. The people that owned it had added a lot of nice features like a 360 with a few performance parts, a 727 auto and 8 ¾ rear end with 3.23 gears. The car looked very good and ran well after some tuning and tweaking.
The problem was the car did not have air conditioning. A dark blue car in Florida is not fun to drive without A/C. It really restricts usability.
So as I did some research I did find that adding a ‘factory correct’ unit to a car that did not originally have A/C would not be a reasonable undertaking. And of course nobody makes a kit for that car with that engine. So the decision was made to do a ‘custom’ install using Vintage Air and do the work myself.
The high level build sheet of Vintage Air parts included a Slimline Heat/Cool under dash unit, a compressor/alternator engine bracket, a 14x20 condenser, a Sanden 508 double V-Groove polished compressor, and the standard length hose and fittings set.
The install took quite a bit of time as I used my moderate mechanical skills and took my time figuring out the next steps. Luckily I have a brother that owns his own custom car shop so I had his input and access to tools and all the little things I needed to put things together.
I did just get it finished up and took the first ride. It seems to be working as expected. I think some additional work may be necessary to swap out the flexi-fan to a standard steel blade and/or do some additional shrouding to get a bit more air flow through the condenser. It was blowing 50 degree air during my relatively short trip and I would hope to get it a bit lower.
I am open to share more details with others if they are contemplating this type of install.
Mark