Non-ac car needs air conditioning

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/6Duster

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I am helping my buddy with his 1975 Dart sport hang 10

It is originally a non-ac car and we want to put AC in
I have an AC heater box but none of the holes line up in the firewall. Heater box is from a 1973 Dart sport

We are wondering is it easiest to put an aftermarket kit in if so which one rather than two hack up the firewall?.
 
Good to hear
We are assembling the car and it is painted already
Do you happen to have part number or link to site

thanks
 
I swapped an ac system from a 71 dart into my non ac 69 barracuda. It worked out great, but it was a lot of work. You need to drill some new hoes in the firewall and cut out the fan hole larger. You need the ac dash controls also.

I got a pretty complete system, so I was only in for about $500 rather than $1500 to $2000 for an aftermarket setup. What I did was probably a lot more work than an aftermarket system, but that is what I wanted.

If you want to do what I did, you should have all the parts, as the cost can add up quickly if you need to buy parts. OEM ac parts are also hard to find, as most everyone took them off and threw them away.
 
I would no way screw with OEM AC unless you already have a complete system for the car
 
I would no way screw with OEM AC unless you already have a complete system for the car

If you are looking for 69 back ac pulleys and brackets, this is really true. I tried for a long time and gave up. I went to 70 up pulleys and brackets with an RV2 compressor. They are a little easier to find. This definitely an advantage to the aftermarket system. But, poor people have poor ways, so I was willing to do the work to save the $1000.
 
I can tell you this, there's no way in HELL I'd ever recommend anything Vintage Air offers. I've installed some of their systems and am not even close to being impressed. Far as I'm concerned it's all junk. The kits in the link above look pretty good, though.
 
The Classic Auto Air kit fit pretty well but it also has some limitations.

I find after over 1.5 hours of constant operation the vent temperature starts to slowly climb indicating to me the evaporator is starting to freeze up. It does blow pretty cold though, for the first hour or so.
 
Run down to the a/c thread, @Jpar bought and installed one that was cheap, he says it works great!
 
Yes, the AC firewall is much different, at least in my 1965 Dart. A few people cut out most of the firewall to weld in an AC firewall, but seems extreme. There are new generic heat/AC climate boxes which fit behind-dash, as cheap as $400 (ebay, Amazon). They use a battery remote, not your dash controls. A few companies (Vintage, Classic) make retrofit climate boxes which fit better. Otherwise, consider an under-dash "knee-knocker" AC box, either vintage or new (~$100). But, then you have 2 separate fans and ducts which adds clutter. I'm a cheap-bastard so went that way, plus didn't know the options when I bought stuff.
 
Having installed 2 Vintage air kits (non mopar) I have to say for what the kits were they did a pretty good job. It definitely had some shortcomings however they have to make a bunch of these for different makes and if they wronged alot of what I have seen it would probably become something comsumer's aren't willing to pay...

If I did it one more and since I like the idea of what someone did in the mid 70's in regards to an upgrade I would take a serious look at underdash units. I have never researched them but it would do the job..

JW
 
You can read my thread... There's a place called coldmaster in Florida and it's advertised quite a bit I believe on eBay but I went directly to them. I called them a few times just to make sure they would answer the phone and give tech advice and they did. Specifically a man named Omar... Very friendly very good at taking his time and explaining things and even when I had questions afterwards... At one point I needed some specific tech help or I thought I did and he was prompting me to call back at a certain hour when the actual guy that does their installations for AC came in and could get into some real technical stuff.. I ended up not needing that help... I think they're in the pretty big refrigeration not just this car stuff... Since I don't have much insulation I ordered a unit for a large car and it works extremely well. Mind you I don't have the heater box under the dash and this hangs down in the passenger side but myself being over 6 ft and my best friend don't even come close to "knocking our knees"... I did a very custom installation where I did all my hoses hidden through my front bumper and up under the passenger side fender well and made a custom bracket to put the compressor in the power steering pump area as I don't have power steering or want it.. I don't want to open my hood up and say holy air conditioner unit!... I paid $475 for everything delivered to my front door was standing two cans of $5 freon and a generic $60 vintage air bracket to manufacture my custom brackets.. but all this is in the thread that I did... It's an option for the DYI guy... I only drive my car in the summer a nice day so there's no need for a heater box... But plenty for AC...
 
if it helps; I cut the A/C firewall out of a 73 or 75 Dart a few decades ago. and I think that I stock-piled it with the rest of the A/C system.
and I'm just down the road from you.
 
That’s probably the only reason why I won’t buy a vintage car. Even though I love old cars, it’s just that I won’t be able to survive without an air conditioner in my area.
Most Vintage cars came with AC option.
 
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