classic air or vintage air?? lets see your pics!

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demon34071

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I am trying to decide on an aftermarket AC set up for my Demon. Let's see some pictures of AFTERMARKET AC setups from either vintage air or Classic air. trying to decide based on how much of the system you actually see under the hood.

No I am not interested in stock AC set ups they are way to cluttered looking for what I am going for.

Lets see some pics if your running an aftermarket set up on your a-body.
 
68 Barracuda with Classic air.

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The classic air system: Does that come with a plate to cover the existing whole from the replaced stock heater box? That what it looks like to me?

The vintage air system: Can the through the dash connection be mounted anywhere? Looks like it could be.

The vintage air looks like the system could be made to very clean. A lot cleaner than stock.
 
The Classic system came with every screw, bolt, washer, every thing but the R134. I put mine in while bilding the car, but you could get it done in an easy day. No problems with the instal or unit, the glove box insert that comes with it leaves a little as far as fitment. But it did go in and is useable.
 
Vintage air install in my 65 Comet. Worked flawlessly
out of the box. The Barracuda will get headers instead:cheers:

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Jaws -- Do you have any pics of the install? Especially the size of the under dash box? I am shooting for an extremely clean smooth looking engine bay and the Classic Kit looks like it more of a factory install versus the vintage air kit. The Vintage air kit has a through the cowl wall block, that works well with a smoothed cowl area. I am really interested in whether or not the black circle in your pics (where the ac lines go through the wall) is strictly a plate they provide to bolt to the existing Heater fan hole or whether that is part of the AC heater box itself.
 
68 Barracuda with Classic air.

i talked to them on the phone a while back and asked if they make a plate to install that set up in an original a/c car. they don't. man it would be so easy for them to do to. sucks because i was gonna put it in my dart. going to end up with vintage air i think. gonna use a street rod kit. man the heater/a/c box is so small compared to my original stuff. it will open a ton of room up under the dash.
 
i talked to them on the phone a while back and asked if they make a plate to install that set up in an original a/c car. they don't. man it would be so easy for them to do to. sucks because i was gonna put it in my dart. going to end up with vintage air i think. gonna use a street rod kit. man the heater/a/c box is so small compared to my original stuff. it will open a ton of room up under the dash.

That's the direction i am leaning as well. I am trying to get as much under dash space as I possibly can since I am trying to smooth out the firewall for a super clean "how does this thing run" type of look. With the vintage air kit I figure I can safely move the wiper motor and all the electronics up under the dash. After looking at the link above the vintage air firewall block may just be the ticket for super clean smoothed look.
 
That's the direction i am leaning as well. I am trying to get as much under dash space as I possibly can since I am trying to smooth out the firewall for a super clean "how does this thing run" type of look. With the vintage air kit I figure I can safely move the wiper motor and all the electronics up under the dash. After looking at the link above the vintage air firewall block may just be the ticket for super clean smoothed look.


yea i was up the local street rod store talking about it. he highly recommends vintage. says it works great. (i know guys with classic and it works great too) that heater core/evap box is so small with vintage its crazy. looks real easy to mount too. all the the controls are electric too which i like. it will clean things up not having vac lines or cables running to it.
 
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=54003&page=8

Here's a link which shows pics of my 66 dart with Vintage air being installed and the finished product... love it! my brother had "Classic Air" and had some problems with it. To each its own!

John,

Which Vintage Air kit did you use? I really like how small the unit is under the dash and the super clean firewall block for the hoses to pass through. Also do you recall roughly what the $$$ cost was. My only concern is running their system on a high HP motor? Thanks Derek
 
I emailed vintage about a/c for my 68 valiant and they said $1000-$1300 depending on what I pick since they don't have a kit like Classic does. Maybe the Vintage firewall block would work on a Classic install?
 
Here's a link where my pictures for the hotrodair system I installed. Hot Rod Air isn't currently in business as far as I know. If I had it to do over I'd put a vintage air street rod (universal) kit. My engine brackets are basically the same as vintage would give you. I ended up spending about $1300 total on it. It puts out 40 degree air and cools great.

Here's the link:
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=85073
 
i was up the street rod story yesterday. here is a picture of the street rod heater core/evap box that i will end up using when the time comes. this is used for mock up. its like a quarter of the size of whats in there now...


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Joe - do they make a 4 vent evap box? I pit in a 4 vent unit and it barely fit. You can read my link above if you want. I'd go with the biggest evap you can fit- you'd hate to not have a powerful enough system after you finish up the install.
 
Working on a Classic Auto Air kit on my 74 Duster at this very moment. Nothing but problems. Took them 2 1/2 months to get me a condenser. Everything is bolting on pretty good, but I cant get it to hold vacuum. Got to have a leak somewhere. I think it may be with the long awaited condenser. They are sending me a new liquid line free of charge although it didn't ship for 2 days after they told me it would.
Beginning to wish I never put air on it, because I haven't got to drive it all year. I ordered the kit way back in first of March.
The under dash box really isn't any smaller than the factory heater box. Actually it is a little more cramped because of the extra hookup ducts and controls. And the replacement glove box is a joke.
The cover over the lines coming through the old blower motor hole is neat and clean, but you do have to use self tappers and make new holes.
Good luck with whatever decision you do make.
 
Joe - do they make a 4 vent evap box? I pit in a 4 vent unit and it barely fit. You can read my link above if you want. I'd go with the biggest evap you can fit- you'd hate to not have a powerful enough system after you finish up the install.

Not sure if they have a four vent one. Probably do. I forget what size the in my picture is but that's the one the guys at the shop recomended yo me. Says they put it in a big ols fairlane and it keeps that car ice cold. Gotta watch you don't go too big too. A/c runs better when it has a nice load on it. When the time comes I will look into it a little more.
 
I have the Classic Auto Air Perfect Fit System. There were two issues with it. First, it would blow 22 degree air and freeze up in humid weather. Second they provide no fresh (make up) air. The dash vents only blow recirculated air. I over came both problems, but it required fabrication work. Does the Vintage system allow fresh air into the air box? If so I would choose them. It looks like their control system is better. I also discovered you need to tint your windows to be cool on a sunny day.
 
John,

Which Vintage Air kit did you use? I really like how small the unit is under the dash and the super clean firewall block for the hoses to pass through. Also do you recall roughly what the $$$ cost was. My only concern is running their system on a high HP motor? Thanks Derek

I used the gen II compact system for my dart. I bought the unit at the Turkey Rod Run from a Licensed Vintage Air Dealer... got a super deal!! With the Firewall block, Chrome Compressor, Mounting Bracket, upgraded Dash Controls, all hoses, vents, etc. $1000 the only thing I needed was a couple of different angle fittings. Don't buy direct from the factory they want retail. hope this helps, and sorry for the delay in responding.
 
Vintage Air has a "Gen IV" model with electronic controls, no more vac lines & pots or pull cables to mess with. With elect ctls, you can mount the ctl panel pretty much anywhere you like; stock location, inside the console or under the dash -- sets you free for placement.

Classic Auto Air has a universal fit electronic ctl model as well.

Hot Rod Air has a fresh air & a air filtration option for some of its models. They also have evap mounting plates. Thought they also had an elect ctl evap& dummy evaps units at one time, but don't see it on their web site...

http://www.hotrodair.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/Category_ID=26/home_id=2/mode=cat/cat26.htm

Bouchillon Performance offers low mount (under alt) compressor mounts # BPE4715 (have to remove stock fuel pump & go electric). You may can keep your non-AC pulleys. See their stuff at:
http://bouchillonperformance.com/BPEACmountingbrackets.asp


John
 
I have classic air

Like the fact it uses the factory heat controls (slightly modified)

Fits well in place of the stock HEAT only box

don't like the low speed (too fast and noisy)

Made a braket to hold the water flow valve, it came with control but just cut hose and install the hose supported the valve

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also the wiring uses the same color wires for the 2 different (but identical switches) and not identified. I still have to make a change to something

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