Vintage Air systems

by Biomedtech Sat Jun 29, 2013 1:54 am

Does anyone know if the Vintage Air systems are completely self contained or do I need to reuse the old ac housing in the engine compartment? I'd like to keep the extra room under the hood if possible.

by HDHugger Sat Jun 29, 2013 7:10 am

What is this about Vintage Air Systems? I have to get the parts for my car also. If you get something new, maybe we I can get your old stuff. I am looking to get the ac housing within the next 2 to 3 weeks.

by driveit Sat Jun 29, 2013 8:32 am

I believe they are. Check out this link. This is the one I am thinking of getting.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/vta-561167/overview/

by thatfnthing Sun Jun 30, 2013 10:14 pm

Biomedtech wrote:Does anyone know if the Vintage Air systems are completely self contained or do I need to reuse the old ac housing in the engine compartment? I'd like to keep the extra room under the hood if possible.

I'm going to guess you haven't looked at this thread: Vintage Air Retrofit, where I posted all the gory details of my own build.

The units are completely self contained. The only things you might reuse from your old system (if you want to) are the controls and the outlets.

by thatfnthing Sun Jun 30, 2013 10:45 pm

driveit wrote:I believe they are. Check out this link. This is the one I am thinking of getting.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/vta-561167/overview/

There is no "Sure-Fit" kit for our cars. That unit is designed specifically for the 67-68 Camaro and Firebird, and by looking at the catalog picture here, I can already see significant differences between it and what I had to do to make it work in mine, such as a different firewall bracket, different A/C plenum outlet positions, different hardlines, an undersized condenser, etc. You may be making more work for yourself going with the Sure-Fit kit for a different car than just buying the generic parts a la carte.

Also, if you're going to go with the Gen-IV unit, be prepared to either 1) cut away a significant portion of the cowl underside on the passenger side, or 2) lose a lot of foot room. You may want to read over my build before making your final decision.

by driveit Wed Jul 03, 2013 12:16 pm

Thanks a lot I had not seen that!

by thatfnthing Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:13 pm

No problem. I take payment for consulting work in Street Cred. Very Happy

by driveit Wed Jul 03, 2013 4:37 pm

I gave you two, cuz that was all way over my head.

by thatfnthing Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:13 pm

Happy to elaborate on any of it -- just try to get me before the cobwebs start to form on my brain.

by Pontichev327 Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:36 am

I would like to know how the blower performs. I can't speak for the G3 install. I can only say I totaly wasted 1,400 dollars in 1994 putting the "Sure-Fit" POS into my 69 RS Camaro daily driver. The blower motor never put out anything even close to a factory unit, and the bracket design sucked too. It was partially my fault in not going completely custom and getting the electronic control unit instead of trying the Sure-Fit POS lever unit that uses your stock controller. I was "told" by the rep at both of the Vintage Air seminars I attended that they fixed it on later models. With mine, you could put it on MAX cool and still have to put your face within inches of the vents to get anything. The temp was right, just no power at all. Now before you try to diagnose this online... it has been to TWO Auto Ac guys and the Vintage tech looked at it. Not just me...I gave up years ago and took off the compressor. Besides, it's a screamin' aluminum headed 335 with a super T-10, so all it wants to do is throw belts at 6,000rpm anyway! Twisted Evil

by Pontichev327 Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:46 am

By the way, the 1,400 dollar total included installation by a local guy who was supposed to be the Vintage official install guy too. I could have gotten a factory unit installed for that, but I was convinced that the Vintage thing with the flat firewall plate was THE THING to have...Stupid,Stupid,Stupid...

by driveit Thu Jul 04, 2013 9:44 am

You guys are making me reconsider this Vintage Air unit. I need something easy! I do not know how to do any electrical. I recently installed a light fixture in my home and didn't kill myself so that is a step forward I think!

by thatfnthing Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:39 pm

Pontichev327 wrote:I would like to know how the blower performs. I can't speak for the G3 install. I can only say I totaly wasted 1,400 dollars in 1994 putting the "Sure-Fit" POS into my 69 RS Camaro daily driver. The blower motor never put out anything even close to a factory unit, and the bracket design sucked too. It was partially my fault in not going completely custom and getting the electronic control unit instead of trying the Sure-Fit POS lever unit that uses your stock controller. I was "told" by the rep at both of the Vintage Air seminars I attended that they fixed it on later models. With mine, you could put it on MAX cool and still have to put your face within inches of the vents to get anything. The temp was right, just no power at all. Now before you try to diagnose this online... it has been to TWO Auto Ac guys and the Vintage tech looked at it. Not just me...I gave up years ago and took off the compressor.

It blows pretty well in mine, it can certainly be felt without having to do what you had to. It's probably not as good as stock, though, since I blocked one of the plenum outlets (has 4 and only needed 3), which they warned could lead to some cavitation.

I can only guess they've improved the design since 1994. They've also improved the pricing since then, though (and I say that sarcastically), since my investment was in the 2K neighborhood. Of course, it always costs more when you buy a la carte. Smile

I discovered the reps can certainly give out bad or misleading info, though.

by thatfnthing Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:44 pm

driveit wrote:You guys are making me reconsider this Vintage Air unit. I need something easy! I do not know how to do any electrical. I recently installed a light fixture in my home and didn't kill myself so that is a step forward I think!

The electrical ain't that hard. It's routing those hoses that's a PITA. Especially with the odd placement of the expansion valve in the Gen-IV unit. That was my biggest hassle by far.

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