I have the factory vents, so I will use them. One downside is that you have to block off the factory fresh air hole on the passenger side of lower cowl. Because of space considerations, I ordered the Vintage Air Super Gen 2, heat, cool, and defrost. I am going to reinstall the original defrost ducts under the dash at the base of the windshield and plumb them to the new unit. The factory flip up vents on the top of the dash will now only be used for AC. I originally ordered a 22" wide condenser because that is what my radiator is. Because of the way the condenser is constructed, I found that this was too narrow. I have exchanged it for a 24" X 14" piece. I am going to run the heater hoses through the fire wall near the passenger side inner fender panel. Again, for space considerations, the A.C. lines will have to go out through the inner fender at the suspension adjustment hole, and through the cowl under the front fender.
Sure, I can do that. Some other guys have done that on '62-'65 forum.
Using the dash that has the vents will be much easier.... trust me. ;-)
I used a set of AutoMeter gauges I picked up from Summit Racing on sale. Not sure if AutoMeter still offers this set although they still make these gauges.
Here are some pictures of my project so far. Vintage Air has kits for newer B-bodies, but not ours. These kits run all the lines outside the inner fender to the firewall. I did not want this, but space for routing the lines inside the engine compartment and through the firewall to the condenser is very limited. All the heater and A/C hookups are concentrated on the right side of the evaporator. I found that I have enough space to route the A/C lines through the firewall using Vintage Air's 2 port A/C bulkhead near the right side of the evaporator. I am going to route the heater hoses across the top of the evaporator to the opposite side where the factory heater hoses came in. I had a few holes on the firewall filled when I had my car painted, including these holes. I am going to use Vintage Air's 2 port heater hose bulkhead with 90 degree fittings inside the car and 45 degree outside. The heater hoses will run from water pump and down driver's side of engine as stock. The A/C lines will be routed down the passenger side inner fender using brackets that routed heater hoses on 1966-1970 B-bodies to the Vintage Air port on lower firewall near inner fender. I found a neat molded hose that turns the flow of heater water around 180 degrees, so I can run it to opposite side of evaporator. Condenser is in place with shortening of brackets. I used 24"X14" condenser. Evaporator is Super Gen 2 heat, cool, defrost.
Here are some pictures of my A/C project so far. Evaporator, condenser, and compressor are all mounted. I have heater hoses all plumbed to evaporator. I managed to run interior hoses across the top of the evaporator to come through the firewall in the area of the original hoses. The hot water shutoff valve is mounted inline on the incoming heater hose near the cowl. I would have preferred to mount this under the dash, but there was no room.
