Classic Auto Air vs Vintage Air for non AC car

[Kern Dog]

On my GTX, I'm going to try the Classic Auto Air system. The CAA controls resemble the stock non-a/c controls.

I'm not much of a fan of the CAA control panel. The direction for the HOT/COLD slider isn't immediately intuitive.

It is a fore/aft slide but which direction means what? Is toward the firewall cold? Is away from the firewall hot? Same with the fan slider. You just move it and feel for the air flow to determine if you're getting what you want. It could have been designed different. The Vintage Air panel slides left to right and isn't much better. The late models sure have this figured out with the icons they use. These aftermarket guys should have done better.

I wasn't too keen on that plate VA wants you to use on the firewall and since I was going for more of a dealer installed a/c look, and running the hoses and lines under the fender wasn't going to work either.

The ONLY advantage of the Vintage Air system is the wide range of options for routing the lines. That "advantage" is a mixed bag though because none of those alternate routes are ideal. Routing the lines in the wheelwell puts them at greater risk of damage or contact from the tire.

 

[70ChargerRT]

I'm not much of a fan of the CAA control panel. The direction for the HOT/COLD slider isn't immediately intuitive.

View attachment 1747320

It is a fore/aft slide but which direction means what? Is toward the firewall cold? Is away from the firewall hot? Same with the fan slider. You just move it and feel for the air flow to determine if you're getting what you want. It could have been designed different. The Vintage Air panel slides left to right and isn't much better. The late models sure have this figured out with the icons they use. These aftermarket guys should have done better.



The ONLY advantage of the Vintage Air system is the wide range of options for routing the lines. That "advantage" is a mixed bag though because none of those alternate routes are ideal. Routing the lines in the wheelwell puts them at greater risk of damage or contact from the tire.

I did a lot of research of this routing of lines before I installed mine. You’d be surprised how many of thousands of cars, different makes and models running this same set up with absolutely zero problems. Of course like you they were also many concerns about the routing of lines outside the wheel well. Some made protective coverings, shields and wrapped them for extra protection which I think is overkill, maybe it’s not. I could see someone running a really big front tire on our cars maybe rubbing the lines coming out of the camber bolt plate. I do agree with the controls though, someone dropped the ball there.

 

[CoronetDarter]

I have CAA in the Coronet and the Dart. While I bought the Dart with the system already installed, I installed the CA in the Coronet. I have no experience with VA but I can only say good things about CA. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is customer service. CA customer service has been exemplary. Their main tech, Dwight, has walked me through countless issues, including the Dart. When I leave a VM he calls back. Would use them again without a thought.

 

[Kern Dog]

I had a lot pictures stored on my computer of the Vintage Air installation in Dwayne's Plymouth that I finished in the Spring this year.

I dumped most them to a USB thumb drive so I don't have them but I did some mock-up work with different tires in the RF corner to assess what problems may arise with close contact. I used an 18 x 9" wheel with 4 3/4" back space and a 275-40-18 tire. Now very few guys will run a tire that wide up front like I do but I wanted the Pro Touring/NASCAR look for my car.

I wanted to get Dwayne's car set up to allow room for changes he may try someday.
Routing the lines up and over the UCA mounting points and through the alignment cam access hole works fine for wheels up to 7" wide and 3 1/2" back spacing but any wider and the tire gets really close to rubbing the lines at hard left, like when making a U-turn.

 

[70ChargerRT]

That might be a little warm, but a lot of factors contribute to center vent temperature: ambient air temp, how long the system has been running, air flow through the condenser, etc.

As far as the Vintage Air and Classic Auto Air debate goes, I have VA in three of my other cars and I've had problems in all three at install, or at very low miles. Of course, I had to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket just for the parts to do all three repairs. One leaking hose at their crimp in one car and control units in each of the other two. While they do work okay, I do have to carry the jumper wire to recalibrate the system in one of the cars for when it decides it doesn't want to respond to the control unit inputs correctly. And no, it's not due to my installation or a wiring problem.

On my GTX, I'm going to try the Classic Auto Air system. It's an original V-Code car, so of course, it wasn't available with a/c. The CAA controls resemble the stock non-a/c controls. I wasn't too keen on that plate VA wants you to use on the firewall and since I was going for more of a dealer installed a/c look, and running the hoses and lines under the fender wasn't going to work either.

My brothers installs a bunch of VA and CA in a lot of his restorations the last 5 years and he’s had pretty good luck out of both systems and I don’t think he’s has 1 complaint about any problems out of any of the systems but in saying that not every job is cut and dry. He has his own crimpers, hoses and different bent fittings on tap because it seems like alot of install kits could be better, a lot better. He just got done installing a CA system on a 55 Chevy. One hose too long, the other too short. One fitting needed bent way more and I had the same thing in my VA also. I like the better options VA gives you for line routing. Seems like a lot of his customers go this route for non-factory AC cars and plus they love the clean look. Now personally if my car was a factory AC car I favor the CA set up. For some reason the controls for the non- Mopar crowd seem a lot better, go figure. I want to also add I don’t why VA sends that stupid plate for non-factory AC cars. All you have is those 2 small heater hose holes and all you need is 2 small plugs. I actually used those 2 holes to run my VA and sniper wiring. Worked out perfect. You can’t even see my holes lol.

 

[70ChargerRT]

I had a lot pictures stored on my computer of the Vintage Air installation in Dwayne's Plymouth that I finished in the Spring this year.

View attachment 1747341

I dumped most them to a USB thumb drive so I don't have them but I did some mock-up work with different tires in the RF corner to assess what problems may arise with close contact. I used an 18 x 9" wheel with 4 3/4" back space and a 275-40-18 tire. Now very few guys will run a tire that wide up front like I do but I wanted the Pro Touring/NASCAR look for my car.

View attachment 1747342

I wanted to get Dwayne's car set up to allow room for changes he may try someday.
Routing the lines up and over the UCA mounting points and through the alignment cam access hole works fine for wheels up to 7" wide and 3 1/2" back spacing but any wider and the tire gets really close to rubbing the lines at hard left, like when making a U-turn.

That’s a huge front tire lol. I’m running a 245/45 8” rim up front and I had to make a few adjustments on my lines to keep them from rubbing.

 

[gtxdana]

My brothers installs a bunch of VA and CA in a lot of his restorations the last 5 years and he’s had pretty good luck out of both systems and I don’t think he’s has 1 complaint about any problems out of any of the systems but in saying that not every job is cut and dry. He has his own crimpers, hoses and different bent fittings on tap because it seems like alot of install kits could be better, a lot better. He just got done installing a CA system on a 55 Chevy. One hose too long, the other too short. One fitting needed bent way more and I had the same thing in my VA also. I like the better options VA gives you for line routing. Seems like a lot of his customers go this route for non-factory AC cars and plus they love the clean look. Now personally if my car was a factory AC car I favor the CA set up. For some reason the controls for the non- Mopar crowd seem a lot better, go figure.

I routed my hoses different than what VA shows in their instructions and used the modified hose kits where they crimp one end on and leave the hoses extra-long for a somewhat stock looking system. On the VA install in my 55 Chev, I used the EZ Clip hose and fittings which is the way to go for more custom, non-stock looking deal in tight areas. It seems like you could always use a different fitting that what is supplied with any of these kits.

The VA heater control conversion kits for the GM cars reuse the stock controls which is nice, until that $200 ECU takes a dump and nothing works right!