Vintage Air installation in a 1968 Satellite

[68 Sport Satellite]

Can you show a photo of my car under hood instead since it's different than your charger?
I didn't have the vintage air purchased yet when I installed the 3rd party condenser. They gave me the option of driver side or passenger side dryer mounting. Of course I chose the wrong side. I'm tempted to order a new condenser with the drier mounted passenger side even though it would be extra $ then sell this one. If I did that, would there still be any hard or soft A/C lines that need to run across the passenger side?

 

[Kern Dog]

The picture of my car is more detailed because the grille stands off of the core support a lot further than the Belvedere/Satellite/Coronet. I can't get as detailed a picture of the Plymouth without removing the grille and maybe even the bumper.
It might be possible to flip the condenser around and have the fittings point to the passenger side. One thing that does is make the passenger side look a bit busier since the #8 discharge line will then be on the right side instead of being around the battery.
Ultimately, it just depends on what you want and what you're willing to spend.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

leave as-is and route as shown above.

 

[Kern Dog]

No work done today. Life got in the way. The DirecTV guy was supposed to be here at noon, didn't get here until 2:00 and stayed until it was almost dark.
The decision has been made to keep the #8 line on the drivers side like so:

With some creative effort, I can route the hose even lower than the yellow line, maybe even using some type of loop strap/bracket attached to the head or lower left bolt on the valve cover?

The # 6 line may still be routed as shown:

The pass through the core support may end up somewhere between the frame rail and top of the panel itself. I think it would look cleaner than the way it is ran on my car above. I actually like the low mounting enough to REDO my own line. It hides better and looks less cluttered.
I'm considering a camshaft swap in my car so my A/C system will be opened when I pull the radiator and condenser.

 

[beanhead]

Greg/Dwayne....
This has been a great thread. I will likely never put A/C in my '68 Ply-mouth even though it gets hot as hades down here BUT this is a stellar reference if I (or anyone else) ever need to do it to another car.

Thanks guys

 

[Kern Dog]

It sure has been a long and windy road.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

After it's all COMPLETE, I think Greg and I both need to do a bullet point lessons learned summary re-cap for quick reference.

 

[Kern Dog]

The mock up resumes.
To recap:
The firewall section inside the wheel opening was decided to be the best path for the heater hose and A/C lines to get from the engine to the interior.

I have a roll of 5/8” heater hose here in case I make mistakes.

I also have sections of old hose to practice different routes.
I got heater hose fittings with 45 degree bends to aim the lines well above where the tire will be. As I looked up on there, I remembered the fender brace that supports the middle of the wheel opening.

That seems convenient.

Hmm….

This could work.

In one of those hoses I’ll have to plumb in this:

Heater control valve.

I’ll have to make some sort of bracket to attach it to the underside of the fender apron. The wiring can be ran back through the firewall by enlarging an existing hole or making another one.

I’ll have to see if that hole is visible from the passenger seat. I don’t want wiring hanging low where anyone’s foot could snag on it.

 

[Kern Dog]

I had a concern about how the hoses will rest here on the brace.

Is it possible that with time, the edges of the brace could wear through the hoses?

How about some sort of guard? This is a quickie attempt using a piece of flat plastic I cut from a clipboard.

I could make it larger. I’d attach it so no fasteners would damage the hoses. I could even slide the hoses down a bit to use an existing hole.

I am leaning toward placing the hoses as close to the inner fender as I can just to minimize risk of the front edge of the tire making contact.

 

[GTXDAN]

Here's an idea for supporting the heater hoses in the wheel well. When I worked in the hangar we used to do this with lines or hoses and even wiring sometimes. We called it butterflying them with clamps. Get 2 of these clamps called adel clamps with a long screw to go through them and something for a spacer the screw goes through and bolt them right to that fender brace with a long enough spacer so they don't contact the brace. I think you can get an assortment of these clamps at HF maybe. What you're seeing here is 2 clamps and a 10/32 screw with a mini nut on it, and a stack of washers for a spacer.

 

[Kern Dog]

Part of the mock up process is testing fitment and looking for potential interference.
I’m sure the OEMs have a standard range of distance they keep from moving parts. I’m just using my bonehead logic.
With the heater hoses hard lines and hoses as shown:

The wheel side of the lines are just a few degrees off plumb/ straight up and down. This keeps the hose length slightly shorter but isn’t ideal. The engine side of the hard lines:

The lines point to the rear a bit while the hose nipples on the engine are obviously at the front.

To add, this puts the bends of the lines a bit close to the edge of the tire at hard left.

Another angle.

That doesn’t leave much clearance if Dwayne hits a hard bump while turning, like when leaving a parking lot.

What if he wanted a wider wheel and tire with more back spacing?

I pushed the hard line in a bit here.

These pictures are with the car on its tires with no people inside. Clearance will tighten up with people and when braking.

 

[Kern Dog]

Here's an idea for supporting the heater hoses in the wheel well. When I worked in the hangar we used to do this with lines or hoses and even wiring sometimes. We called it butterflying them with clamps. Get 2 of these clamps called adel clamps with a long screw to go through them and something for a spacer the screw goes through and bolt them right to that fender brace with a long enough spacer so they don't contact the brace. I think you can get an assortment of these clamps at HF maybe. What you're seeing here is 2 clamps and a 10/32 screw with a mini nut on it, and a stack of washers for a spacer.


View attachment 1616658

I mentioned “Adel clamps” to the guy at the hot rod shop and he looked at me as if I was speaking Arabic.
I found these:

… on my own but didn’t know that was the proper name for them. I’d need bigger ones to fit around the hoses. I got the biggest ones they had but they still are too small.
Thanks for the tip though. I’m learning as I go.

 

[GTXDAN]

You're getting there. Those clamps come in all sizes even up to 2 - 3 inches so they are out there. Looks like AMZN has all different sizes of them.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

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[Kern Dog]

Chipping away at the mountain…

I chose this bolt to hang a clamp on. It has undercoating all over it.

That is a little better but still barely enough.
I clocked the hard lines forward a bit.

The inside ends are plumb/straight up.

Now with one temporary clamp.

The other hose just zip-tied to check fitment.

This inside lines still aiming up.

How is tire clearance?

Not bad.

 

[Kern Dog]

It is close but not bad.

If I can push the lines in where the 90 degree bend is closer to the body…

This looks about as good as it can get.

 

[dadsbee]

Adel clamps is the proper name, not "hose" clamp that they generally go by. I have a few in the hangar.. lol Probably 100,000 of the larger sizes in these totes and about the same on the shelves in smalled diameters.

 

[Kern Dog]

Son of a beeech.
That is a great assortment. I need to find some of those around here for other cars I’ll get to sooner or later.
Couple more points here.
This bolt:

Is too short to attach a pair of the Adel clamps but I really do want to do that. On the engine side:

It is nicely painted so I can’t just put in a longer bolt from ACE hardware unless…

Dwayne did send along some touch up paint. I can paint a longer replacement bolt so it looks undisturbed.
Second…
I’ll need some type of clamp here where the screwdriver is pointing..

Not necessarily to keep the stuff from moving but to push the hard lines in closer so those 90 degree ends are right at the 4 hole pass through panel.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

The mock up resumes.
To recap:
The firewall section inside the wheel opening was decided to be the best path for the heater hose and A/C lines to get from the engine to the interior.

View attachment 1616603

I have a roll of 5/8” heater hose here in case I make mistakes.
View attachment 1616604

I also have sections of old hose to practice different routes.
I got heater hose fittings with 45 degree bends to aim the lines well above where the tire will be. As I looked up on there, I remembered the fender brace that supports the middle of the wheel opening.

View attachment 1616607

That seems convenient.

View attachment 1616608

Hmm….

View attachment 1616609

This could work.

View attachment 1616610

In one of those hoses I’ll have to plumb in this:

View attachment 1616611

Heater control valve.

View attachment 1616612

I’ll have to make some sort of bracket to attach it to the underside of the fender apron. The wiring can be ran back through the firewall by enlarging an existing hole or making another one.

View attachment 1616613View attachment 1616614

I’ll have to see if that hole is visible from the passenger seat. I don’t want wiring hanging low where anyone’s foot could snag on it.

I keep getting my orientation confused. I know that's the passenger front wheel well, but the angle of the photo looking in makes it appear like it's the driver's side. I wonder if that's because the phone camera is flipping around the view? Or am I just mixed up? It's like walking downstairs in the garage then making a 180 degree turn to walk to the back of the garage, looking up and pointing where you think the plumbing leak is, then walking back upstairs and realizing it's actually in the opposite direction. Geez! I've always been directionally challenged...

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I had a concern about how the hoses will rest here on the brace.

View attachment 1616631

Is it possible that with time, the edges of the brace could wear through the hoses?

View attachment 1616635

How about some sort of guard? This is a quickie attempt using a piece of flat plastic I cut from a clipboard.
View attachment 1616636

I could make it larger. I’d attach it so no fasteners would damage the hoses. I could even slide the hoses down a bit to use an existing hole.

View attachment 1616637
View attachment 1616638

I am leaning toward placing the hoses as close to the inner fender as I can just to minimize risk of the front edge of the tire making contact.

View attachment 1616639

View attachment 1616645

yes, they would rub through. I always use a short length of open cell foam water pipe insulation. They type they sell at OSH or Lowe's that already has an open cut down the length. Works great.