Vintage air on a 69 satellite wagon

[pushrod]

Haven't been on the site in a while due to long time recovery from a malor heart attack. Back to work on my projects now.
I'm in the process of resto on my 69 satellite wagon, original air conditioner car. I am converting to modern air and wondering which one you'll would recommend, Vintage or Classic. Thanks for your help.

 

[multimopes]

Sorry, I can't help you with your question. I just want to say "welcome back" and best of luck with your projects!

 

[Billccm]

I'm going to watch. The best I can in the difference between Vintage and Classic Air is the routing of the lines to the evaporator. One takes a bit more drilling than the other.

 

[pushrod]

Thanks guys. It's good to be back alive and kicking.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Glad to hear you are back and better!

 

[64 Sportfury]

I installed Vintage Air Sure-Fit Kit in my 68 Coronet Wagon. I had good success with a previous Vintage Air install (not a sure-fit kit). The directions are very good and the kit very complete. As mentioned, the hose routing is through the pass. side front wheel well. I fabbed a support bracket as I had 18" wheels to keep them from rubbing. My wagon is a factory air car as well. The ducting was straight forward. I should note, the kit has you block off the fresh air plenum on the pass. side. On the driver side, I left the factory fresh air ducting in place. It all works great. I did my install along with an engine swap so engine side firewall access was good. You also lose the factory glove box. The kit is supplied with a shallower plastic insert that needed some holes trimmed. The under dash work was done without front seats installed. I have no experience with Classic Air.

 

[pushrod]

I installed Vintage Air Sure-Fit Kit in my 68 Coronet Wagon. I had good success with a previous Vintage Air install (not a sure-fit kit). The directions are very good and the kit very complete. As mentioned, the hose routing is through the pass. side front wheel well. I fabbed a support bracket as I had 18" wheels to keep them from rubbing. My wagon is a factory air car as well. The ducting was straight forward. I should note, the kit has you block off the fresh air plenum on the pass. side. On the driver side, I left the factory fresh air ducting in place. It all works great. I did my install along with an engine swap so engine side firewall access was good. You also lose the factory glove box. The kit is supplied with a shallower plastic insert that needed some holes trimmed. The under dash work was done without front seats and BMW leather electric seats to install installed. I have no experience with Classic Air.

Thank you for the update, it's exactly what I'm looking for. Got a quote from Bouchillon performance of $2,500 for Vintage. Doing an engine swap to a 340 and 518 trans. Windshield is out, dash refinished BMW leather electric seats to install. Building a rat rod daily driver. The Dodge dealers asked me $65,000 for a truck like my 05, thought that insane. I can build a helluva old house wagon and have fun for 65 k

 

[64 Sportfury]

No problem. I installed a 318/390 stroker with Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 and a 904. If you go with Vintage Air I dont think they list the B Body Sure-Fit kit with a small block. I purchased through Summit Racing. Summit contacted Vintage Air to have them customize the compressor brackets for the small block Mopar. I used Altima buckets and a 2014 Chrysler 200 console. Everything went together very easily.

 

[pushrod]

Thanks. Very nice setup, looks better than factory. Bouchillon only used the vintage air box, hoses and condenser as they supply brackets and compressor. Do you mind telling me how much the unit was?
Thanks
Gary

 

[64 Sportfury]

I think it was around $1800. I looked on Summit and its $1900. The only extra was having a hose shop crimp the fittings and charging the system.

 

[64 Sportfury]

1968 DODGE CORONET Air Conditioning Kits Air Conditioning Cooling & Heating Parts & Accessories | Summit Racing

 

[pushrod]

1968 DODGE CORONET Air Conditioning Kits Air Conditioning Cooling & Heating Parts & Accessories | Summit Racing

Thanks 64 SF. Just trying to figure out the $700 difference between summit and Bouchillon.

 

[gtx6970]

I did a vintage air system on a 1970 Cuda.
Works like a charm its all electronic , so no cables or vacuum lines

 

[pushrod]

GTX that's what I'm looking for. Here's a picture of my old project
Had this about 20 years and now just getting serious on making it a good driver.

 

[kiwigtx]

Different vehicle......I installed a Vintage Air system in my Dodge A100. Bought all the Vintage Air parts plus bracket kits from Bouchillon.
All fits together well....I had the installation completed by a local A/C installer specialising in small trucks and vans - they do air all the time for chilled transporters.

I needed to shorten the glovebox insert.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I know several people on here who have installed Classic Auto Air. They say install required slight modifications to fit, but I've experienced riding shotgun first hand and the A/C is nice and cool. I've purchased Vintage Air to install in my car, but so far just have a separate Condenser/dryer mounted up front and need to do the rest. One thing I was told by a local shop who I will have run the underhood lines is that if you have a choice of controllers between the slider type that looks stock and a rotary knob type, they advised rotary knob, saying that it's easier to calibrate and works better. I can attest to the fact that the stock slider type controls in our mopars break pretty readily (at least they did for me). I went through 2 stock controllers, breaking off one of the front to back plastic sliders both times (one was a repop from Classic Industries and the other was my original). I opted for a 3 knob rotary control from Vintage Air when I purchased my kit.

 

[pushrod]

Thanks everyone for the input, it's a great help. The slider controlsare a concern but with all electronic controls ( no vacuum) there shouldn't be a problem or am I missing something.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Thanks everyone for the input, it's a great help. The slider controlsare a concern but with all electronic controls ( no vacuum) there shouldn't be a problem or am I missing something.

Yes, all electronic and it should work and not break like the cable driven. However, the tech was telling me the rotary was easier to calibrate during install due to way it senses resistance with a rotary pot vs the slider I think? I don't understand this enough to know why.

 

[HawkRod]

I installed Classic Auto Air in my 70 Road Runner. I modified the system to hide the compressor as much as possible. Classic Auto Air was great to work with so I could get the customized parts I needed to make it all work.
My first A/C post for my restoration thread is here (but there are many more posts throughout the build): Hawk-Rod: The Restoration

Bottom line is this: I believe, properly installed, either of these systems (Vintage or Classic) will work very nicely. Find what fits best for your car (and/or what has the best price point) and go with it. You should be fine as long as you properly install the system.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I installed Classic Auto Air in my 70 Road Runner. I modified the system to hide the compressor as much as possible. Classic Auto Air was great to work with so I could get the customized parts I needed to make it all work.
My first A/C post for my restoration thread is here (but there are many more posts throughout the build): Hawk-Rod: The Restoration

Bottom line is this: I believe, properly installed, either of these systems (Vintage or Classic) will work very nicely. Find what fits best for your car (and/or what has the best price point) and go with it. You should be fine as long as you properly install the system.

I need to read your other thread, but being that it's 44 pages (Which we appreciate all the detail), can you tell me - is the Classic Auto Air hidden Compressor bracket an off the shelf item I can order from them or was it custom? Since it's a bracket specific to our cars, do you see any reason I couldn't use this bracket in conjunction with my Vintage Air system?