I pulled the trigger on a Vintage Air Gen 5 to replace the factory air unit that BKelly and I installed back in ’14. I’m going with the 69/70 Mustang wo/AC direct fit unit along with the Vintage Air control panel conversion kit. My plan is to keep using the non-air dash without a center vent and use only the package tray vents. But I do have a ’71 dash with center vent if I need to go down that road.
Not really. I got the kit through Summit Racing which is 5 miles from the house that made the purchase very simple.
I used the Classic Auto Air system in my Comet. It is a much more compact unit compared to the factory set up. Depending on how you plan to install it will determine how much work it will be. I made mine to look like a factory air system. I put a ac dash in for the center register and adapted the two under dash registers to the standard package tray. I also adapted the stock dash controls to operate the system. Using their control panel would have greatly simplified the install. But I wanted the factory look. All in all, it is a great system and works extremely well. Another nice thing is you can use the non ac package tray instead of the skinny ac tray.
The AC was delivered couple weeks ago and I thought I share what I been doing lately. Still got a long way to go but I’m getting there The metal firewall cover plate that came in the kit suppose to mount under the hood but I put it on the interior side. Defrost nozzle that came in the kit won’t fit. To use the Maverick nozzle I made an adapter out of 4.5 in. x 8 in. eighth inch thick plastic with two holes for the duct. The evaporator went in easy after modifying the dash bracket. The top left corner of the bracket got chopped off and the top right corner now has a 90* bend instead of two 45*. This aligned the Mustang bracket to the support bracket and U-nut perfect. The condenser mounting brackets was installed on the front of the condenser instead of the back. 1/2 in. X 1/8 in. flat bar was bent to mimic the factory mount and then fastened to the Mustang mounting bracket. The top corners of the brackets were trimmed to allow the condenser to ride higher in the radiator support opening.
I decided to rewire the whole car before finishing the AC project. That was a lot of two-steps forward and one-step back going from plan A to plan B ending up on plan G. Now back to installing the AC. The compressor mount that came with the kit had the compressor too high to close the hood. Hind sight being 20/20...I should had pieced together a kit using a Maverick condenser and drier instead of using the Mustang parts that came with the kit. I had to relocate the drier a good inch lower to clear the hood prop rod. This required bending one of the hard lines to take the scenery route going from condenser to the drier. One of the hoses that came with the kit was about four inches too long and the local AC shop could not cut and install new fittings because the hose from the kit was smaller O.D. than the standard size AC hoses. I had to buy a new hose. It’s blowing 33* air...my glasses fogged up when I stepped out of the car.
