Thread: Vintage Air in a 32 Coupe

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Okay all,,, its close to time to start planning what gage setup I'll be using and how best to avoid interference with the AC unit under the dash. I'd like to install one of the gage panels that has all the gages in one plate in the center of the dash. But not knowing or being able to see how much room a Vintage Air unit takes up under the dash has me bafoogled. Where the pipes that go out to the compressor and hot water come out on the firewall, how the air ducts run behind the dash, and so on.

Does anyone have pix of there "in progress" install of one of these systems they could post.

The current plan is to put the ECU on the far left above the steering column where there is a bracing instead of building a center console.

Call Vintage Air, I'll bet they have all the answers.


Jack.

Vintage air gives the dimensions of their units in the catalog. You could build a trial unit out of cardboard and tape to see what will fit. If you don't want to got to that trouble, they also sell dummy units for trial fit.

You could also give them a call. They have sold thousands of AC units and no telling how many of those were for 32's. They will have a good idea what will work.

PS - Jack types faster than I do!

Both of those are great ideas and I'll look online to see what I can find from the website. But does anyone have pix???

I can't find any specific pics but with the shallow dash there ain't much room under it-I ususally extend the dash with 3 to 5 inches of setback for more room-of course the center of the dash guage panel does create clearance issues with back of right side guage and ac unit.

I didn't take progress pics of the VA install on my '33, but the one thing that I would do different is to mount the unit about 2" to 3" lower than I did to facilitate easier routing of the flex air duct hoses. Mine work, but they're crammed in tight, with almost zero room to transition from vertical to horizontal, a PITB to install. I mounted mine high so that it would be out of sight on the passenger side. As for the penetrations on the firewall, the VA unit uses hoses between the unit and the bulkhead connectors, so you can mount the firewall connectors as you wish, provided you have means to route the hoses between the connections.

Find a vintage air dealer near you. They have plastic mockups of the underdash units so you can hold them under the dash and try it out for fit. Other air companies also have mockups of their units. Shop around.

I used classic instruments and had no problem ! The center vent I would order there pre-bent U shaped one as the hose is to sharp of a angle and bends closed ! Plus a lot easier to install ! They have one just for the 32 also ! I am also a VA dealer since 1977 !

Hotrod, I had a lot less to type.


Jack.

I do have one picture of when I was mocking up my Unit-I took out my Cowl Vent for room, and I built a tubular support under the Cowl (for strength and to be able to mount stuff to-mine is a VA Gen II compact btw)-

I've also included a picture with the Dash installed (not quite finished, but you get the idea)-it's tough to hide (unless you have a taller Dash than I)-

Darn it, the pictures are too big-I'll see if I can make them fit-

I took a different approach with my '34, and used VA's reproduction of the old school Mark IV under-dash unit. While it looks big, it's over the console, and doesn't really affect legroom.

I just couldn't make other VA versions fit entirely under my dash for various reasons, including wiring, and I did really want the old school look..

Air Conditioning Small.JPG

I'll try pictures another way:


During mock-up (you can kinda see the structure I built under the Dash):



It's ongoing state:



Kinda hard to hide the unit, and i think I like Henry's idea-

Thanks for sticking with it and sharing the pics....

My dash is very close to TAZHOGS. I'll get some pix of it and underneath showing the tape measure if possible and post them up.
Vintage replied to my email and they do not make a unit specific to this car. Which I knew that,,,, they recommended a universal unit like a GEN II Compact or GEN II Mini. There is one vendor in my area but he's still a hike from me and I don't know if he'd loan out a mock up unit, so I'll make a mock up of the Compact and see how it all fits. I'm pretty sure it's only going to show the bottom half of the unit but until I can find time to measure it's all a guess. GF is really tagging me for her needs LOL. Thanks guy's for all the input and the pix. Without this site I'd be seriously scratching my head and there ain't much hair up there to rub ha ha. Brains either for that matter ))
HotRodN

The fittings are all on the right side, pointing toward the right, but the #6 high pressure fitting points down, so an immediate 90 degree fitting is usually required. I'll have to look up some of my pics. One problem that I noticed is the #10 suction line sits so close to the firewall that there is no way to wrench on it, once the unit is mounted in the car. I solved that problem by cutting a hole is the firewall, large enough to fit the two large wrenches required. I made a single aluminum cover plate that covers the opening that I made, and allows the #6 high side line to pass through the firewall.

To avoid problems, I just bought the entire unit early on in my project, so I could mount it and get that issue out of the way. Mounting was easy, but figuring out a nice looking hose routing took quite awhile.