Air conditioner choices

[pflaming]

Which aftermarket AC's deliver good results for the very least expense in an early 50's MOPAR with a 230 ci . engine? 

[DrDoctor]

   While I can’t answer your question directly, most companies use the Sanden compressor, which is supposed to be superior to the ones used back in the day. Vintage Air is a major provider. However, since these flatheads aren’t what we’d call “main stream”, whatever company you choose to go with, you may have to do some fabricating for the mounting brackets on the engine.

[Mortimer452]

I've heard good things about the Hurricane AC systems, no personal experience with them though.  Whatever you choose, probably will have to convert to 12v system if you haven't already.

[countrytravler]

This was at the BBQ that we attended April 1st.

[pflaming]

A picture is worth a . . . . Now who owns that truck?

[countrytravler]

Tim should know.

[55 Fargo]

You Guys gettin "soft", need that AC.....LOL

I get it, these trucks can be hot even in a northern plains climate in the dead of summer.

Flaming, how about a swamp cooler... or sitting on dry ice pads

[pflaming]

Spit. . . . "Ice pads and / or ice pads. . ." Sorry, not interested in Canada! 

[55 Fargo]

37 minutes ago, pflaming said:

Spit. . . . "Ice pads and / or ice pads. . ." Sorry, not interested in Canada! 

No Paul, as a lot pf Americans don't realize, it's not winter here all year round.....LOL

In fact Canada's west coast is quite balmy all winter and usually doesn't snow.

Southern Ontario has winter, but quite mild compared to ours.

Nah we live in igloos and use toboggans most of the time....LOL

I also know you have family here, and understand the climate....

[pflaming]

Yes, we were in Winnipeg summer of 2015 and was quite impressed with the area. The distance to Winnipeg from our house is 3,000 miles same as Maine where our son lives. We drove that triangle and I got hooked on cross country traveling. Of all that route the top tier of the continent from Maine to Wyoming impressed me the most. Now if Canada can control their immigration challenges, then  the USA won't have to move the border line up 100 miles to avoid building two fences!!! LOL 

[55 Fargo]

Hmm, its 1959 miles to LA guess your a little farther..

5 minutes ago, pflaming said:

Yes, we were in Winnipeg summer of 2015 and was quite impressed with the area. The distance to Winnipeg from our house is 3,000 miles same as Maine where our son lives. We drove that triangle and I got hooked on cross country traveling. Of all that route the top tier of the continent from Maine to Wyoming impressed me the most. Now if Canada can control their immigration challenges, then  the USA won't have to move the border line up 100 miles to avoid building two fences!!! LOL 

Yup no interest in "politics" of all this.

[DrDoctor]

pflaming,

   The photo of the engine bay shows a Sanden compressor. The under-dash unit shown in the photo of the interior looks like what I put into a car for a guy a few years ago (a Vintage Air system), altho’ that unit was a heater/AC combination. With or without the heater feature, their under-dash unit looks the same. It was an odd-ball make of car, and I had to fabricate all of the brackets on the engine (which I enjoy doing . . .). If your car has a heater, you obviously don’t need that feature. But, if your heater is marginal, or just plain missing, that might be an option for you to explore—you could solve two problems at once, and no one would know the difference, except you.

[DrDoctor]

pflaming,

   P.S. — I’ve installed 4 or 5 AC systems, counting the one with the heater/AC combination—all of them being Vintage Air systems, and have never had a problem with the installation of any of them. I do NOT charge them with the Freon, however, as I’m very uncomfortable with that. I knew a guy back in undergrad school who was recharging his AC system, and something went horribly wrong—a fitting blew off, sprayed him in the face with the gas, and blinded him permanently. Thus, I’m “gun-shy” of charging the system, and if one isn’t comfortable with a process, one runs the risk of getting injured, or injuring someone else. So, I never learned how to do that, and I don’t want to learn it, either. I just avoid the process altogether. Just a choice. . .

[countrytravler]

2 hours ago, DrDoctor said:

pflaming,

   P.S. — I’ve installed 4 or 5 AC systems, counting the one with the heater/AC combination—all of them being Vintage Air systems, and have never had a problem with the installation of any of them. I do NOT charge them with the Freon, however, as I’m very uncomfortable with that. I knew a guy back in undergrad school who was recharging his AC system, and something went horribly wrong—a fitting blew off, sprayed him in the face with the gas, and blinded him permanently. Thus, I’m “gun-shy” of charging the system, and if one isn’t comfortable with a process, one runs the risk of getting injured, or injuring someone else. So, I never learned how to do that, and I don’t want to learn it, either. I just avoid the process altogether. Just a choice. . .

 

And that is why we have goggles.

[DrDoctor]

   Yeah, but goggles only do so much . . .

[classiccarjack]

I have installed Vintage Air kits and helped perfect designs with Classic Auto Air in Muscle Cars when I owned my restoration business.

Vintage offers brackets to accommodate a kit they haven't designed for any particular vehicle.  With these generic brackets, you can shape them and weld to them in order to fabricate what you need in order to make a Sanden compressor fit your application.  

I just fit a Vintage Air Kit to a 1955 Studebaker Truck.  They also provided me with a bracket kit to install a 12V GM alternator on the 224 V8 engine.  It all fit nicely.  Although Vintage doesn't give options for a 6V system, you can send your generator out to "Genernator" and get it converted to 12V, look completely stock, and it does work very well.  Don not only built one for the 1949 Power Wagon I restored, he personally came out to my business and visited me afterwards.  What a great guy!  

 

[Frank Elder]

1 hour ago, classiccarjack said:

I have installed Vintage Air kits and helped perfect designs with Classic Auto Air in Muscle Cars when I owned my restoration business.

Vintage offers brackets to accommodate a kit they haven't designed for any particular vehicle.  With these generic brackets, you can shape them and weld to them in order to fabricate what you need in order to make a Sanden compressor fit your application.  

I just fit a Vintage Air Kit to a 1955 Studebaker Truck.  They also provided me with a bracket kit to install a 12V GM alternator on the 224 V8 engine.  It all fit nicely.  Although Vintage doesn't give options for a 6V system, you can send your generator out to "Genernator" and get it converted to 12V, look completely stock, and it does work very well.  Don not only built one for the 1949 Power Wagon I restored, he personally came out to my business and visited me afterwards.  What a great guy!  

 

 

If I am going to add a glaringly non-stock component to the engine compartment such as an AC compressor, I'm certainly not going to worry about making an alternator look like a generator.....I'll save that money for gas and tires!

[classiccarjack]

5 hours ago, Frank Elder said:

If I am going to add a glaringly non-stock component to the engine compartment such as an AC compressor, I'm certainly not going to worry about making an alternator look like a generator.....I'll save that money for gas and tires!

Certainly a good point, but I threw it out there for the people that like the look of a generator over a GM alternator.  And desire air conditioning and have to upgrade to 12 volts.  It's not my personal preference....  Just trying to be helpful.

My car's AC comes on when I roll my windows down.  LOL

[pflaming]

Note: average daily temp in SAN Diago is around 65 degrees, one of the most consistent temps in USA. 

[classiccarjack]

4 minutes ago, pflaming said:

Note: average daily temp in SAN Diago is around 65 degrees, one of the most consistent temps in USA. 

I drive to Phoenix regularly, and I drive back and forth to Kansas every summer.  I have sensitivity to mold do to a hereditary  condition I inherited that causes me to get pneumonia easily, and tend to avoid AC being installed into my own personal cars because of this.  I have been hired by others to do this sort of thing and just wanted to pass along my ideas and experiences to help you look into options that you may not have heard of Paul.  But it seems like my helpfulness isn't taken well on this topic.  

Sorry for wasting your time, I won't bother you on this topic any further.

[Plymouthy Adams]

26 minutes ago, classiccarjack said:

 

My car's AC comes on when I roll my windows down.  LOL

and you drive it on Saturday nights when it rains so to take full advantage of the weekend SHOWER....!!

[classiccarjack]

Just now, Plymouthy Adams said:

and you drive it on Saturday nights when it rains so to take full advantage of the weekend SHOWER....!!

I live on a dirt road, it's how I get them washed!  LOL

[classiccarjack]

But then, we actually got some rain this year!  I have realized that I have some leaking windshields to address.  And some leaking wiper arm gaskets on my 1960's cars...  Ugg

[Plymouthy Adams]

depends on the 60's cars....some of the early 60's had some very poor designs in the area of the wiper mounts and also the air intake of the cowl...we will call it the Morton design...when it rains, it pours....

[classiccarjack]

7 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

depends on the 60's cars....some of the early 60's had some very poor designs in the area of the wiper mounts and also the air intake of the cowl...we will call it the Morton design...when it rains, it pours....

That is so true, even worse, those areas were not painted and rust out easily....  I have one car with this affliction.  I just found out that there is a primer designed to be welded on.  After I buy some more metal shaping tools, I will give it a repair regimen...

Sorry Paul for getting off topic here.