Aftermarket air-conditioning?

[b5blue]

  Hopefully by this time next year I'll be installing air conditioning in my 70 charger. I'm looking for opinions and experience with aftermarket air equipment suppliers. There are two well-known suppliers located just across the bay in Tampa from me. I'll be running my 440 six pack and have upgraded my alternator to a 120 amp Denso alternator. Although my car originally came with air-conditioning I want to buy an entire new air-conditioning system.
  Please share any experience or opinions you have on any systems and suppliers. Thanks

[elacruze]

My setup is 'stock' with 'Mutt' added.
The compressor brackets came from Bouchillon, to place the Sanden compressor down low where the fuel pump was.
The brackets are pretty nice and fit well.

Classic Air supplied the compressor, hoses, filter-drier and condenser, all in stock configuration. They were out of stock on new-style r134a condensers, so I have an r12 condenser. Classic was thoughtful enough to tell me that in very hot weather it isn't as efficient as the one they were out of, but on the Hot Rod Power Tour we had 4 days of +100* and the A/C never gave in to it. Classic also rebuilt my stock underdash components. Their customer service was sterling.
All in all the system looks nice under the hood, works very well and I'm completely pleased.

[b5blue]

  If you don't mind how much did it cost you for them to rebuild the under dash components? I'm certain my systems totally shot and would need a total overhaul. I have absolutely nothing for the under hood components yet. I have priced complete systems for around $1200 excluding installation and charging of the system. There are upgrades available to do away with vacuum controlled actuators also. The system I'm talking about replaces a standard heater configuration not an A/C car. I'm not worried about originality or having to modify my firewall as my car will always be a daily driver.

[bill440rt]

I'm happy with my Classic Auto Air setup, Neal.
If you're planning to keep the compressor up top, they sell brackets & stuff that will clear the 6-pack air cleaner. I had to notch mine just a bit, but I'm also running a serpentine system so the compressor is in a slightly different spot.

I believe they offer a retrofit kit also for cars that were originally equipped with A/C.

[Dino]

Is there a way to convert the original system to take r134a?  I would love to keep as much of the original parts as possible.  I 'think' I need new rubber oses that have some liner in them, upgraded dryer and new oil seals in the compressor?  Not sure about all of this.

[bill440rt]

There are R12 to R134 conversion kits out there.
It pretty much involves purging/flushing the system, and replacing all o-rings & the drier. I think the hoses are still OK, though. Adapter fittings are used to fill the system back up with R134.

BTW, R134 will also be pushed to the wayside in the near future as well.

[b5blue]

Thanks Bill! 

[elacruze]

IIRC the underdash restoration was about a grand-$1000 but I could be way off, it's been 3 years now.

All it takes to convert from r12 to r134a is a good flush, a change of compressor oil and new rubber hoses because r134a molecules are much smaller than r12 and will leach through the r12 hoses. Classic air sells a new-tech r134a condenser too, although they were out of stock so I'm using the r12 condenser and it's fine even when hot. Their customer service is very good, give them a call for current prices and availability.

[b5blue]

Will do, Thanks!   

[y3chargerrt]

Neal, I have the entire system from Classic auto air that came off of my 69.This includes the condensor coil and lines I had a shop make up. The only thing you would need is the receiver dryer and the hard line from it to the coil. Pm me if your interested and we will talk. Ron

[gtx6970]

I put a complete system from Vintage air on a 1970 Hemi cuda. I like it

[Dino]

I seems the upgrade isn't too bad!  Good news.

Bill I heard about phasing out r134a.  I'll have to do some research as to what the new product will be like.  If it is compatible with r134a then I'm fine with that, as long as I don't have to upgrade the lines once again.

First things first though, I need to fix my heater, I feel like a roast in that thing!