Heat and Defrost Unit from Vintage Air install

[Local Hero]

I've been alluding to my replacing what was left of my factory HVAC system with a small compact heat and defrost unit from Vintage Air (part number 506101) for some time now. This weekend was that event.

First a few disclaimers: Several know that my 83 Regal Wagon is my beater. I can't save every car out there and I need to "use" some vehicles for their intended purposes. This wagon is just that. Along with that, all work I do on this car emphasizes function over form, meaning that while I try to do my best work on everything I do, this car needs to function better than it looks. So my installation was to simply make it work. It didn't have to be beautiful. While this car had factory AC, I didn't want to spend the extra money to have working AC. I have other cars that do. This car goes out in the snow so I needed a good heater and defroster first and foremost. The previous owner butchered the stock system so bad that I didn't feel the least bit guilty ripping it entirely out of the car.

I'm a big fan of Vintage Air products having installed a full blown Generation II AC/Heat/Defrost unit in my '68 Cougar. I like that their systems use electronic servos to direct airflow as opposed to vacuum. That was ideal here since all the vacuum stuff was gone on my car.

The 506101 was purchased from Summit and it is listed for $229. By comparison, the system I put in the Cougar was on the heavy side of a Grand complete.

The Heater kit comes with almost everything needed. It does not include the 5/8" heater hose since each application is different. It also uses 5/8" hoses for both pressure and return. So I had to adapt to a 5/8" nipple from 3/4" on the water pump.

The unit is very small and compact.

It includes all the hardware and grommets, and adapters for the hoses.

The control panel is already set to install under dash and comes mostly prewired. There are three fan speeds, three modes: Heat only, Defrost only, and a blend of the two, and a temperature control.

The heater control valve to block coolant through the heater core is electronic and installs in the hose between the intake manifold and the unit.

It includes two little defrost vents and some flexible hose to connect them to the unit.

It did NOT include the firewall block off panel. Normally I would fab this up myself. But JEGS had this budget unit for much cheaper than I could have gotten the material and made it myself. It fit perfectly.

 

[Local Hero]

I added the flexible hose to the defrost ducts and mounted them up under the dash in the stock locations. Then I mocked up the firewall panel inside in place and positioned the heater unit on the backside of the panel and market where it will be positioned. I wanted to make it a close to the center as possible, yet only be attached to the panel so that I could get it all mounted outside the car and then just bolt the whole panel in.

This is one of those areas where I went for function first. The kit includes grommets to run the 5/8" hose all the way through the panel. But by the time I did that the loop of hose inside the car would have been so large to avoid kinking, that it wouldn't have allowed the glovebox to fit back in. I also intended to run the control valve under the dash as well, but that changed when I decided to use the supplied 90 degree fittings to pass through the panel instead.

On my Cougar, all of that stuff including the AC dryer are installed inside the car to hide them and I used one of VA's bulkhead fittings to clean up the smoothed firewall.

Here is the firewall panel back in the car and plumbed.

Next I turned my attention to the control panel. It would have been easy to just bolt it under the dash and be done. But I wanted the controls back in the stock location. I used a blank panel from an Audio Visual equipment rack (I'm in the video business) because it had a nice powder-coated finish and was a nice sturdy steel.

 

[Local Hero]

All that was left to finish the wiring, add the coolant and run it. They recommend wiring the main power directly to the battery, which I did. But then it doesn't shut off with the key-off. I decided to wire in a Bosch relay that is triggered by the key source to turn the relay on to then get power from the battery to run the unit. I haven't picked up a relay yet. That's an easy add later on because I can just see Jr. leaving the unit on when he parks the car and killing the battery.

It's hard to get a good test how well the system works when it's 95 degrees outside. But it appears to be working well. The airflow is also directed by servo motors. When in defrost mode, the air blows through the flexible hoses. In heat mode, a trap door opens up on the bottom to let the heat out.

The fan is a bit noisier than the original since it's all inside the car rather than underhood, even on low speed.

I had some time left over and found one of my bigger hurdles was remounting the windshield washer squirter on the passenger side now that all that stuff was missing. I also didn't like the big void on that side at the base of the windshield with the hood closed. So I hacked up some of the pieces to allow me to re-install the cowl vent system. However, keep in mind, the unit doesn't use ANY outside air. But my vent system never worked anyway. I blocked off the cowl tray and added a drain to it and here's what I ended up with.

So there you have it. Thanks for reading. Any questions, feel free to post them up.

 

[GuysMonteSS]

That is the same unit that I used and my install was very similar to yours.
I made a panel to mount the controls too and put it in the stock location;

I also hooked the defrost hose into the stock vent;

Heres a look at mine all finished;

You cant see it but I made a L shaped bracket out of a piece of stainless steel and bolted it too the firewall and screwed the servo to it for extra support.
Where there is no fresh air coming in with this system I found that one window needs to be cracked open a tiny bit or the defrost will fog up the inside of the windows.
Overall I am very pleased with how well this unit works.
Guy

 

[Turbolq4]

It's hard to keep mine defrosted. All the heavy breathing in there fogs up the windows without an outside air source for the heater.

 

[gbodytoys]

thank you very much for this thread!!!