vintage air

[yourownself]

anybody ever use it or see it used in a g-body?
i like the look of a clean firewall, but not enough to sacrifice comfort by eliminating my a/c and heat.
i know they don't make a kit especially for a g body, but they do have the "you make it fit" kits. i really like the idea of having everything hidden like that.
thanks for the input

 

[BrownGP83]

Give the company a call and see what they can figure out. I think they can take your original controls and modify them to work with their systems.

 

[yourownself]

that's my biggest concern. i really want to either maintain my controls, or at least find something that doesn't look like it belongs in a '32 ford coupe! it seems like all their controls are either milled billet or crinkle plastic like the a/c controls in my old jeep!

 

[BrownGP83]

I read an article in Car Craft a couple years ago where they put a new system in a Buick[70-72 i think?] using a block off plate, the kit, andhad their original controls modified to work with the new parts to maintain the original look.

 

[yourownself]

sweet! i'm liking the sound of this more and more!
let's just hope the idea likes my wallet as much as i do!

 

[BrownGP83]

I looked into doing the same think in my GP and i think it was a around $1500.?? Cant remember. Finding all the stock parts and redoing the system to stock would have cost just over $1000 and wouldnt have cleaned up the engine bay like that. Unfortunatly the project got put on the back burner and i forgot about it untill now.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I did a Classic Air system with my neighbor on a 1973 Camaro. It wasn't cheap or terribly easy, but it did turn out pretty well. Unfortunately, the controls did not work out quite as well as I would have liked, but they still worked.

 

[yourownself]

Unfortunately, the controls did not work out quite as well as I would have liked, but they still worked.

what didn't you like about the controls? were they slow, tough, out of order?
would i just be better off reusing the a/c off of my donor?

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The controls did not quite line up perfectly. I would say that if you have factory air it is probably the cheapest way to go. Yes, it's ugly. Parts are cheaper though and easier to get. The other issue you would need to address is space behind the dash. There isn't really a lot to begin with on the G body. The Camaro kit came with a shortened glovebox liner to make it work, but the G body is different.

Also, the Classic Air kit has everything actuated by small electric servo motors instead of vacuum or cables like most older cars. I don't know that I like that very much as I see it as a possible failure point. It does make the controls easy to slide though since there is no mechanical link.