Slant Six Forum :: Late A-Body A/C -> Ealry A-Body?

H'mmm...how to describe this: The '63 wiper motor is more or less a horizontal mount, to the firewall. The '64-'66 wiper motor is more of a vertical mount, not quite to the underside of the dash panel, but almost. The '64-'66 wiper motor setup does clear the '65-up factory air setup (which was essentially the same and shares many parts with the '67-'72 factory air setup, unitised heat/AC).

Retrofitting a '67-up setup would be a ton of work, but you could probably put in a '64-'66 setup with a quarter-ton of work. The wiper pivots are the same between '63 and '64, so if you get everything (motor, linkage rods/pivots/etc.) from a '64-'66, you can probably figure out a way to fabricate a mount.

surgeon generals warning:

reading this post in its entirety will make you cross eyed.

Just to be clear, are you talking about Classic Auto Air or Vintage Air? They're two different companies with two different product lines. I had thought the Classic Auto Air "Perfect Fit" A-body system pulls in outside air, though I just called them and they say it isn't so.

Note that '65-'66 A-bodies with factory A/C did use the cable-type accelerator setup, even with \6 engine.

I'm not certain that a vintage auto air, or some custom setup wouldn't have been better. The '73 box takes up the entire underdash area. A custom box would probably have been cleaner, but cost more (and Vintage Auto Air doesn't take outside air, it just circulates the interior air). So far though, can't beat the cost.

I have been told that the AC out of a Dodge Shadow / Plymouth Sundance will fit into an early A-body but I have been unable to find anyone that can verify that. The person that told me had a tendency to... shall we say... embellish the facts.

Author:	DionR [ Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:18 pm ]
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Quote: H'mmm...how to describe this: The '63 wiper motor is more or less a horizontal mount, to the firewall. The '64-'66 wiper motor is more of a vertical mount, not quite to the underside of the dash panel, but almost. The '64-'66 wiper motor setup does clear the '65-up factory air setup (which was essentially the same and shares many parts with the '67-'72 factory air setup, unitised heat/AC). Retrofitting a '67-up setup would be a ton of work, but you could probably put in a '64-'66 setup with a quarter-ton of work. The wiper pivots are the same between '63 and '64, so if you get everything (motor, linkage rods/pivots/etc.) from a '64-'66, you can probably figure out a way to fabricate a mount. Hmmm....

Author:	DionR [ Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:19 pm ]
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Quote: surgeon generals warning: reading this post in its entirety will make you cross eyed. Is that better than slant eyed?

Author:	DionR [ Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:18 pm ]
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Well, it's in and it fits. But, it sure is big and bulky, and I may have to scallop the bottom driver side corner of the AC box for more room around the throttle pedal. Speaking of which, I highly doubt the stock pedal setup would work (I was already planning to use a cable setup). Time will tell. Still working on the wiper motor setup. Worse case scenario I have to use a streetrod cable setup. I'm going to get a setup out of a '66 Dart this weekend and then we will see how it fits. I'm not certain that a vintage auto air, or some custom setup wouldn't have been better. The '73 box takes up the entire underdash area. A custom box would probably have been cleaner, but cost more (and Vintage Auto Air doesn't take outside air, it just circulates the interior air). So far though, can't beat the cost. There was a point last night when I thought I had ruined my car. Made me wish I had thought about it a bit more before trying it. Oh well, what's done is done.

Author:	SlantSixDan [ Fri Aug 03, 2007 1:31 pm ]
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Just to be clear, are you talking about Classic Auto Air or Vintage Air? They're two different companies with two different product lines. I had thought the Classic Auto Air "Perfect Fit" A-body system pulls in outside air, though I just called them and they say it isn't so. Note that '65-'66 A-bodies with factory A/C did use the cable-type accelerator setup, even with \6 engine.

Author:	DionR [ Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:23 pm ]
Post subject:
Quote: Just to be clear, are you talking about Classic Auto Air or Vintage Air? They're two different companies with two different product lines. I had thought the Classic Auto Air "Perfect Fit" A-body system pulls in outside air, though I just called them and they say it isn't so. Note that '65-'66 A-bodies with factory A/C did use the cable-type accelerator setup, even with \6 engine. I'm not talking about any specific company, I was only referencing the fact that an aftermarket setup might be a better way to go. I went back last night and looked at the Mopar Muscle article where they installed the CLassic Air setup, and that's where I saw that the vent was closed off (in that article, they were called Vintage Auto Air and I'm sure that's part of the confusion). The later A-Body setup is definitely bigger and bulkier and quite a bit of it is visible under the dash. FYI, that box fits fine, there is clearance for the vacuum pods on both ends, the blower motor clears the inner fender, no interference with the dash or steering column, etc. Again, wipers are yet to be figured out, and throttle pedal is a concern. Interesting about the AC cars having cable-type pedals. I will keep you posted, and get some pictures at some point.

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Late A-Body A/C -> Ealry A-Body? https://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23892	Page 2 of 2

Author:	65 dartman [ Fri Aug 03, 2007 4:24 pm ]
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Quote: I'm not certain that a vintage auto air, or some custom setup wouldn't have been better. The '73 box takes up the entire underdash area. A custom box would probably have been cleaner, but cost more (and Vintage Auto Air doesn't take outside air, it just circulates the interior air). So far though, can't beat the cost. I swapped the complete AC system from a 66 Dart to my 65 and the underdash part takes up virtually the whole space as well. Apart from cutting the extra holes in the firewall and the larger blower motor, the factory apparently saw fit to change the direction on the wiring bulkhead connector from a vertical format on the non-AC cars to horizontal. I found that although the original 65 bulkhead connector will still fit (barely), the horizontal should fit much better (more room). I still have to do that mod. I've come across several other factory air 65/66 Plymouth A bodies and the bulkhead connector was also horizontal. As SSDan mentioned, the early factory air cars as well as the V-8s all had the cable set-up. The hardest part of the swap was locating the 65-only heater/AC factory bezel - which I did finally obtain from a genuine 273/235 HP, 4 speed and 8 & 3/4 65 very rusty Dart GT (ended up parting it out)

Author:	DionR [ Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:29 pm ]
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Here are some pictures, for those interested. Still not sure about a wiper motor, more fitting to come tonight. Original firewall Original under dash Wiper motor Heater box comparison Hacked firewall AC box to column support AC box to column support again AC box to cowl fit up Under dash Under dash again Gas pedal Itâ€™s a big box (sorry itâ€™s blurry)

Author:	dakight [ Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:25 pm ]
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I have been told that the AC out of a Dodge Shadow / Plymouth Sundance will fit into an early A-body but I have been unable to find anyone that can verify that. The person that told me had a tendency to... shall we say... embellish the facts.

Author:	DionR [ Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:37 pm ]
Post subject:
Quote: I have been told that the AC out of a Dodge Shadow / Plymouth Sundance will fit into an early A-body but I have been unable to find anyone that can verify that. The person that told me had a tendency to... shall we say... embellish the facts. Been wondering about that. Nice thing about those boxes is, the blower motor is inside the car, so no big hole to cut in the firewall. Maybe I should check into it, 'cuz there ain't no way a stock wiper setup is going to work with the '73 box I have. I have a spot that would clear everything, but it will require a custom mount and arm. Dash is going to have to come out to see. Or, I could just weld in the '66 setup I got yesterday, along with the flat firewall and call it a "learning experience".

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