- Local time
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- Joined
- Apr 13, 2012
- Messages
- 40,028
- Reaction score
- 148,413
- Location
- Granite Bay CA
I've had this car since March of 2000 and none of the heating nor A/C has ever worked in it. The car was originally an XP model Charger 500 with a 318 2 barrel, 904 automatic, 8 1/4" axle with 2.71 gears and 4 wheel 10" drum brakes. I had plans for a 440 so I kept the 318 totally intact and sold it a few weeks after the 440 was in and running. The car has not had an A/C compressor under the hood since 2001.
I always thought...Air Conditioning is for wimps....Hot rods don't need it.
Uhh....
After a few more birthdays, a few rides in other classics with A/C and several years of driving late model cars in DRY SHIRT comfort in 100 degree weather, I am convinced that A/C makes sense for me.
Some had suggested a rebuild of my stock under dash unit. I don't know much about these except that they are a mix of vacuum and electric in function and weigh a bunch. I had everything under the dash intact...ducts, hoses for the defroster, wiring uncut, everything was there but the vacuum controls worried me a bit. Leaks, low vacuum from a performance cam and the complexity drove me away from sticking with the stock stuff. I knew that I wanted a less cluttered underhood appearance than the original A/C cars had so I looked around at the vendors. Dennis H suggested Classic Auto Air so I checked them out.
I was impressed with the many options they offered for my car. They can build a kit to restore it to completely stock specs for an original A/C car, they can retrofit a "heater only" car to A/C....OR custom fit a series of parts to do a mix of the two.
I ordered the kit in February 2018. Yeah...It has been on the back burner for quite awhile.
One of the things that I wanted at first was to avoid the cluttered look of the stock 4 belt arrangement on the front of the engine. I worked to try to get a 3 belt setup to work, eliminating the idler pulley that the factory used.
I always thought...Air Conditioning is for wimps....Hot rods don't need it.
Uhh....
After a few more birthdays, a few rides in other classics with A/C and several years of driving late model cars in DRY SHIRT comfort in 100 degree weather, I am convinced that A/C makes sense for me.
Some had suggested a rebuild of my stock under dash unit. I don't know much about these except that they are a mix of vacuum and electric in function and weigh a bunch. I had everything under the dash intact...ducts, hoses for the defroster, wiring uncut, everything was there but the vacuum controls worried me a bit. Leaks, low vacuum from a performance cam and the complexity drove me away from sticking with the stock stuff. I knew that I wanted a less cluttered underhood appearance than the original A/C cars had so I looked around at the vendors. Dennis H suggested Classic Auto Air so I checked them out.
I was impressed with the many options they offered for my car. They can build a kit to restore it to completely stock specs for an original A/C car, they can retrofit a "heater only" car to A/C....OR custom fit a series of parts to do a mix of the two.
I ordered the kit in February 2018. Yeah...It has been on the back burner for quite awhile.
One of the things that I wanted at first was to avoid the cluttered look of the stock 4 belt arrangement on the front of the engine. I worked to try to get a 3 belt setup to work, eliminating the idler pulley that the factory used.