Vintage Air heater box install

[6290988]

69 Satellite

Vintage Air heater box part #506101

So my heater core went a month ago. When I pulled the heater box I realized I would need to rebuild it. My brother installed one a Vintage Air heater box in one of his cars and it worked well so I decided to go that route.

Install went fairly easy. I wanted to use the existing holes where the stock heater box bolted up too. Vintage air tells you to bolt straight to the firewall. I made a template of cardboard first. Once I test fit that I transferred the template to 1/8 inch aluminum. I bought vintage air aluminum pipe to bend to come out the stock holes.

I like the way it turned out. I know A lot of people won't agree with the route I went. This is not an original car. Nothing about it this car is original so I felt it wasn't a big deal. This whole set up has to weigh less than 10 pounds.

 

[Kern Dog]

Hey man, it is YOUR car, right? You spent YOUR own money on it too, didn't you?
Unless a man is paying your bills, they don't have the right to tell you what to do. I don't know much about the HVAC systems in these cars but that looks like a heater/defroster setup, right? No A/C ? What did that cost?

 

[6290988]

Hey man, it is YOUR car, right? You spent YOUR own money on it too, didn't you?
Unless a man is paying your bills, they don't have the right to tell you what to do. I don't know much about the HVAC systems in these cars but that looks like a heater/defroster setup, right? No A/C ? What did that cost?

Yeah, heater defroster. $230 plus another $30 on the bendable pipes.

 

[Sat66]

Looks great. Did you plumb into the factory defrost vents in the top of the dash, or did you use the supplied ones? How far does the unit hang down? It's hard to tell did you mount it above the transmission hump? I'm in the same perdicament with my 66satellite. My A/C is long gone, and nothing's original. Thanks.

 

[Sat66]

Looks great. Did you plumb into the factory defrost vents in the top of the dash, or did you use the supplied ones? How far does the unit hang down? It's hard to tell did you mount it above the transmission hump? I'm in the same perdicament with my 66satellite. My A/C is long gone, and nothing's original. Thanks.

 

[Sat66]

Oops sorry for the double post.

 

[6290988]

Looks great. Did you plumb into the factory defrost vents in the top of the dash, or did you use the supplied ones? How far does the unit hang down? It's hard to tell did you mount it above the transmission hump? I'm in the same perdicament with my 66satellite. My A/C is long gone, and nothing's original. Thanks.

It's a defroster/heater so I did plug in the factory defrost vents using the factory hoses. One factory hose wouldn't reach so I used the extra hose and tied them together with duct tape (it's under the dash, no one will see). I'll try to get a better picture today when I get home but it doesn't hang lower than stock. I mounted it directly above the trans tunnel.

Vintage Air says to drill holes in your fire wall and mount it directly to that but I made that custom bracket out of aluminum and bolted to the holes the factory box mounted to.

 

[not so famous bob]

It's a defroster/heater so I did plug in the factory defrost vents using the factory hoses. One factory hose wouldn't reach so I used the extra hose and tied them together with duct tape (it's under the dash, no one will see). I'll try to get a better picture today when I get home but it doesn't hang lower than stock. I mounted it directly above the trans tunnel.

Vintage Air says to drill holes in your fire wall and mount it directly to that but I made that custom bracket out of aluminum and bolted to the holes the factory box mounted to.

I did much the same thing on an A body, barracuda. But used an aftermarket hotrod heater. About everyone sells them. much-much cheaper. Had to fabricate brackets to mount it up high under the center of the dash. Its a little bigger, as it`s built in a box, instead of being open like the one pictured. It would seem to be even easier on a B body .

 

[Billccm]

When the time comes for a new heater core I will probably go this route. I like the weight savings and a heater control valve.

Let us know if you have any future issues with quality of the unit.

 

[6290988]

When the time comes for a new heater core I will probably go this route. I like the weight savings and a heater control valve.

Let us know if you have any future issues with quality of the unit.

Will do. So far I have no complaints but have only used it once. I'm sure when winter hits it'll get used more often.

 

[6290988]

I did much the same thing on an A body, barracuda. But used an aftermarket hotrod heater. About everyone sells them. much-much cheaper. Had to fabricate brackets to mount it up high under the center of the dash. Its a little bigger, as it`s built in a box, instead of being open like the one pictured. It would seem to be even easier on a B body .

My brother installed one on his 72 Dart. I believe he ran into some issues with space. He also fabricated a cover plate for the old holes for the lines and other stuff and made his only holes for the new lines and mounting.

I felt like I had plenty of room. I did lose the passenger vent but I have an idea to fix that. I hope to work on it today and if it works I'll post it up here.

 

[funknut]

I see the OP hasn't been on in some time, but in case he visits I'd be interested in an update on this. Or from anyone else that's gone this route. ;)

 

[mopar blood]

Ditto!