Vintage Air installation in a 1968 Satellite

[Kern Dog]

Back to it.
The Vintage Air suggested routing of the heater hoses and A/C lines is through the firewall in the right wheel well, up and over the upper control arm mounts and through the square-ish hole forward of the UCA mounts. The factory punched holes in the fender apron for access to the UCA alignment cam bolts/nuts. They used a steel plate to close off the opening to reduce the intrusion of grime from the road surface.
VA includes this cover.

I used rubber grommets to seal and insulate the edges of the aluminum lines that will pass through it.

 

[Kern Dog]

This was an easy job:
Two 5/16” coarse screws…

Hey… that is a clean alternator.

The grommets with the holes are for the A/C #6 and #10 lines, I still need to cut holes for the two heater lines.
Here comes what made me nervous….

This is in the RH wheel well looking at the firewall. Holes need to be drilled here to fit the 4 port manifold.

Why am I nervous?
Because this isn’t my car. I like the guy that owns it. I don’t want to screw it up and disappoint the man. If this were my car, whatever mistakes I’d make would just disappoint me and I’d just live with it.
Here goes….

Four pilot holes, then….

 

[Kern Dog]

The stepped drill bit is a great invention. I didn’t have a 1.125” hole saw. This worked great.

The routing of the A/C fittings and hoses was figured and the hoses were cut to fit.

These fit great and have no kinks or weird bends. They will get crimped before final assembly. For now I’ll leave them in place. Heater hoses are the easy part on this side… I’ll use high quality band clamps and know they will hold without tearing the hose ends.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Awesome work. I approve.
I also love the stepped drill bit. In my limited experience, the watch out is to be careful with too much applied pressure because the hole can become too large very quickly.

 

[70ChargerRT]

Looking great!

 

[Kern Dog]

I dont believe in Jinxes.
Having stated that, I think the part that had me nervous is done. The lines should go together just by using bonehead logic and common sense.
They just have to be routed out of the way of the tire and suspension at full travel.
From the firewall, the lines need to go up at about a 45 Degree angle.
The fittings I had were all 90 degree elbows ….

…. So I took a little of the bend out so they aim at the right angle.

The lines cannot be right here at the end of the screwdriver:

That is the corner of the fender apron. See how close the tire gets to that edge (my car used for the next pictures)

This means the lines need to be above that edge or below and under it.
Vintage Air saw this coming. Their drawings route the lines the same as I had figured:

They have them exiting the firewall, going up then across, then turning down to the hard lines.

Forgive the duct tape please…. I needed a way to position the lines temporarily. They will get secured with straps.
The engine side…

The lines are not exactly where they will end up, they will be shaped a bit before I’m done.

 

[Kern Dog]

Since I want the lines to exit the firewall and aim up at a slight angle, I needed to but a bend in the heater hard line fittings.
Uhhh….

Well, the top broken one is the angle I need. I have a few options…
I could see about pre- bent lines in the angle I want.
I could shorten these and put a bubble flare where it broke.
I could see about shorter lines.
I don’t have a flaring tool big enough so I’ll see what the local Hot Rod shop has.
I also need a 180 degree #8 line like so:

The discharge line needs to hang a U turn and head toward the battery. This Is how my Charger is routed and it works.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Is the small diameter hard line going through the lower right grommet in the correct grommet location? Seems like the opening is too big and it needs to route through one of the 2 left side grommets instead?

 

[Kern Dog]

The lines are installed as shown in the instructions. The fender apron plate is plastic with 4 equal sized holes in it but it came with no grommets. These grommets were originally intended for the firewall in lieu of the 4 port manifold. They did fit this plate so I put them in to see how it all works.
This is the mock up stage where things are trial fitted and examined for fitment and appearance.
The yellow capped lines are for the heater hoses. They fit through plastic body plugs that were drilled barely big enough to get the line through. They have no threaded fittings on them so the holes in the plugs/grommets can fit snugly.
The blue capped lines are the #6 and #10 lines for the A/C. The # 10 line fits nicely through the grommet but there still is some gap.
The diameter of the #6 line is obviously smaller. Yes, it would be a better idea to see if another grommet is available with a solid center that could be cut to fit snug around the line but keep in mind, the fitting on the end of both A/C lines has to fit through the grommet and the threaded fitting is noticeably bigger than the line itself.
The gap in the grommet can be closed up a little but not eliminated entirely.

 

[Kern Dog]

I picked up a few things today.

Two 45 degree angled water/heater hose fittings to go at the 4 port manifold to aim up toward the underside of the fender. The shop had the two grommets to fit closer to the hard lines going through the fender apron.

 

[Kern Dog]

I got some hold down clamps.

I’m having trouble finding something to wrap around all four hoses to hold them up high. I may have to make something.
The bolts that go through the fender into the apron are long enough to have threads still showing:

A strap could be hung from these with a nut to retain them. This would get around drilling holes in the body. I’ll drill where I have to but prefer to avoid it if I can.

 

[Kern Dog]

The A/C compressor has two male threaded fittings on it, one for suction and one for discharge. On my car, I clocked the compressor 90 degrees to aim the fittings toward the right/passenger side. I did that with this car too. This allows a straight shot for the suction line toward the right side of the car where the lines come through the fender apron.
Since this car already had the condenser mounted with the receiver/ drier, I am going to run the discharge line to the left behind the battery and through the core support in the same way I did my Charger.

This means the discharge line has to make a U turn from the compressor.
Here is my car:

The man at the shop had this:

The female nut at the end looks smaller than I need but I’ll know more when I get back out there tomorrow.
One more thing….
The heater hose clamps. I wanted to use EFI style band clamps for increased hold with no damage to the hoses but the NAPA store said they didn’t stock them in the size I needed. I got these though:

They are worm gear clamps but they have an inner sleeve that regular worm clamps don’t have.

These will tighten up and seal without squishing or cutting the rubber hoses.

I needed 12 just to get from the evaporator to the engine side given all the connections. The store had 9. I’ll have to go to another store tomorrow.
The parts alone on this project are racking up some $$$.
Vintage did supply some clamps but they seemed below par for this car.
I had to cut it short today… thunderstorms and a trip to the vet with this girl….

…. Took up a little of my day.
More tomorrow, check back and see.

 

[Kern Dog]

I was sitting here pondering if this fitting would fit....

My curiosity got to me so I went out to the shop....

YES, it does fit. I then mocked up the # 8 discharge hard line....

My first attempt with the hose...

Functionally, it would be fine.

The car has a hydraulic cam so it isn't as crucial to have clearance around the valve cover for frequent valve lash adjustments.
I know that no matter what, these lines do add clutter to a sanitary engine bay but they are a necessary thing to have A/C.
If I used a longer section of hose, I could put a banana curve in it like so:

It does not matter to me, I'll let the owner decide which way to go here.
Okay, I really am done with hands-on work tonight. It is dinner time.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Nice mock ups Greg. I knew going into this that adding A/C would increase the clutter like you said. That's one reason when I ran new larger starter cables I went extra long so I could route them low and on the outside edges. Could we do the same thing here to minimize the visual horizontal space crossing? Route the line down low below the head and below the level of the battery tray, then up. Or even under the battery tray then up (would need to shorten hard line for that though). If I would have ordered the dryer separate to mount up near the passenger firewall like you did instead of pre-mounted to the condenser on the driver side, what kind of compressor hose routing does that look like again? Can you show me another photo of your 70 charger with that setup?

 

[Kern Dog]

The Classic Auto Air setup had the receiver/drier, #6 A/C line with the pressure switch right off the firewall like so:

Some of these pictures are during the installation and at "mock up" stage.

This hard line had a zig zag. The blue circled area is where the low pressure switch was put in.

To put your # 6 line back here, it changes the way it would connect to the evaporator.
I may be misunderstanding you. We should chat tomorrow to clarify.
The discharge line near the battery can be routed to sit lower but there are limits. I can't cut the hard line and reflare it. I have a flaring kit but 3/8" is the largest size I can do. It sits lower on my car...

I can duplicate this in the Plymouth by using a longer rubber hose segment and clocking the elbow fitting at the fender apron. (Point more down instead of horizontal)

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

excellent photos Greg, thanks. That answers my question. Your car still has that soft line crossing in the same location (for the condensor, regardless of drier location).
So let's stick with the routing you showed for my car orginaly, but just make the soft section longer so it can sit down lower (below the bottom of the valve cover if possible).
The nice thing is, on my car I don't have as much open front space on the Plymouth like you do on the Charger, so the right to left hard line that crosses the radiator can tuck up more out of sight,

 

[70ChargerRT]

excellent photos Greg, thanks. That answers my question. Your car still has that soft line crossing in the same location (for the condensor, regardless of drier location).
So let's stick with the routing you showed for my car orginaly, but just make the soft section longer so it can sit down lower (below the bottom of the valve cover if possible).
The nice thing is, on my car I don't have as much open front space on the Plymouth like you do on the Charger, so the right to left hard line that crosses the radiator can tuck up more out of sight,

Me personally I don’t know why you wouldn’t mount your drier on the rad support just like Vintage shows. There’s nothing wrong with making it your own but IMO it’s just an all around cleaner look.

 

[Kern Dog]

That would have worked too. I'm dealing with what I have here and whet was done before I started. The condenser was in place with the receiver/drier attached left of center, near the drivers headlights.
I've seen a range of arrangements with the Vintage Air systems. That seems to be one of the reasons some people prefer VA, they allow some flexibility for the installation where Classic Auto Air seemed to be a one size fits all sort of deal.

 

[Kern Dog]

The nice thing is, on my car I don't have as much open front space on the Plymouth like you do on the Charger, so the right to left hard line that crosses the radiator can tuck up more out of sight,

I may be able to route that #6 line down low near the bottom of the radiator and turn and go through the core support rather than up and over it.

This is just a guess, subject to closer inspection to see if it would work. The orange or green line I added would be an interesting route.

 

[Kern Dog]

Another play on the picture:

The blue line represents a path starting at the vertical rectangle on the right side of the picture. It could be down low, across the front and turn through the core support and then attach to the line coming through the fender apron.
I like this route. It tucks the line somewhat out of sight.
I wish that I had a way to flare these larger lines...I'd then be able to shorten a line to custom fit the application.
I could then make almost any length work for this. As it is, I have to be more creative to make existing lengths work.