Vintage Air installation in a 1968 Satellite

[Kern Dog]

The inside line of the drain has a slight kink I'll straighten out.
I have to pull the evaporator out to attach the #6 line. I just can’t reach it with the unit it place. They could have placed the stub in a better place than they did.
More to come.

 

[Kern Dog]

It is out.

Here you can see the #6 line. The heater core hoses have the yellow caps.

Here you can see (at the right) the mounting bracket that attaches to the firewall. Not much clearance there to spin a wrench. Plus, as delicate as the copper is, I needed to put a 14 mm wrench on the copper end to keep from damaging it. Two wrenches up in a tight spot with my hands?
Nope.

Out is the open, access is fine.

Before the evaporator can go back in….

I bought two boxes of this stuff for Jigsaw.

 

[Dennis H]

From Russia.

 

[Kern Dog]

They say you don’t have to cover every square inch with this stuff but..
I covered the firewall.

I’m up to the cowl, which had me curious…. Is there any benefit from putting this stuff on the underside of the cowl?

I’d need to know before the evaporator goes back in. It is much easier now.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I’d say go for it while you can.

 

[mopar jack]

Here you can see (at the right) the mounting bracket that attaches to the firewall. Not much clearance there to spin a wrench. Plus, as delicate as the copper is, I needed to put a 14 mm wrench on the copper end to keep from damaging it. Two wrenches up in a tight spot with my hands?
Nope.

Check out these wrenches from Vintage air. Definitely no room at the evaporator. Don't know if it was an option for your install but Vintage sells an evap hard line kit for the E body sure fit package. All lines protrude through the fire wall and are connected on the other side. Search Results - Vintage Air

 

[Kern Dog]

Check out these wrenches from Vintage air. Definitely no room at the evaporator. Don't know if it was an option for your install but Vintage sells an evap hard line kit for the E body sure fit package. All lines protrude through the fire wall and are connected on the other side. Search Results - Vintage Air

Those wrenches may work for someone with smaller hands and more flexibility.
My hands are a bit over average size and I don't bend as well as I used to. I'm not arthritic but I can't bend like rubber in strange positions. The heater hoses will be reasonably easy to hook up since they aim parallel with the firewall.
Secondly, The "E-Body hard line kit" may work for a 71-74 B body but I suspect the 66-70 B is a bit different.
Did I misunderstand you?

 

[Kern Dog]

A quick search and... https://www.vintageair.com/instructions_pdf/909950.pdf

This looks like it needs to be done too.

I find it strange that this needs to be done when the CAA kit does not.

 

[70ChargerRT]

This looks like it needs to be done too.

View attachment 1626932View attachment 1626933

I find it strange that this needs to be done when the CAA kit does not.

Yeah I didn’t calibrate mine and it works great, maybe it could work better???Now you got me wanting to go back and calibrate mine anyways for the heck of it.

 

[mopar jack]

Don't know if the evap hard line kit would work for you but looking at the mock-ups you showed inside the car this would get you close to the location on the firewall.

 

[Kern Dog]

Hmmm....
I had no idea that they made those hard lines. It sure would have made things easier.

 

[mopar jack]

Those lines work well in a car that had factory AC but for a non AC car you need to drill a 3 1/2 inch hole in the firewall. It comes with a plate to give it a cleaner look.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Don't know if the evap hard line kit would work for you but looking at the mock-ups you showed inside the car this would get you close to the location on the firewall.

View attachment 1627055

on the phone with Vintage Air several months ago the tech told me the under dash evaporator lines are rigid for the heater lines and rubber for the A/C lines (the opposite of what is under hood with rigid A/C lines and rubber heater lines. Not sure why). From your snapshot above, does this mean if you use the Evaporator hard line kit that all 4 under dash lines are now hard lines? The tech made no mention of such a kit to me.

 

[Kern Dog]

That may provide help for the next enthusiast that embarks on a project like this. For this car, it is water under the bridge since we already found a workaround.
I don't mind that though. It stings a bit when something you just bought suddenly is seen on sale at a lower price but it happens.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I can see it being like brake or fuel lines where you have hard line to the point of movement, then going to a flexible line. But like you said, why one way but not the other and the opposite on the ac

 

[mopar jack]

on the phone with Vintage Air several months ago the tech told me the under dash evaporator lines are rigid for the heater lines and rubber for the A/C lines (the opposite of what is under hood with rigid A/C lines and rubber heater lines. Not sure why). From your snapshot above, does this mean if you use the Evaporator hard line kit that all 4 under dash lines are now hard lines? The tech made no mention of such a kit to me.

In the drawing circled in red the lines are hard. On the firewall side you can run hard lines or rubber. It's certainly frustrating trying to get the right fittings, lines and location to make it work. I purchased the recommended parts from Vinatage air for a 71 road runner. After deciding on hose route I thought that the E body kit would be a cleaner look by getting away from the hard lines over the radiator yoke and running along the fender. I ended up buying another condensor, dryer and miscellaneous fittings.

 

[Kern Dog]

Today's progress seems like little was done but it was partly because each move had a few steps to it.
First up, I had to cover this:

With this:

The Vintage Air instructions state to put a bead of silicone sealant around the perimeter of the back side to seal off water and vapor. I used 5/16" butyl tape normally used for setting rear window glass.

I had some left over from when I had to replace my rear window in this car:

A caution for people with high powered weed eaters:

This ought to seal out the elements.

Looks good to me.

The evaporator is back in and the lines are in place.

I have toyed with doing the evacuation and Freon charging myself but instead, I may just do a leak test of the system to look for any issues, then if it is okay, I'll have a shop take it from there. I want it done right. If I can get someone else to just take it across the finish line, I can close the book on this project. It will be nice to be done with it.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

That cover plate install looks great.
The butyl tape looked fairly thick. After installation of the plate does it smash down flatter so the plate fits fairly tight against the firewall?

 

[Kern Dog]

One thing I have to do underhood is to mount the ECM, Ballast Resistor and Voltage Regulator.
I should have taken a direct "before" picture but I failed to do so. The best I have is this:

This is what I see: BR= Ballast Resistor, VR= Voltage Regulator.

There are a few ways that these can be mounted. The first arrangement had them almost even across the top.

I like that except there is an exposed hole visible above the voltage regulator. It is blocked on the back side by the sound deadener but is unsightly. I ran them like this in my Jigsaw Charger:

Staggered a bit to sort of follow the underside of the cowl pinch weld. On my other Charger:

I used a standoff bracket for the ECM and Voltage Regulator so the stagger isn't as even as it is on the car above.
With the firewall plate not actually touching metal on the firewall due to the butyl rubber tape/ribbon, I'll have to put a ground strap on the ECM like I did here:

I test fired the engine a few days ago and without the ground strap, the ECM doesn't produce spark.
Dwayne likes the layout that has the components staggered to follow the pinch weld. I'll mock them up, take a picture and make sure he likes it before I drill holes and mount everything.

 

[Kern Dog]

That cover plate install looks great.
The butyl tape looked fairly thick. After installation of the plate does it smash down flatter so the plate fits fairly tight against the firewall?

The tape starts out at 5/16" and then is squished a bit in the roll. You can see where it flattens out slightly here:

Once compressed, at best it compresses to 3/16". I could pull the firewall plate and put actual gel/liquid sealant on it if you prefer. As it is, it sits close enough to look good. Your call. I used this because it was free and because I had it here already.
Next up is to route the wiring and run the ducts. Awhile back, I was curious as to why VA sent this plastic glove box liner:

It also has that rectangle hole, I'm guessing for access to the fuse panel? It is wider than the fuse panel and in the wrong spot. This fuse panel is attached horizontally along the bottom of the dash frame. If I used this liner, I'd need to block off that hole somehow. I did test fit the original liner awhile back...

I was surprised to see that it fit. Does it block anything that I'm unaware of?

Nope. It clears the evaporator. You can see the fuse panel at the left.
How about the master plugs for the wiring?

Right above but near the fuse panel.

Back when I test fit this, I just figured they included that plastic liner as an option. It is a lot thinner than the stock one:

You might fit a bottle of water and some napkins in the plastic one. It is not big.
A few days back, I started wondering if maybe the plastic liner is included because the ducting may encroach on the space between the evaporator and glove box. There is one duct that will travel from the left side of the evaporator to the vent in the far right side of the dash. Maybe the duct is long and flexible enough to arch it over the wiring and glove box or below it and not be visible?

If so, I think I'll be able to keep the stock glove box liner.