1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 With Factory Air Conditioning – Vintage Air Conversion – San Diego, Ca

The summer is just around the corner, and we’re getting ready to cruise our Classic Cars. Wouldn’t be great to stay cool with a modern Air Conditioning system. I Just finished up a Vintage Air install on a beautiful 1970 Mach 1 with a 351 Cleveland engine. This Mustang already had a factory air conditioning system that was left idle years ago. The customer wanted to assist with the installation, so he started off with changing out the AC condenser and dryer. While he took care of the under hood part of the installation, I took care of the under dash components. Vintage Air makes a compact system, but it still takes some work to get it up under the dash. For 69-70 Mustangs, the entire dash has to be unbolted and removed. Once it is removed, everything is accessible. The new system integrates with the factory vents and controls. They provide vent hose adapters to hook up with the old vents. The original vents are brittle, so great care has to be taken when installing the adapters. The original heater controls were operated by a cable and vacuum ports. The new kit comes with an electronic conversion, and is later calibrated to the original levers. Another feature of the AC kit is that Vintage Air does not install the AC hose fittings on the compressor ends anymore. The older hoses were sometimes hard to get started with the ends already on. Now you can mock them up with the ends pointing in the right direction, and have your local AC shop crimp them with the proper tool. Before I re-installed the dash, I checked all the original wiring and any other issues that might have needed repair. You only want to remove the dash once. A couple days later, the customer had an AC shop charge up the system. The new Air Conditioning worked great, and is ready for summer cruising. Vintage Air makes a system for just about any popular Classic Car and Hotrod out there. If you’re interested in doing the same to your Classic Car, give Classic Resto Garage a call at 619-929-8506, or email me at david@classicrestogarage.com. Happy Cruising!

1962 Chevy Belair Bubble Top Vintage Air Conditioning Conversion – San Diego, California

Nothing like keeping cool in a 1962 Chevy Belair Bubble Top in sunny San Diego. This was an air conditioning conversion that I did at JBA Performance Center. Vintage Air makes one of the best air conditioning conversion kits out there. Their single unit takes the place of the heater box and stock AC box. They are a compact fit, and integrate with the stock heater controls. This 62 Belair is also receiving a freshly rebuilt 409 engine, a custom radiator, headers, and some other upgrades while at JBA. If you have a chance, go check it out at JBA Performance in San Diego, Ca. I will be doing a Vintage Air conversion in a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 next, so I will post some pictures soon.

1967 Ford Mustang Air Conditioning-Heater Box Repair And Restoration – San Diego, California

I recently finished a restoration on an air conditioning – heater box out of a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback . The car belongs to the youngest son of J. Bittle owner of JBA Performance Center in San Diego, California. It’s been a long Aggie tradition of the Bittle family to restore, and own a Classic Ford Mustang while attending Texas A&M. Beginning with Jay himself, owning a red 1967 Shelby GT500 Fastback, and his oldest son owning a red 1969 Mach 1. Now, his youngest son is restoring a green 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback Bullitt just in time for college at Texas A&M. The AC box had the typical wear and tear from over 43 years of hot and cold operation. The box had to be very carefully disassembled, and all parts sandblasted. I had to repair several cracks, and re-do some previous repairs. Then all the metal parts were repainted, and the case was clear coated to give it a new stock looking finish. These air conditioning units were operated by cables, a series of vacuum pods, and electric switches, so I tested all the components to see what needed to be replaced. Later, the box was reassembled with both new and original parts, and bench tested to make sure everything worked good. Now, this Classic Mustang will look cool on the outside and stay cool on the inside under the hot Texas sun.

Scott Drake Parts List.

• 1967-68 Heater Seal Kit with Factory Air   (Part#  C7ZZ-18500-B)
• 1967-73 Heater Core  (Part# C9ZZ-18476-B)
• 1967-68 A/C Evaporator (Part# C7ZZ-19860-A)
• 67-68 A/C Expansion Valve (Part# C7ZZ-19849)
• 67-73 A/C Vacuum Switch (Part# C7ZZ-18C311)
• Heater Core to Control Valve Hose  (Part# C7ZZ-18472-CVAC)
• Thermostat  (Part# C7ZZ-19A671)

All of these parts can be purchased from JBA Performance Center