The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors AD air conditioning?

In what forum would I find discussion / suggestions on adding ac to
52 pick up
Ty

Ty,

I have moved your post over to the Interiors forum for further discussion.

I think it's the best place to start. The Moderator for that forum may decide to further move it to our "HiPo Shop" depending on where the conversation goes.

Looking forward to seeing more on your question and discussion.

Dan

I would start with getting catalogs from Vintage-air & Old Air Products. It depends on your expertise how you would go about it. You can get the complete custom kit from one of those suppliers or get the inside kit & make up the under hood part with used parts & custom made hoses.

George

I have Vintage Air in my '37, it's the mini version, behind the dash. I couldn't ask for a better unit, it blows cold and needs turned down most of the time.
Buy the biggest version that will fit and order an extra long hose kit so you can customize the routing. Mine has the heat and high side entering on the passenger side and the low side exiting from the drivers side. The compressor is on the drivers side, so the hoses make a circle around the engine with no crossovers. Just walking past with the hood open, you are likely to miss the a/c parts. I also tinted the windows, it makes a huge difference on the little cabs since you set right next to the glass. Insulate the roof, doors, floors, have good door seals, and seal any holes, no A/C system will work right with a uninsulated leaking cab.

I helped a fellow with an OLD Air system in a '55 Chevy car, we tried everything to make it cool, finally just gave up on it. Last time I seen him he was looking at a Vintage Air unit. The Old Air didn't have a big enough evaporator core to cool right, I would guess thats why they are cheaper. I am ASE certified in A/C so I was pretty sure of what we were doing.

I see that you posted in February and at that time you were looking for a truck. Please tell us if you found your truck, if it’s a Chevy, GMC, what engine it has or are you still researching.

Vintage Air A/C was in my '52 GMC when I bought the truck. It does a good job of cooling the cab, but not up to modern day car or truck A/C standards. It takes up about 1/2 the space in the glove box. Mine has a very small amount of adjustment (maybe 5 degrees of arc on a 270 degree movement) temperature control knob that varies from no A/C to full cold. Whoever installed it made the wiring really tight which makes troubleshooting tough. I did have a relay fail about 4 years ago. Mine has a real slow leak (less than a can per year) which I cannot find with leak detectors, so I suspect it is under the dash. I'm not willing to open it up to look.

Joe is right about sealing the cab. I replaced door seals, windlace and the cowl vent seal on my truck along with adding some soundproofing to the roof and doors. Made a difference.

July 4th parade coming up next week. It's been 100F or hotter here for the last week. Glad I'm driving instead of sitting in the back with a load of kids.

I have the vintage air under dash unit in my 49 GMC and all i can say is WOW. Been running it about 3 years and it’s ridiculous. Make your legs and arm go numb. Its honestly enough to do a station wagon so the little truck cab is no problem.

I went with the Old Air Products Hurricane unit and painted the under-dash part to match my dashboard. Very nice and whoever designed it added a second thermostatic adjustment for the inside coil (the evaporator) so you can adjust until the temp is very cold but stop before you risk causing freeze-up. Helps balance your control panel adjustment. One of the better designed units I've seen.

https://www.oldairproducts.com/product/cap-4100d-ds-complete-hurricane-ac-heat-and-defrost-system

I just cleaned up an entry in the DITY Gallery, where "olezippi" used Old Air Products for his 1949 5-window upgrade. Bob is still around. Maybe he'll chime in here.

I just purchased vintage air for my truck. If you have minor questions between the kits, I might be able to help you.

Chris

I prefer Old Air over Vintage FOR AD's as the Old Air allows full glove box and has a choice of control cables instead of servos only. On most other installs we use Vintage.

I have vintage air in my 51. If I had it to do over again, I would go with classic auto air. My vintage cools decent but I don't like several things about it. Install instructions are about as clear as mud, lots of things you have too figure out and do things twice when you figure it out. Controls are not back lit, I had to use a sanden mini compressor with my LS and it moans no matter what I've tried to get it to shut up. My brother builds classic vehicles for a living and classic auto air is his choice as he's used them all.