Air Conditioning on a 40 (1 Viewer)

[Texican]

I have 2 FJ40's in the shop now, both owners decided they need/want AC, if any of ya' have used the kits on the market, post up your experience for me, I really like the idea of doing away with the OEM heater and getting one that has it all in one.
Butch

 

[Vitesse_6]

I know my dad has a vintage air that replaced the OEM heater and you can have AC, If intalled on the rig. The VA heater is about the size of a big shoebox and also gets rid of everything from the blower to the OEM heater core. Sorry I dont have a part #
Good luck

 

[buckroseau]

I asked pretty much the same question a week ago.....no responses. I too want to put in AC and want to do away with the stock heater core.

Do you have a supplier in mind for Vintage Air? I see JTO sells an AC/Heater kit for $999. Same thing?

http://jtoutfitters.com/category/comfort_and_luxury.air_conditioning/

Thanks Matt

 

[Pin_Head]

I'm thinking of dumping my OBA compressor in favor of AC. I don't like any of the aftermarket kits because they hang the evaporator/blower off of the passenger side dash, which limits leg room and doesn't look like it will send much air to the dirver. I have my eye on the GM truck evaporator/blower, which mounts on the firewall under the hood and looks by eyeball to be about the same size as the Toyota blower. If the weather gets any warmer, I am about ready to do some junkyard diving to see how well the GM unit will fit.

 

[IDave]

Everything I've read says Vintage Air is the way to go. I even ordered one, but it was from JTO, and they fawked it up (sent the 2F version in spite of specific instructions). I sent it back and decided to go topless instead. But that's the system I'd go with if I were to do it.

 

[Texican]

Maybe I will be the beta tester here, I have a street rod builder here that uses the Vintage air stuff a lot, and I have looked at several of his deals, I will not be using any of the engine brackets as both of these trucks have Chevs 4.3 and a 5.7 so the OEM compressors will be used.
Love to see some pix.......Pinhead I refuse to use the hang down knee grabbers.
Butch

 

[Roadnoiz40]

www.vintageair.com. Search for a dealer in your state or call VintageAir directly at 1-800-TO-COOL-U (800-862-6658).

 

[Roadnoiz40]

Ordered mine for JTO, took for-freakin'-ever and JTO was blaming VintageAir, when they would answer the phone and talk to me, which wasn't much.

Posted a picture of install in this thread (2nd page)

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=23993&page=2&pp=30

 

[Texx]

I've installed 8 or 10 of em...not really a problem in the pass side for room, everything tucks in pretty well. It gets hot as hell here in Odessa in dead summer...120 occasionally. It does cool, but won't take a 120 degree interior down to 55. Maybe down to 75 or 80, if you have tint, and insulate the floor and firewall. Last couple had problems with wiring/switching valves, all worked out in the end, but took some doing. On the heat side, it's all or nothing on the heat valve...solenoid actuated, no "kinda" warm setting. You'll probably want to source an old Ford heater valve for the adjustability. At one time they had some real problms with the compressor brackets fitting right, but no recent problems with that for me. It's a huge pain in the ass to find the right "section b" belt...irregardless of what they say, for some reason, they all seem to take a little bit different length. Keep in mind this is a 134a system that was probably originally designed for r12....doesn't cool quite as well as it could in extreme conditions. I prefer the Vintage to CCOT or others, because it has vents all across the dash, including left of the steering column (US for you Aussies..) First one took me a week, now I can probably do it now in 4 or 5 hours. Don't forget to add in the cost of having it evacuated/charged... It's extremely tight under the dash to hook up all the lines...and the cover to the original blower motor location has the hoses run thru it...very very fragile. I had the last one replicated at a sheet metal shop.

 

[cruiser ken]

I put in a vintage air kit in an '82 FJ40. Overall it's a nice kit. It puts a vent under the driver steering wheel which is nice. Personally I didn't like the how the controls work so I changed them.

A couple things to note:
There is no fresh air intake after you install the kit.
Air comes out from 3 locations heat (feet), vent, or defrost.
It has a vacuum actuated heat valve, which is either on or off, no partial valve opening like the factory mechanical valve.
When you set the air to come out the defrost it kicks on the compressor to dry the air so your windows don't fog up.
When you set the air to come out the vents it turns on the compressor for AC. You can't set heat to come out the vents without the AC compressor kicking on.

Changes I made to the controls. I put the AC compressor on a separate switch so I could control when it came on instead of the location of where the air was directed dictating when the compressor came on. I also kept the factory heater valve so I could control the amount of heat (hot water) going through the heater.

It cools well and heats OK, the rear heater gets hotter. I think it's a better value than the CCOT unit and gives the driver better cooling.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Used a generic underdash AC/heater had hose made and tied it into the factory compressor and condenser off the donor V8.

 

[yotanut]

I wish I had a pic of my Cruisers interior. I have the dealer install kit from 76.
It looks so sweet. Maybe I'll get some pics by this weekend.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Used a generic underdash AC/heater had hose made and tied it into the factory compressor and condenser off the donor V8.

Thats one of the first centred units I have ever seen!!!!!

How is the leg room and if it were a manual shift would it still work?

Looks real good.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Thats one of the first centred units I have ever seen!!!!!

How is the leg room and if it were a manual shift would it still work?

Looks real good.

Thanks

No issue with leg room with the AC at 6'2". Seat has been modified to go all the way back to the wheel well.

Manual Should work maybe some tweaking of the stick.

 

[Otis]

Anyone know anything about this kit?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7964913635&category=46094

The guy has been selling them on eBay for awhile now.

 

[Texx]

I've bought a couple of trucks that had units that looked like that...seems like it was made by Clardy out of Ft Worth. If that's the dual squirrel cage model, it blows like a sumbitch! Way hard and cold....

 

[dieseldog]

I've got two of the CCOT version. I like em just fine. In the 45, a custom case was made so that the evaporator coil could be flipped (in order to fit in the left side knee area of my RHD pickup). In the small cabin of the pickup, that sucker cools very well. Having said that, I'm still happy with the unit in my 42 as well. It beats the hell out of having no AC in a hardtop.

 

[LoneStarFJ]

I suckered a friend into helping me install a Vintage Air unit over the spring break holiday. We are both decent shadetree mechanics but we don't turn wrenches for a living. It took us 2 days - probably 6hrs each day to complete. All and all it wasn't all that hard it was just trying to make sure everything came out neat.

Hints: You will need an extra 6' of 5/8 heater hose. If you are retaining rear heater go ahead and start looking for some heater hose T's and 90's (I think it was two 90's and two T's). The compressor end of the hoses are not connected and crimped. I didn't have a bead crimper in the garage so I had that done when I had the unit charged (cost me even more money ).

Presently, I am very satisfied with the way it came out except I think I am going to add a ball valve into the return water line because the heater core is smaller than on the OEM unit therefore it doesn't retain heat as well. I think I need to slow the water down and the only reason I say that is because at a stop sign I can feel the air heat up. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[aZ..fj-40]

A/C/ in a 40, A DIFFERENT IDEA!

Here's a shot of the conversion van rear unit, suspended from the roll bar, and installed so the top can be removed! The r/f/motor mount is FJ-60, with a custom mount plate for aa compressor from an '81 Datsun 810 wagon, the condenser came from the same car. The evap. unit came with about 25' of lines so that wasn't a prroblem.

 

[67azcruizr]

www.oldairproducts.com I've got an Old Air set-up. Much cleaner in my opinion. If I'm not mistaken these are the units being used in the Icon build-ups