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Air Conditioning by Vintage Air - Air And GracesEnsuring The Purple Pig Stays Cool With Vintage Air. From the December, 2009 issue of Rod & Custom By Kev Elliot
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Despite its appearance now, I actually used the Purple Pig as my daily driver when I first moved to California, commuting 70 miles a day. With nothing more than a seat inside the car, and temperatures where I lived at the time too much for me to bear on my afternoon drive home, I realized for the first time why installing air conditioning was so popular in hot rods and customs! Bear in mind I'd just moved from a country where heaters and demisters are requirements, not cold air! Four years on, and I couldn't imagine not having A/C, so I called Vintage Air to discuss my requirements for the project '49. They sent me a couple of mock-up evaporator units to try under my dash, which enabled me to determine which one would work best, and to drill the mounting holes in the firewall before I welded, filled, and painted it. Once I'd determined the Magnum Gen IV evaporator was going to fit, and indeed fit better than the smaller Compact Gen II version (the shape of the Magnum fit around the sheetmetal under my dash better and allowed the evaporator to sit higher on the firewall), Vintage Air sent all the components I needed. I ran across a small problem with the location, but that was my fault. I wanted to run the hoses through the firewall, as I thought I could use the stock fresh air tube hole, and proceeded to weld and paint the firewall. May I suggest you fit your A/C system in, then, and only then, start bodywork! Despite the modern underpinnings and running gear, I am very keen to maintain a vintage look to the interior and exterior of the Chevy (yes I know the evaporator hangs below the dash, but I'll disguise it as best I can later) and as such didn't really want modern A/C controls to show. I could have hidden them in what's left of my glovebox, but I'd rather have them easily accessible. Vintage Air offers conversion kits for owners of some vehicles to retain their stock heater and A/C controls, and their '61-62 Impala kit converts a three-cable system to electric operation. With the '49 Chevy using three cables, I used this kit to convert my stock controls. If I've connected the cable converters correctly, my TEMP button should now be the thermostat lever, controlling the temperature from hot to cold, the AIR button should control the blower speed from off to high, and the DEF button should be the mode lever, controlling mode positions from dash to floor to defrost. A combination of positions offered by the three levers will provide heat or cold air to the various vents, the sequences shown in the Vintage Air conversion kit instructions. Also shown in the instructions is the calibration procedure, which I haven't done yet because the system needs to be completely hooked up to do so. This will set the range of travel for the cable converters connected to my stock control panel, setting their highest and lowest points.  Vintage Air has these great...  Vintage Air has these great mock-up evaporator units that enable you to see which one will fit your project, so you can purchase the correct one the first time. You can check with one of their dealers or go to Vintage Air directly, and for a deposit of around $50 they will send you one of these units. When you return it you get the $50 back toward the unit you buy that you now know will fit. These are the Magnum Gen IV (top) and Compact Gen II units.  Don't think the smaller the...  Don't think the smaller the unit, the easier it'll be to fit. I actually couldn't get the Compact evaporator up under my dash, owing to the large recess to clear the head on the stock straight-six. The Magnum Gen IV is shaped to clear such a protuberance, though I did have to trim 3/4 inch from the lower lip of my dash, as shown.  Here's the Magnum Gen IV mock-up...  Here's the Magnum Gen IV mock-up unit in place. Guess I'll be saying goodbye to the stock glovebox hinges. There's probably another inch of room to move the unit up, but I'll need space to get my hands up there to connect the defroster vents as well as clearance for the wiper mechanisms to operate.  With the mock-up unit still...  With the mock-up unit still in place, and before I filled and painted the firewall, I decided to mount the bulkhead fitting on a plate over the old fresh air vent hole. There was enough room behind it to install the fittings and I figured the removable plate would make access easier in the future.  Here are the contents of one...  Here are the contents of one of the three boxes that arrived from Vintage Air: the GEN-IV system, including the Magnum heat, cool and defrost model evaporator and mounting brackets, compressor, electric solenoid heater control valve, ducting, fittings, and wiring harness. I won't be using the demister vents, as the stock ones will suffice. The box also contained the Pro-line compressor and alternator bracketry I'd requested, since I'll run V-belts rather than a serpentine system.  Looking through the glovebox...  Looking through the glovebox opening, you'll see that the front mounting bracket needs modification. The brackets are not application-specific.  Now with the actual A/C unit...  Now with the actual A/C unit in place, I marked the bracket inline with the upper glovebox opening lip and bent it forward, slightly less than 90 degrees to line up with the lip.  I welded extra steel to the...  I welded extra steel to the bracket, leaving a cutout for the glovebox latch, and bolted the bracket to the lip. I left the original mounting holes in the bracket as they'll likely be useful to zip-tie the defroster ducting to, in order to keep it away from the wiper mechanism. The wiring you can see comes from the A/C controls.  Vintage Air offers different...  Vintage Air offers different designs of bulkhead fittings, and while the inline version would have fit perfectly on a raised section of the firewall with rounded ends that looked made for the job, the A/C unit bolts up right behind it, leaving no space to connect the fittings inside the car.  With the mock-up unit still...  With the mock-up unit still in place, and before I filled and painted the firewall, I decided to mount the bulkhead fitting on a plate over the old fresh air vent hole. There was enough room behind it to install the fittings and I figured the removable plate would make access easier in the future.  Hmm ... with the firewall...  Hmm ... with the firewall painted and the A/C unit in place, it was apparent that the heater pipes exited the unit in exactly the same place I'd planned the bulkhead fitting to mount. At least I didn't have to weld up the holes and re-paint!  Something I'd thought about...  Something I'd thought about doing was to run the A/C and heater hoses through the original fresh air tubing along the inner front fender, so after a rethink I decided to mount the bulkhead fitting in this length of tube that originally held the fresh air door.  However, I couldn't simply...  However, I couldn't simply weld a plate over the end of the tube, for two reasons. Most importantly, I'd never be able to tighten the nuts on the A/C and heater hoses, and secondly I wanted to be able to fit the fresh air tube in a factory-like manner. So I cut 1 1/4 inches from the second, now redundant, tube, slid it to slide inside the first tube, and welded a plate over that.  This gave me a 1 1/4-inch-deep...  This gave me a 1 1/4-inch-deep "cap" that I could mount the bulkhead fitting to. Using the template provided in the packaging, I center punched the 7/8-inch holes before cutting them out with a holesaw.  With the "cap" slid inside...  With the "cap" slid inside the tube that bolts to the firewall, this is what it looks like from the backside ...  And here's the front. I'll...  And here's the front. I'll add three set screws to hold the cap in place, and the stock rubber sleeve will join the firewall tube to the fresh air tube, disguising what's now inside. Of course you'll see the hoses when they exit the tube to attach to the compressor, manifold, and water pump, but it'll keep the inner fender tidy. I may even run the front wiring harness through here too.  Though the A/C unit is clearly...  Though the A/C unit is clearly visible under the right side of the dashboard, my aim is to retain the vintage look of the interior, and as such I didn't want modern A/C switches or knobs under or in the dash. A conversation with Vintage Air's Rick Love revealed that as my original heater controls used three cables, there was a chance I could use one of his company's conversion kits to adapt my controls.  Figuring nothing ventured...  Figuring nothing ventured meant nothing gained, I tore into my heater controls. The captive cable adjusters (arrowed) required grinding off to remove them.  Once the adjusters are removed,...  Once the adjusters are removed, the three control arms look like this, with just a simple hole in the ends.  One of the cable clamps also...  One of the cable clamps also required cutting as it was originally a single piece, and the new slide pot assembly would not fit.  The actual control panel may...  The actual control panel may be different but the principle and operation is the same, so I used Vintage Air's '61-62 Impala control panel conversion kit, which includes everything needed, as well as instructions. For once I actually read them!  Here's the modified control...  Here's the modified control panel, the three slide pot assemblies, or cable converters, supplied in the kit, clamps, and new set screws.  I welded studs in place of...  I welded studs in place of the captive cable adjusters, to which the rods in the slide pot assemblies could now attach. As can be seen in the previous picture, the rods offer plenty of adjustment, though I was able to use the first hole and trim the remainder. Vintage Air advises that there should be a maximum of 1/8 inch between the end of the plastic cable converter housing and the flat part of the rod when the lever is at its innermost position.  Here's the completed conversion....  Here's the completed conversion. Note each cable converter is at a different position in its clamp. This offers adjustment for that 1/8-inch gap.  With all three cable converters...  With all three cable converters in place, the wiring harness was attached. This is as simple as attaching a plug into each one and securing them with cable ties. The ends of the cable converters are stepped to ensure the ties can't work loose.  My control panel had seen...  My control panel had seen better days, and I had to grind the ends off the mounting bolts to remove it, so these were drilled out and new 3/16-inch bolts welded in their place, before the whole mechanism was cleaned, hit with a Scotch-Brite pad on a mini-grinder, and treated to the finest rattle can satin black from my local hardware store.  With the nice new white harness...  With the nice new white harness protected until I clean and paint both sides of the dash, here's the control panel back in place. I still have to repaint the lettering (that'll take a steady hand!) and may even move the panel into a custom mount in the dash itself as I'm not too keen on those cable converters being visible under the dash. Of course in an Impala they'd be behind the dash.  Here's where we leave it for...  Here's where we leave it for this installment, with the control panel in, the A/C unit in, and the bulkhead fitting sorted. Next time we'll plumb and wire the heat, air, and cooling systems.
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