[64speed]

Asked this in the heating and cooling section and got no bites so ill try here and keep it brief. I know I have to block of heater box and fan motor mount etc but directions show you running the hoses into the kick panel vent inlet and getting the hoses into the cabin that way. I have speakers in my kickpanels and can’t cut the u shaped hole it shows. Is there any other way I can run the hoses into the interior that won’t look awful and be seen hanging under the dash?

[Marv]

How we did it on my '64: https://unitedspeedshop.com/blogs/te...o-your-classic

[64speed]

I’m sorry it’s on a 64 tempest

[HWYSTR455]

Yeah, the principal is still the same, you use a manifold.

That's pretty much your choices, move the speakers or use a manifold.

I've never run front speakers, I just add power to the rear speakers and adjust the volume to compensate for no front speakers! Rear seat passengers are not always too happy about that, but it's not their' car anyway!

If you do a smoothy plate on the firewall, you can pretty much put the manifold anywhere. There's a number of available manifolds that gives you a number of options. But it all requires at least some fabrication.

My suggestion is to use a smoothy plate in your case, since the car is apart and under construction. You can get a template for the evap bracket and add studs to the firewall on the inside to hang the evap box before you paint the firewall on the engine bay side.

After that's done, you can figure out where the manifold can go.

This is pretty far down the road for you on your project, but it's good you're thinking ahead. Might sound silly, but you should be taking notes as you work stuff out in your mind. If this is your first large project, I suggest using a project planner, and some are actually geared (no pun intended) towards auto projects, like the one from GearZ Nation.

Directions change along the way, and just to prevent scope creep, I suggest creating an outline of what you expect/want the finished project to be. It sounds ridiculous to some degree, but trust me when I say, scope creep can be a killer.

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[Squidward]

Somebody posted their setup once that had their hoses running from the firewall up between the inner and outer fender wells. It was super clean. I like the idea of running hoses through the firewall toward the outside. My CAA system ran them straight through the big opening through the firewall, using a "shortest distance between two points" approach.

[64speed]

Can anyone post some pictures of the bulkheads? Where do you get them? The vintage air tech told me the directions would tell me to route them thru the kick panel but the custom auto air got said they would pass thru the firewall. One of the kits directions says I will have to take the fender off which I am not willing to do on a freshly painted and gapped car so I am wondering how much I can do while it’s apart.

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by Squidward

Somebody posted their setup once that had their hoses running from the firewall up between the inner and outer fender wells. It was super clean. I like the idea of running hoses through the firewall toward the outside. My CAA system ran them straight through the big opening through the firewall, using a "shortest distance between two points" approach.

Yeah, that's how I did mine, it's in the original location of where the blower motor used to go. The smoothie plate covered it up, and that's where I mounted the bulkhead manifold. The standard way of routing them with the VA kits I thought was thru the same path.

The Sure-Fit Kit routes it that way, and here's the evap install instructions:

http://www.vintageair.com/Instructions2013/901056.pdf

Billet Specialties I believe makes the manifolds that VA sells, and here's the catalog page with all of them:

http://www.vintageair.com/2017%20Cat...talog%2082.pdf

As for speakers, you could just use the kick panels that have the surround built into them, pretty sure they make them for 64/65.

Yup, they do:

https://www.opgi.com/gto/CH26869/

I suggest purchasing thru our host, supports a Pontiac-specific vendor, and they are gracious enough to fund this very useful site.

If it's not going to be numbers matching, you could always make a rear package tray with a sub enclosure built into it. I've been doing that for years, it sounds fantastic. If you use a shallow mount sub, the enclosure is even smaller.

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[64speed]

The Sure-Fit Kit routes it that way, and here's the evap install instructions:

http://www.vintageair.com/Instructions2013/901056.pdf

See on page 8 where it says to make that cut in the kick panel. My speakers are located down lower than that so I might could get away with it but I wonder if it would cause a rattle.

[HWYSTR455]

It won't rattle, especially if you use dynamat or the like. Adding the lines isn't going to make it rattle, it's adding the speakers where you need to be concerned.

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[64speed]

its the kick panels with the speakers built in that do away with the fresh air vents. I got them from Classic Autosound thru Ames

[HWYSTR455]

Yeah, I think it's because of the cable pulls that makes it remove the fresh air vents, and with the VA setup, the fresh air door is blocked anyway. So no loss.

You can use the regular material type deadener behind the panel to help control sound and prevent rattles, or in combo with dynamat. You can use dynaliner instead of the material stuff if you want, which will control heat better. Either will prevent rattles.

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[Scarebird]

I took the 4 hose bulkhead fitting and used it in the firewall opening.





To me running the AC hoses inside the cabin is idiocy. If I fit AC to the Lemans the evaporator will be on the firewall where it belongs.

[64speed]

Scarebird where did you get the bulkhead and how did you get one without fittings at the top of the bulkhead. All the ones I have seen require threaded hose at all openings

[Scarebird]

VA supplied it with their kit. It was supposed to go into the OEM fan motor hole. I thought running the lines thru the kick was not a good idea.

[64speed]

I am wondering if I use just the block off plate that they supply and cut a hole for that kinda bulkhead will the supplied hoses still work. I know nothing about AC

[lust4speed]

It was only on VA's last upgrade that they routed the hoses through the side vent. They should still have the parts and directions available to route the previous way through the firewall.

[HWYSTR455]

There's not a lot of room on an A body to run the lines thru the firewall block off plate, the evap fittings are right against the wall, and would have to make a sharp turn, making it difficult to tight/install. It also could stress the lines and cause leaks. Or that's the way I see it.

There's no issue with running thru the kick panel that I can think of, there's no fresh air is the only drawback. But technically, there's no fresh air for the evap case anyway.

The only thing with using a manifold in the original blower motor location is that it's a little tough to tighten the fittings, but that's about it.

AC lines in the passenger compartment, well, the evap case is there anyway, so it can't be avoided with the VA system. I think the biggest drawback is the drain, it ends up in an awkward location that's could be exposed to the passenger kicking it.

The system overall is still hands down more efficient than the OE system, and a big improvement.

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