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arrived today for my factory air 69 FB coupe, wish me luck!

[68 Firebird]

I will be following this thread!!!!

Good Luck

Gerry

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Originally Posted by 68 Firebird

I will be following this thread!!!!

Good Luck

Gerry

Starting on it tom.

Stan

[69fireburger]

I put one in my '69. Haven't used it yet but I will say that I was very happy with the way it went together. Everything fit as it should and looks like an oem system.

-Bob

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Originally Posted by 69fireburger

I put one in my '69. Haven't used it yet but I will say that I was very happy with the way it went together. Everything fit as it should and looks like an oem system.

-Bob

Thanks Bob, I was going to keep the factory setup, but I had the motor out of the car and upon disassembly I found some doors rusted and broke and pieces missing inside the suitcase.

I think this is a much better solution as I never like the protrusion into the engine bay, but I still wanted a/c since it was a factory a/c car.

Stan

[quicksilver97ta]

Good luck. It's not that bad, just take your time.

[blue bayou]

Looking to add this to my '69 later in the fall or early spring.

[68azbird]

I have installed a few systems in first gens. Good efficient system. plan for 10-16 hours to do it neatly.

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Originally Posted by 68azbird

I have installed a few systems in first gens. Good efficient system. plan for 10-16 hours to do it neatly.

Thanks

[blue bayou]

Any updates on the install? Have the updated their kit to fit 69 Firebirds? I know when I had checked on them before they were set up for 69 Camaro but not Firebird yet.

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Originally Posted by blue bayou

Any updates on the install? Have the updated their kit to fit 69 Firebirds? I know when I had checked on them before they were set up for 69 Camaro but not Firebird yet.

Het BB, I have not installed it yet, well, I have the comp. and belt on and condenser in, but I held off on the in dash stuff because I didn't want the car apart as I am heading to Wichita today for POCI.

Hopefully I can finish it next weekend, the engine bay stuff was a breeze and looks good.

Thanks Stan

[blue bayou]

We're practically neighbors! hahaha... Good luck with the install and enjoy POCI!

[Speargun]

I have a '67 that came without air or heat so there is nothing under the dash and a heater delet plate on the firewall. Do these kits come with everything needed for an install or would I have to find the box that goes under the dash?
How about the dash vents?

[68azbird]

On a 69 bird I did I found out that if using the bulkhead adapter in the kit would have made hooking up the lines to the evaporator really hard. The placement and the angles of the fittings and also the length of hose between the hose fittings would be difficult to make the turn into the connections at the evap. I ditched the bulkhead adapter and just ran the hoses right thru the firewall using big rubber grommets and some sealer.
Much easier to connect everything at the evaporator.

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Originally Posted by Speargun

I have a '67 that came without air or heat so there is nothing under the dash and a heater delet plate on the firewall. Do these kits come with everything needed for an install or would I have to find the box that goes under the dash?
How about the dash vents?

My kit came with adapters to put on the ends of the existing vent legs because the tubes in the kit are a bit smaller than factory.

So heater delete cars do NOT have vent up by the windshield welded to the underside of the forward dash panel?

I did not know that, thought it was just the firewall and control delete plate?


NOW, my kit WAS ordered for a factory A/C car, so, I don't no maybe a kit for a non A/C car may come with vents, but I doubt it.

Thanks Stan

[Schoust]

Has anyone installed an aftermarket system in a 69 Bird that Did not have air from the Factory? If so how was the fit and function of said kit? I would love air but not if it looks like Arse.... It must be a decent fit and look as though it actually belongs in the car. It also needs to function as designed.
Thanks

[thefirebirdm@n]

I'd be interested to hear about a non-A/C install myself. Considering same for my wife's '68.

If you guys think one of these is hard, try retrofitting the "Crapmaro" kit into a 2nd gen Firebird. I'm most of the way through an install on my '73 Trans Am. Install put on pause while I fix sheet metal problems. for paint.

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Well, it's been a while, and no it isn't done yet, but it's getting close, here's a couple of observations.

You guys that say 10/16 hours must be a hell of a lot better mechanic, younger, more agile, limber, and have toothpick arms with 9" long fingers that swivel! Oh yeah, better eyesight also.

Here's a quick run down, I already had the factory unit out of the car when I had the nose off the car this winter, at that time I was going to do an A/C delete, so I put the motor/tranny in the car and reinstalled the front end and hood and painstakingly lined everything back up.

I was not going to pull the front end again, or even a fender/inner if I could help it. The directions are fairly straightforward, but the pictures drawing suck, there are some times when an actually picture would help a lot.

The front condenser drier and hard lines where simple bolt ones and no issue, (make sure you have the condenser UPRIGHT) both ends of the condenser appear identical, but are not, make sure you put your mounts on the right "top" or you will be doing it twice.

The compressor also was a direct bolt on, they do provide spacer to give you two positions, all the way against the heads utilizes the factory pulley that is closest to the balancer, if you are adding a pulley it will require the spacers, either way pretty clean install, belt came out to 59"

At this point I was out of time and I didn't want to pull the dash apart and not be able to move the car, so I buttoned up what I had done and used the car for a week, everything stayed where it belonged and the compressor mount, works well with no vibration or loosening.

Up till now this was a relative breeze, and I was sweating being able to run the A/C lines between the fender/inner fender and into the blower motor hole without removing the fender.

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The next installment had me trying my damnest to get the A/C and heater hoses run with out removing any body parts.

I also wanted to run the hoses all thru the old blower motor hole rather than thru the firewall as mentioned earlier, it was a PITA, but I wanted as clean an install as possible and I ran ALL (except of course the 5/8 hose the Distributor nipple at the back of block)of the hoses BEHIND the fender (over the inner fender) so that everything dumped out right at the blower motor.

It was a struggle, and the 100 degree plus in the garage didn't help, and of course it was my decision NOT to pull the fender. I did have a helper to get the blower motor bulkhead cap secured that took about 5 minutes, other than that this is all done by just one person.

I was able to route and pull all of the hoses, get both bulkhead caps on and my kick panel back in place, now the only thing left is the under dash/dashboard/wiring and converting my control panel to electronic.

I am sure that with a fender/hood off this would go much smoother, also make SURE that you rout the "right" end of the hose thru the bulkhead cap, as some of the A/C lines will only go thru one way.

So far everything looks really good under the hood and is a very clean instillation. The reason I saved the dash for last was because there were items under the dashboard that I wanted to address while it was apart, and I didn't yet have the parts I needed.

Next installment will be the airbox and dash removal/reinstall.

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Originally Posted by Speargun

I have a '67 that came without air or heat so there is nothing under the dash and a heater delet plate on the firewall. Do these kits come with everything needed for an install or would I have to find the box that goes under the dash?
How about the dash vents?

Speargun, to answer your question even the A/C kit comes with NEW defrost vents the sheet metal screw into the backside of the inner cowl panel.

You will NOT need any factory box that would have been under the dash as it gets tossed. The area that I would assume would be different is in the dash vents, as the A/C cars/kits utilize the factory center vent and two outboard lower dash vents, although they do provide the aforementioned defrost vents and hoses.

I do not know what they use for "dash" vents in a non-A/C car.

Hope that helps?


Stan