[48richard]

Yesterday I finished converting my cab to factory A/C. Most of the big parts - inside and outside A/C boxes, blower, control panel, side vents - were bought from guys on the forum, but I decided to put in a new evaporator, heater core and wiring harness. Probably the best thing I did was buy a box of miscellaneous parts, which had many of the small parts and brackets that I needed.

I used a junk yard truck to take paper patterns for the openings in the dash for vents, and in the firewall to match up to the new evaporator housing. Turns out that there are already dimples in the metal to locate the holes for mounting the brackets for the vacuum operated valves in the cowl and kick panel.

Cutting the holes for the vents was probably the most difficult part; I ended up drilling a lot of holes and finishing it up with a rotary file. The firewall opening was easy to cut with a sabre-saw. On the difficulty scale, stuffing all the hoses under the dash came a close second.


This week I am off to buy the compressor, condenser and piping from Vintage Air. I went to one of their dealer seminars, where I learned a lot and came away with a discount coupon! With luck I'll have this all together before it gets too warm here in Phoenix.