[swissarmychainsaw]

I hope this thread encourages someone to go for it! A big thanks to everyone who pitched in and gave advice, or even just watched on this thread, it helped keep things rolling!

Meanwhile here is a quick summary of what it took to get cold air blowing out of the vents:

First let me say I'm a hobby mechanic. The idea of adding AC to my rig was pretty ambitious if not crazy sounding, considering I knew NOTHING about how AC actually works. I only know a *little more now, but I get how it all goes together now.

The real scary part was there are very few "real mechanics" that would tackle a job like this, so if I gave up along the way there was no "higher authority" I could petition to finish it.

My theory is this: once you 'own' a vehicle of a certain age, you OWN the problems. Very few "professional mechanics" are REAL problem solvers. There is just no money in it. This makes me VERY grateful to this community, for the moral support and technical advice here.

I committed to this project two years ago, and made some pretty good mistakes, which stalled me out considerably. I bought the wrong sized compressor (and bracket) which was not a trivial expense.

Calling "Classic Auto Air" and talking to Mike Oliveras was the best thing I did on this project and he set me straight and helped me size the system and get the parts I needed. In the end I complete this job

Here is a rough cost breakdown:
Salvage Yard
Rear AC Unit, dash switch (and hoses I ended up not using): $150
(I bought some other things so I think this is close)

Classic Auto Air
Compressor
Bracket
D-rings to mount hose
High side, low side hose (35ft?)
Parallel flow condenser
Mounting brackets
All AC line fittings
$1,400

Things we forgot
Trinary switch (summit racing): ~$50

Miscellaneous
Wiring, relays, connectors, crimpers, etc
Refrigerant

Tools
Gauge set & Vacuum pump: $140
ACCrimper: $140
Orifice tool: $15
refrigerant tap: $15
Thermometers: $20

Doing the job yourself and having it work: Priceless

Things I would do differently
Spend time exploring hard line options.
I doing research it seems there are ways to make your own "braze on" hard line AC connectors. Also vintage air has a product called "u-bend-em" which is a hard line connector that seems like it would be great to get through the firewall.

Do more research on charging the system for maximum cold. (turns out after my test run I was ok!)

Other Options
Classic Auto Air and Vintage Air both make "kits" where you can remove all the stock stuff and replace it with all brand new parts (front AC only) for something like $1500. Plug and play, and this is probably a great option.
I don't think anyone makes a dual system kit, so you would still face some of the same challenges: What size compressor, how to run lines to the rear, and what rear unit will fit and not look terrible (why I went with stock).

So of course the expense rarely makes sense considering you can buy a suburban for the cost of my AC System!

...THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT, BUT THIS ONE IS MINE.