Keep Your Cool! Vintage Air Sure Fit Install in a 67 C-10

[67ChevyRedneck]

The vent unscrews into two pieces. Take it apart, put the face on the front side of the dash and the back of the vent goes behind the dash. Screw it on snug and you're done.

Repeat for the other side

*Because my vents weren't sitting flush, I used my dremel to trim the backside of the vent face a little bit where it was hitting the dash so it would sit flush. Hopefully my goof will prevent other's from having to do so

[67ChevyRedneck]

Next up is the center vent.

Again, vintage air gives you the template.

*NOTE: The vent template is NOT centered in the center of the paper!

I noticed that before I started cutting! I used the paper to center it and not the vent (my radio hole was so wallered out that the tab that says "insert into radio hole" meant nothing to me )

I used a dremel to cut out my vent, but first, I drilled 4 pilot holes in the corners to make neater cuts.

Cut out the vent

[67ChevyRedneck]

Test fit the vent. I had to clean up a few spots for it to fit nicely (dremels aren't the best tool for this, but all I had, a cut off wheel would make a nice straighter cut.)

Also, if the previous owner of your truck hacked the living crap out of your dash using what looked like tin snips, nows a good time to clean that up

[67ChevyRedneck]

If your like me, after all this cutting and drilling, you may have been thinking to yourself, hmmm, my dash looks like crap. Well, nows a good time for a makeover

I removed everything from my dash and taped off the rest. I sanded down the dash, wiped it down, and sprayed some primer on it. When that was dry, I sprayed it with color. It came out pretty nice for a spray can job.

*I guess I didn't take any pics of it painted I thought I did!

[67ChevyRedneck]

Next up is wiring... BOOOOOOOOOOO, everyone hates wiring, right? Well, this was actually REALLY simple!

The directions are pretty simple to follow, but I'll post up the following pics to help with any confusion!

The yellow from the blower motor switch, the black from the A/C micro switch, and the green/red wire with the diode in it (the green side) connect together.

[67ChevyRedneck]

The orange wire from the blower motor and the red wire from the red/green wire with the diode connect together.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Now to connect the wires to the A/C controller.

When looking at the backside of the A/C fan switch it forms a column of 3 prongs on the right side and one prong on the left side.

Starting in the upper right corner, connect the blue wire from the power relay/high blower relay.

Then in the middle right side, connect the red and orange wire assembly from the previous step.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Next, connect the yellow/green/black assembly of wires you connected together in the first step to the lower right tab.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Last, (Wohooo, huh?) is to connect the final wire from the blower motor. It's the red wire. Connect it to the prong on the left and you're all done with the wiring for the A/C controller unit.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Next is to install the compressor binary safety switch. It goes on the #6 size line with the threaded T on it.

Remove the plastic over and install the switch on the line. More on wiring it later...

Snug it down and put it off to the side for now...

[67ChevyRedneck]

The next set of directions is up for debate. Vintage Air says to install the firewall covers early in the install, but I found it difficult to tighten the fittings with it in place, so it MAY be easier to install these later, but I'll show y'all how I installed everything.

So, back under the hood!

I cleaned up my firewall a little bit and painted the rusty, chipped areas.

To install the small round cover, you need to put sealant on the backside (I used 3M caulking you can get from Wally World)

I found the easiest way to install this is to put some tape on the metal backing bracket to hold it in place so you can tighten the bolt.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Next is the firewall cover, same idea, caulk the outer edge and put it in place. It has holes that should match up with existing holes in the firewall and you can use the old heater unit screws to hold the new cover in place.

You then have to drill out several small holes and install the supplied nuts with screws.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I forgot to take a picture of it, but you need to drill out the hole for the drain vent in the cab. You can see the 5/8" hole near the bottom center of the firewall cover, that's where it goes and where it needs to be drilled out.

It's difficult to drill from the inside of the engine bay with the inner fender in the way, so I used my dremel to drill out at pilot hole in the center, then from inside the cab, I was able to drill out the 5/8" hole. Make sure you center your first hole well, or you'll be drilling through the plastic cover....

*Note: You could put the cover on, mark the 5/8" vent hole, remove the cover, THEN drill it out so you don't mess up the plastic. Then you can install the cover with all the sealant as shown above.

Sorry, no pics on this one.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I also got carried away inside the cab. I decided to cut out the triangle piece in the cab that you can see through the vintage air firewall cover using my dremel. THIS WAS NOT in the Vintage Air directions, but I thought it was necessary. I also put caulking around the inside edge of the cover as well.

I also insulated the rest of my firewall.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Next up it to mock up the A/C under-dash unit. This is so you can drill the hole for the rear mount bracket.

There are a couple mounting points in the cab. The one on the far left uses an existing heater unit hole near the center of the firewall.

The first thing to do is install the bracket provided with the kit to the back of the A/C unit using a 10/32x1" bolt. Keep it straight up and down and snug the bolt down.

Next is to set the A/C unit in place in the cab. The tab on the blow motor sits INSIDE the dash as shown. It uses a 1/4-20x1" bolt with a washer, lock washer, and 1/4" nut.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Using a 1/4-20x2" bolt and nut with a 13/32x1" steel spacer on the backside of the A/C unit, you can bolt the left side of the unit down. The bolt uses an existing hole near the middle of the firewall from the heater unit. Once the underdash bolt is in, it's obvious where the left side bolt needs to go.

This is where a helper comes in handy. It's hard to be inside the cab and under the hood to tighten a bolt.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Now, hold the unit up level, and mark where the hole for the bracket needs to go.

Remove the assembly.

Drill the hole for the bolt, I used a 1/4" bit.

Then, reinstall everything with the hardware shown above and snug it all down.

I hated the next part. You need to install the cables on the A/C controler unit and A/C underdash unit before you reinstall the A/C unit in the cab.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Starting with the A/C controller....

There are 3 lengths to the cables provided with the kit. For simplistic purposes, I'm going to call them them short, medium, and long length cables.

More later...

[67ChevyRedneck]

Starting with the A/C controller....

There are 3 lengths to the cables provided with the kit. For simplistic purposes, I'm going to call them them short, medium, and long length cables.

Let's get back into this!

The short cable is 14 1/2 inches long and is for the A/C/heat controls.

The medium cable is 27 inches long and is for the heat/defrost controls.

The long cable is 41 1/8 inches long and is for the temperature controls (goes to the heater control valve.)

[67ChevyRedneck]

Here was my least favorite part of the whole install. I dislike cable installs, but it needs to be done.

When you look at the A/C control unit normally (right side up inside the cab) the heat/defrost lever is at the top with the A/C/heat lever in the middle, and the temperature lever on the bottom.

When looking at my pictures everything is upside down (the unit needs to be upside down when you install the cables, it's just easier that way )

So, starting at the bottom (the heat/defrost controls), install the medium length cable to the control unit leaving approximately 7/8" from the end of the black sheath the the center of the clip. You need to form the clamp around the cable, I did it with a flathead screwdriver and pair of pliers. Screw the clamp down tight and check to see that the unit can move freely in both directions. Also, I installed my cable's "eyes" so that the flat cable part was against the lever the the "coil" was away from the lever. Install the push on holder over the cable eye and move on to the next one

Next, install the middle lever (A/C/heat controls) using the short cable. It needs to be mounted with approximately 1 1/4" from the end of the black sheath to the center of the mounting clip. Follow same procedures as above. Check to make sure cable moves freely.


Lastly, install the top (bottom when right side up) temperature control cable (the longest cable) keeping approximately 3/4" from the end of the black sheath to the center of the clip. Follow same procedures as above. Check to make sure cable moves freely.

See page 7 of the VA directions for a better/more detailed description

[67ChevyRedneck]

I guess I got a little sparse with the pics for the next step??? If I can remember, I'll snap some and post 'em later.

Anywho...

You now need to reinstall your A/C controller unit (wohoo, huh?) It installs through the backside of the dash and you use the two bolts you removed earlier from your heater unit to bolt the new A/C controller in place. All the wiring and cables should be installed and everything nice and tight.

More cable crap. This part was a little difficult too. Definitely not my favorite part of the install.

The short cable (A/C/Heat) goes to the lever sticking out near the middle of the underdash unit. There is a bracket that the cable bracket screws to. There should be approximately 13/16" from the black sheath to the center of the screw down bracket. You may need to adjust it before you tighten the screw down real good. Move the lever back and forth, if it moves freely and completely left to right all is good, screw the screw down tight.

The medium cable (heat/defrost) goes from the top lever and loops around under the dash and screws to the bracket on the far left side of the underdash unit. It should be approximately 1 1-16" from the end of the black sheath to the center of the screw down bracket. Again, check movement of the cable and lever before you tighten the screw and adjust as necessary.

The final long cable (temperature) goes through the provided firewall cap to under the hood. More on that later.

Here's a crappy pic for now of the bracket on the far left for the heat/defrost and I circled the bracket that the short cable for A/C/heat screws to.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Now we're getting somewhere, huh?

How about we mess with the wiring some more?

This part is hard, connect the two connectors together that look like they go together

These are for the blower motor.

[67ChevyRedneck]

There are three ground wires, and they're all WHITE. Why you ask, I don't frickin' know Woulda made more sense for them to be black, but whatever. Anyway, they are supposed to be connected to a chassis ground. Well, I connected all mine together and grounded them to the backside of my dash through an existing hole. I figure my cab is ground to the chassis, so I'm all good.

[67ChevyRedneck]

The purple wire from the power relay needs to be connected to a "key on" power source (meaning it doesn't have power when the key is off, but does have power in the ACC or ON positions.) I have an addition fuse block connected in my truck which is connected to an IGN ON source. It has the full voltage from the battery. I plugged my wire into this fuse block and used a 10Amp fuse.

[67ChevyRedneck]

We need to install a couple more pieces before we can finish up the wiring!

Back under the hood!!!


The kit comes with two rubber hoses with fittings on the ends. The smaller one that uses #8 fittings is the suction hose (it has the suction port on it for filling the system) and the bigger one that uses the #10 fittings is the discharge hose (it has the discharge port on it for purging the system.)

Using a #8 rubber O ring gasket on each end with a good amount of the lubricating oil, install the suction hose to the compressor and condenser fittings. All the hoses/lines either fit together or they don't so no chance of hooking up the lines wrong The curved end goes on the Compressor and the straight end connects to the steel line from the condenser.

Be sure to use wrenches on both fittings so the hoses/lines and gaskets don't get damaged.