A/C for our trucks

[juddoats]

Has anyone put a aftermarket AC in these trucks...i bought the A/C set up out of a 1970 model with the big HUGE ac box and all and the controller but wondering if someone has bought a vintage air or anything and sat it up for this truck

[Hobcobble]

Has anyone put a aftermarket AC in these trucks...i bought the A/C set up out of a 1970 model with the big HUGE ac box and all and the controller but wondering if someone has bought a vintage air or anything and sat it up for this truck

Jeff... aka "MowingMan", installed an aftermarket a/c unit in his '69[?] W200 ....
John

[JimE]

I have done this, costs about $2400. if you have it done. Very well worth it, Jim

[juddoats]

i have the dash with the AC loovers in it and would like to incorporate it in with that instead of having a under mount...wondering if anyone has done that or should i just use the AC box that i bought with this dash? just trying to see if there is something smaller and newer out there...this is a big box and its over 30 years old so not sure if it works

[Trailmaster]

Upside to the factory a/c is that it all fits and works together, and based on my experience with factory a/c units, they seem to throw more cold air than any aftermarket units I've seen, but I've never tried the factory a/c for a Sweptline so that's a generalization. I took the factory a/c unit out of my 70 and replaced it with a standard heater, I didn't mind the dash vents so much, actually they looked nice and seemed to blow air better than a lot I've seen. The biggest factors in my decision to remove the factory air were that I couldn't find the hoses, condensor and drier locally, and the heater core went out and that wasn't available locally either. In addition, from reading the books, it looks like if you have to replace the heater core, evacuationg the refrigerant is neccesarry as the unit is all in one.
In addition to the HVAC box, the differences in the trucks with factory a/c units are the dash and control units. If you have all or most of the parts on hand, putting the factory system in place would be as effective as anything. I would check to see what the costs of repacing the missing parts and charging the factory unit versus the cost of aftermarket air, then go with the least costly option.

[MikeMc]

If this helps here is how the A/C was installed in my truck when I bought it. It didn't work so out it went.

[nfury8]

Vintage Air and several others offer units that mount behind the dash also. They come in
a variety of configurations, AC only, AC & Heat, AC & Heat with Defrost for example.
They will require ducting to be installed and special controls. They are smaller, but as
mentioned, that will generally translate into smaller core, evaporator and fan. The fans
can compensate by spinning faster, which means more noise. All of the new under
dash units I have heard have a loud, high pitch sound when cranked up. Pretty annoying.
Also as mentioned, the aftermarket conversions can add up in cost fast. I have about
$20 involved in restoring the factory box I am using. I expect to have about $1000 total
in my AC system, including the cost of buying the used box/dash from Butch, new drier,
and hoses & condenser from Bouchillon. That could also include a used compressor, but
one came on my donor motor. I have all the under dash stuff done, just putting off
the under hood stuff till spring.

The factory boxes are big, but they are very simple, very little to go wrong and very
simple to rebuild. Cores and evaporators can be replaced and/or repaired. There is
nothing under the hood that is critical in being specific to our trucks. Condensers and
driers are generic and available. The "correct" driers are available pretty cheaply, I got
one from O'Reilly 2-3 years ago, they had it on the shelf.

The hoses are nothing special either. If you use an aftermarket kit it will use generic hoses
that need routed and custom crimped. The exact same thing can be done to connect a
factory box up to a generic condenser/drier. Also offers the opportunity to dump the
old RV2 compressor for the much more efficient and modern Sanden units. The newer
compressors and brackets can be scavenged from a variety of late 80's - early 90's Mopars.

Bouchillon Performance also offers just about everything you might need to retrofit
an original or aftermarket AC system in just about any old Mopar.

[juddoats]

ok great...so it sounds like just restoring what i already have is the way to go :) thanks guys

[BrowneBlue]

Hey Mikemc....what on Earth were all them gauges reading? I've never seen that many!

[Rodger]

Hola All

The 1979 to 1989/90 MoPar V8 that uses
dual belts and the better Sanden A/C Compressor
will bolt to your A-318 or LA-318 and take
less energy from the engine when you use it.

As already said have any local shop that crimps
hoses, crimp yours to lenght.

I used the after market under the dash unit since
I wanted that "ole time look" ( more of these
were sold than original A/C optioned Trk's ).

Rodger & Gabby
COS

[wally426ci]

Hey Mikemc....what on Earth were all them gauges reading? I've never seen that many!

me neither!

[MikeMc]

Just a wanna be big rig LoL

I ain't seen that many either but I'm working on putting them all back in.

Starting from the left
1. water temp
2. fuel
3. ammeter
4. speedo
5. Tach
6. pyrometer
-Down low-
7. oil pressure
8. engine oil temp
9. volts
10. fuel pressure
11. air pressure
12. turbo boost
gauges yet to be installed
13. front rear end temp
14. transmission temp
15. transfer case temp
16. brownie temp
17. rear end temp

13-17 are all taped with 1/8 npt ready for the sending units. I've just been to lazy.

Having that BIG hole in the dash has made my life so much easier. I love it when it's not right and I just flip the door down

[BrowneBlue]

OK, one more....what does a Pyrometer do?

[MikeMc]

BB, the pyrometer is what reads the exhaust temp. They usually read the temp on the hot side (before turbo) or cold side (after turbo). Mine reads before the turbo (hot) and maximum temp is around 1,200 degrees and 900 on the cold side. Pushing more exhaust temp can cause pistons to expand and stick or start scuffing the barrels. It happened to me on my old KW. #6 injector was over fueling that cylinder so that piston created to much heat and swelled causing it to drag on the cylinder walls.

[Trailmaster]

And if you keep the exhaust temp that high for too long you can melt a hole right in the piston, which is more fun than the scored liner walls you pictured.

[MikeMc]

TM, towing my 24' fifth wheel travel trailer at 63 mph the exhaust temps stays between 800-1,000 degrees (hot side). The water temp is only 185-190.

You think thats ok to run constantly around 900 degrees while towing?

[Trailmaster]

I know you've posted it somewhere, but I don't recall exactly which diesel you have. IIRC it's one of the smaller Cummins turbos, and I'm not exactly familiar with the smaller Cummins, but I wouldn't think it should hurt it. The bigger ones will take 1000 degrees steady, 1100 or 1200 for short bits. From what I've seen if you run it too hot too much the turbos will go in short order, so if you start eating turbos every 3 or 4 months start watching the temps and try to not keep it so hot. The larger Detroits have the computer set up so that the fuel cuts back when the exhaust and oil get too hot, but not all the other do that. My Mack had an alarm that went off when you hit 1200 on the exhaust or 260 on the oil. I never set them off myself, but I remember when I had my Mack meeting another Mack driver that complained that the turbos went out too easy, he'd had 5 replaced in 200,000 miles. He's the one told me about the alarms, and further talking with him revealed that he didn't know what the pyrometer or oil temp guages were for. I don't know if he paid any mind to what I told him, I never saw him again, but I always tried to keep the oil under 240 and exhaust under 1000 and the only turbo I lost was at 654,000 miles.

[MikeMc]

Thanks TM. I got the keep it simple '93 5.9 Cummins. Only one wire needed to make it run and it can be removed too. It's the wire that keeps the magnet open on the injection pump . If the magnet is removed then it has to be shut off manually by flipping the lever. Just the way I like it

[Trailmaster]

I guess we're hijacking the thread here, but that's the way it goes. I've thought about a Cummins conversion since the VFD got a brush truck with one in it, first thought was for my 50 Chevy 3800 as that was my daily driver when the VFD got theirs. This summer I got a 76 D300 club cab dually pickup that would be good candidate also. Part of me doesn't want to do it though, as I listen to clattering oil burners all day for a living, and the little trucks are supposed to be for fun, although feeding the big blocks the isn't much fun either. I sure long for the days when either kind of fuel was under a buck a gallon.

[MikeMc]

I guess we're hijacking the thread here, but that's the way it goes.

TM, heck I'm already on Scott's doo-doo list.... but I am having fun chatting with you. The thread would probably be moving toward the bottom of the page anyways.

I'm sure you'll agree with this "Once a diesel man always a diesel man"

I did a freeway run in the Mc Mobile and got 15 mpg . I'm happy that a big tall non-arrow dynamic 10,000 lb. truck can get good mileage running 70-75 mph out on the open road. The other thing thats nice is the Brownie Box with a .71 OD so the Cummins rpm's are only about 1,800-1,900. Fastest Sweptline around if you give me a long enough strait away.

A screaming Cummins don't sound good and you can't hear the turbo whistle. So If you track one down be sure and get the OD tranny too.