Most folk don't worry about air conditioning when it is cool, but let summer start to come around and all of a sudden the heat has our attention. Well, I am no exception, so when it started to heat up I started gearing up to install air in my 64. I wanted the nostalgic look and wanted to keep my car original looking, so I opted to use an original type of evaporator unit. I had owned a 64 Falcon in the 60s and knew that the evaporators cranked out plenty of cold air, even enough to keep a convertible comfortable with all the air leaks of a rag top.
I started out by asking people in my car club if they had an evaporator or knew of one to no avail. I started looking on E-bay and after passing on a few that I had seen there, I finally made a bid and bought my A/C unit. Anytime you buy an evaporator via E-bay or any other sight unseen resource you are buying a pig in a poke, you have no idea if it will even hold pressure, if the blower motor works, if the thermostat works, if the expansion valve is any good and the list goes on. Fortunately for me I got a good one right from the get go. As soon as it arrived I bench tested it to make sure that the blower motor worked, it did, also by applying 12V to it and using a light tester I was able to make the light go on and off by turning the thermostat switch from off all the way to cool and back again. So hopefully the thermostat switch was working. Since the expansion valves on these old units are next to bullet proof I was assuming it was good, I did take compressed air and blow the evaporator out. The evaporator unit I got was from a 65 Mustang so I removed the coin tray from it and fabricated some mounting brackets so it would set as far under the dash as I could get it. My car has a console and a four speed so with an evaporator unit under the dash there is very little room for error. As for the rest of the system, and since I am not a purest I decided to go with a Sandin compressor and a new type condenser that was compatible with R 134. After talking with the pros of the A/C industry I learned that the secret to making R 134 cool good lay in the design of the condenser. Certainly you can use a condenser designed for R 12, but they will not cool as well as one designed for R 134. So it was off to a local supplier that sells A/C parts for trucks, but also caters to street rod and classic car people. I told him that I had a 64 Falcon what a 289, and that I needed everything except for the evaporator. He sold me the Sandin compressor, all the brackets needed to install it including belt, condenser, drier, three lengths of hose in different diameters, and the fittings for the end of the hoses, this all comes as a kit and cost about $600.00.
I started out by installing the A/C compressor mounting brackets first. You will have to remove the fan from your car and all the belts. Next remove the crankshaft pulley and install the triple groove pulley that comes with the kit. Since my car did not have power steering I did not use the center grove of the pulley, but it is there for any car with power steering. The fuel line and the coil on my car were in the way so I removed them to get them out of the way. I next installed the compressor brackets, and installed the compressor. then the belts went on to make sure that the pulley groves lined up. I then reinstalled the fuel line routing it under and around the A/C compressor brackets, and found a new place to mount my coil. Put the fan back on and that step of the operation was complete.
Next was the condenser. I placed the condenser and made the mounting brackets from the material in the kit. I used a hole saw to make two holes for the two A/C lines to and from the condenser through the radiator core support. Step two of the operation is now complete. I then clamped the dryer in place. Next was the installation of the evaporator and A/C refrigerant lines. I hung the evaporator in place temporarily to get a measurement on all the A/C lines. I carefully measured all the A/C lines from the evaporator unit to the compressor, from the compressor to the condenser, from the condenser to the dryer and from the dryer back to the evaporator. I marked and cut the A/C lines and put the fittings in the end of the lines with the 90 degree fittings placed as they would be installed in the car.
I returned to the supplier that I bought the kit from. He took the lines in to the shop and with a pneumatic crimping tool permanently crimped the fittings on the end on the lines. I then returned home and again removed the evaporator unit and attached the two lines to the expansion valve that is on the back of the A/C evaporator unit. Reinstalled the evaporator routing the two lines through the stamped hole in the firewall. You will have to knock out the two slugs from the factory stamped holes in the firewall. It was time to drill a hole in the floor with a hole saw for the evaporator drain tube. I next installed all the other lines. With all the A/C lines installed and tight I was now ready to vacuum and charge the system.
After vacuuming the system. I let it set for about five hours to make sure that I didn't have any leaks. I then charged the system holding my breath that everything would work. By the time I got the first can in the system it was getting cold. I finished charging the system and then checked the thermostat and thank God it was blowing ice cubes. Installing air conditioning is not a hard thing to do. It just takes a little patience and being sure you have all the parts to finish the job. If I can do it I know that you can too.
This is for reference only. People's mechanical ability varies and I can not be responsible for someone elses inability to affect the change over properly. You do so at your own risk.
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