chevnut55

Since I am droping a ls into my 69 camaro and plan on moving from cold ma. to hot fl. soon I decided to use a air condition/climate controll kit.
I never had a car with a/c before so I no nothing about it and its way out of my budget but I better do it now while I am doing the motor swap.

what kit is best? they are the same price, vintage air seems to be the popular kit but I hear classic auto air is better...no info on why .
I do not know if I can re use any of the oem c5 a/c parts to keep the cost down.
I am still trying to talk myself into this..the 69 is a convertable and Im not a big fan of a/c or spending a extra $1,300.00 +
So if I can keep it cheap and easy I wil do it.

downset71

I used classic auto air on my LS converted Monte. They didnt have a kit for LS motors so i made my own AC bracket. But everything else in the application worked fine. Not as modern as others, i still use cable activated controls, not digital. But nice and cold system. Very nicely built

67Skylark

I stopped in at the Classic AutoAir shop in Tampa, A couple of there talking pionts were that their unit has a separate coil for heat and ac where V-air uses the same core for both, so your AC could freeze coolant and pop the core if mixture wasn't correct, also that the Classic autoair unit wasn't seal shut so you can repair it if something goes wrong were V-air is sealed send in the unit.. I have never seen a V-Air unit, this is just what they had to say. The Guys at Classic knew their stuff and were very nice, Give them a call and Chat.

garys 68

iTrader: (1)

I've installed a sure fit gen 4 vintage air on a 68 corvette LS swap and a classic auto air universal kit on a 72 Olds 442 LS swap. Mo kit was available for the 442 at the time, so I went with the cable operated universal since it was easier to modify.
Both companies have the full installation instructions online, check them out. Both also substituted the needed parts for the LS swap. You're going to be happy with either.

chevnut55

the thing about vintage air I do not like is the contrall *****. i am looking to keep everything inside stock looking..not billet.
leaning to classic auto air.

garys 68

iTrader: (1)

Is the Classic Auto Air kit for your car cable controlled? If so, it ill be a lot like the universal kit I put in the 442 (kept the lever controls). But the Vintage Air kit for my 68 vette kept the original style controls too.
The Vintage air is a pretty hi tech unit. It uses computers to interpret the control slider potentiometer positions, heater control valve is electric rather than vacuum, stepper motors control the air doors, even the fan speed is controlled by pulse width modulation rather than the old resistor pack.
I've had 3 issues with the VA unit in 5 years. The heater control valve stuck and had to be replaced. The fan speed control occasionally doesn't stay on high (not yet resolved). The controls had to be recalibrated for proper air door operation. I almost had to remove the computer and send it back for this (terrifying on a 68 corvette)
The Classic Auto Air is infinitely more simple, which is why I chose it for a custom install requiring modifications. Both the heat and air doors are controlled by cables. The unit is slightly smaller than the VA. The one drawback is that there is no separation between the floor heat ports and defrost ports. It was VERY easy to modify the Olds controls to operate the heat and air door controls (not sure why they never came out with an Olds kit, as simple as it was). Due to it's simplicity, it was easy to make mods that fit what I want. I drove all summer in 100 degree heat and it worked great! The classic Auto kit was a couple hundred dollars cheaper too.
Both companies were great to work with. I had a lot of mods (both were LSx swaps) and both companies worked with me and took a lot of tech calls.
If you want more details on one or the other, let me know.

Gray86hatch

iTrader: (83)

We have the VA on dads chevelle. Two years with no issues.
I didn't want to keep the stock cable contols. The variable speed blower is nice.

Kept us cool on 2 power tours with temps above 100.

I would use the Holley ac bracket and a Sanden comp if doing it again.

Tim

Chicago TDP

iTrader: (3)

I am going to be buying a $1,300 Vintage Air kit, Gen IV.
No cables, all servo and variable speed fan.
I think it is worth it to get a complete kit and not waist time (or freon) trying to cobble something together.

Not to mention, with A/C, the pressures and getting it all to work efficiently is not simple.
I know that people have bragged about the duct temperature of their Vintage A/C being 38 degrees....I like the sound of that!

nodrok

The vintage air kit for your can uses the stock controls. It eliminates the cables and is all controlled by wire. I went with the alternate routing that runs all the line out of the factory blower hole. So all lines come out in the fender. If you look at the pics in my album youll see the stock ac location for a lq4 ( notch the frame). All 4 lines will come out in the fender and shoot over in front of the wheel well. Hope this helps.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/members/n...0&ref=gnr-next
https://ls1tech.com/forums/members/n...0&ref=gnr-prev

BTW mine is a vintage air gen IV sure fit kit

chevnut55

Thanks for the info. I just ordered from vintage air.
I bought the ls bracket but I did not buy the center dash vent so I will try to make anothey style air duct. I do not want to cut the dash.
hope its as easy as they say to install.

nodrok

it seams like a lot when you get it. but its pretty easy. The only thing i havent done yet is the wiring but i dont think it will be hard either.

oldtimelt1

iTrader: (1)

http://www.rainbowproductsonline.com...144&Itemid=116

donnie_19

I am installing VA in me Vette now. Picked up from local vendor. Ended up $1500 by the time I got the controls and bracket for Sanden Compressor. Used the vintage air gen IV sure fit kit