'72 vs. '73 Air Conditioning

[73PlainJane]

Does anyone have an idea as to whether or not there's any difference between '72 and '73 as it pertains to air conditioning?

There's a company advertising on Ebay that's not too far from me and in their advertising, they make the following claim: "PLEASE NOTE: Unit will very likely fit models through 1978, but since we have not installed one in anything newer than 1972, it is only currently guaranteed to fit 1970-72 cars."

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-78-Camaro-A-C-SYSTEM-70-71-1971-1972-73-74-75-76_W0QQitemZ4633384589QQcategoryZ34197QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Any takers.


Jon - St. Petersburg

 

[Real SS]

I would think the 72 and 73 systems are the same. I believe the change to a VIR happened in 74 or 75. Looks like this is just an aftermarket a/c system.

 

[ErikNORCAL]

I am in the process of installing one right now in a '73. So far I haven't encountered anything unusual and I checked with 2 different guys that carried this line and they said the same thing, its the same. This is for a non a/c car and you can keep your fresh air ducts. I don't think vintage air does that so I went with this.
A couple of notes on the install - mock everything up first before drilling. The template to drill some holes in the radiator support to run lines to the condensor are off.
There is a pin holding the defrost ducts in place, you can see it if you look through the windshield. Somehow I didn't see them and broke the ducts, waiting on the part from another forum member! You could probably trim the ducts to the right size with a dremel cutter on a wand without having to even try to remove them.
They give you a template to cut your dash and mount center ducts in the middle. Turns out the center duct fits perfectly in the radio spot. I don't have a radio, but if I did, I'd find some place else for it before cutting the dash.
I bought their brackets to move the alternator to the driver side and mount the condensor on the passenger side. The brackets turned out to be alan grove components. I don't recall the price or if there was a difference, I'm sure there is. I also bought a 3 groove pulley from them. You can get them cheaper for sure from elsewhere. Now that I look at it, I might have looked to see if a GM serpentine setup would've worked, I think the compressors are different though. Lastly, one guy told me that I didn't need any of the brackets or pulley. He was more familiar with installs than the guy I bought from but was slightly more...probably should've bought from him as I believe I could've saved money on the pulleys and brackets.
pm me if you got any questions, I rarely check this part of the forum.
oh, they are supposed to have a pretty good rep too. I checked on various boards like pro-trouing, camaros, and chevelles.com. They were recently bought out by investors from what I read somewhere.

 

[hhott71]

I am a CLASSIC AUTO AIR dealer and I have personally installed that PerfectFit system in a 73 Camaro.
I documented the whole thing on this board last year.
Pictures were included.

The main difference is the Labeling of the controlhead.
Easily corrected as you could create your own graphics panel.

The Classic auto Air system is not perfect in the condenser department.
They have actually failed miserably.
They wrongly designed the condenser accessory lines and layout to have the compressor mounted on the passenger side.
Fine and dandy for ancient short water pump belt set ups or the 90 and up serpentine belt set up.
However the Cars were built with a long water pump and the compressor belongs on the drivers side.

The center dash vent is easy to install in the correct location.
The Radio bezel should be trimmed out for a DIN radio, they are a perfect fit and that is the way the car shouldv'e been built to begin with.

The Pics are in this file if you want to see them.

http://photos.yahoo.com/airandsound

 

[73PlainJane]

I am a CLASSIC AUTO AIR dealer and I have personally installed that PerfectFit system in a 73 Camaro.
I documented the whole thing on this board last year.
Pictures were included.

The main difference is the Labeling of the controlhead.
Easily corrected as you could create your own graphics panel.


They wrongly designed the condenser accessory lines and layout to have the compressor mounted on the passenger side.
http://photos.yahoo.com/airandsound

Thanks for the feedback, all.

I'm guessing "Classic Auto Air" is a Trade Mark and anyone buying their products can sell using the name?

My ride's got factory air, but it's been down for some time and when it was up and working, it never kept up with demand. The fan never produced enough output to chill the interior, even on a mildly hot day. Black car + Florida = too hot!

You say that you've installed the same system, but in looking at your pics, you've got the compressor mounted on the driver's side. Did you have to lengthen the lines from the original kit? Have to do anything special from mounting brackets?


Jon

 

[hhott71]

We are an AC installation shop, We can make our own hoses.
We can also "adjust" the hardlines or reconstruct a hardline we have to fit an application.

Your Factory AC can be repaired cheaper and easier than trying to replace the system.
A blower motor and wheel from a newer GM Pu, can't remember if it was Full size or S-10, is a drop in replacement to a Camaro has has about 50% more flow.

There are many things that can easily be done to boost the original AC performance.
The Classicautoair is quite good for a non/AC car. Factory AC is still higher capacity.

 

[73PlainJane]

Good on all.

I'll do a little investigating between this board and another to see if the topic of blowers comes up. If not, I'll start one!

I wasn't sure if the original system could be brought up to modern (maybe not such a good thing?) standards in both fan force and temperature.

Thanks for your help, Bro'.


Jon Pearl - St. Petersburg

 

[BLUE72CAMARO]

Hhott,

other than the condensor being on the passenger side (which is where I want it on my big block, cleaner looking IMO) do you have any other problems with the caa setup?

 

[ErikNORCAL]

uh oh, I'm right at the point of drilling holes for the condensor and mounting it... do you mean they failed by the capabilities of the system or that the kit isn't good for a passenger side mount compressor? If its the kit isn't good for a passenger side compressor, would the alan grove components brackets and extra groove pulleys correct this (I hope so)?

Seperate question, does the serpentine setup use a short water pump and would the compressor be different for it?

Does it work well? I hope I didn't spend the $ for nothing.

 

[hhott71]

They designed it to have the tubes exit on the passenger side.
I'm sure it fits great that way when following their instructions.

I reversed the Cond because the compressor was on the drivers side.
I have the fabrication capabilities here.

Installing the way they have it in their instructions would have the discharge (#8) hose running from the passenger side to the drivers side and just would've been uglier. Functionally it doesn't matter, it was just for aesthetics.

If you have a pass side mounted comp it will work perfectly with the way they designed it.

The SBC with a long water pump dictates the comp go on the driver side.