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Cabin Air Flow w/o Installing A/C compressor?

Started by pfonda, October 12, 2020, 05:10:54 PM

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pfonda

Strange question, but my '73 Cuda is a factory A/C car, with all vents, dash switches, etc installed. I do not have an A/C compressor installed, however. I don't plan to install A/C, but was curious if there's any way to just flow outside air through the vents still? I also don't need a heater, just would appreciate some fresh air, aside from the windows being down! Any help in components I need would be appreciated!

1 Wild R/T

You should be able to turn on the fan & have air come out the vents without a compressor....  Personally I'd make the A/C work but then I live out in the Central valley where it's often 20+ degrees warmer than where you are.....

pfonda

Quote from: 1 Wild R/T on October 12, 2020, 06:01:03 PM
You should be able to turn on the fan & have air come out the vents without a compressor....  Personally I'd make the A/C work but then I live out in the Central valley where it's often 20+ degrees warmer than where you are.....

Thanks for the info! I rarely drive in the extreme heat days in the Bay, generally a weekend early am driver. Where are the actual fans located? Within the heater box? Basically there are no A/C system components on the engine side, but have the A/C heater box intact.

Regards,

Peter


1 Wild R/T

Blower motor should be sticking out through the firewall, if it's been removed you have a big open hole from the engine compartment to the engine...Passenger side behind the valve cover....

pfonda

Thank you for the info! I must have been spacing out, yes, the blower motor is present, see first image. It has a green connector coming off it, where do I route this? Underneath the dash, I have a green and blue line that are disconnected, and figure somehow I need to route these to the engine bay. I think the blue line is for the compressor itself, but the green needs to get to the fan motor. I do have an engine side harness (4th pic), but am not sure if these  other two components (2nd and 3rd picture) are involved as well?

pfonda

Quote from: 1 Wild R/T on October 12, 2020, 07:42:42 PM
Blower motor should be sticking out through the firewall, if it's been removed you have a big open hole from the engine compartment to the engine...Passenger side behind the valve cover....

I forgot to ask, if you have any idea where to pick up a new fan wheel. Appreciate the help!

1 Wild R/T

New might be tough... Good used, Ebay has a few....

Green wire is for the blower, it should connect at the bulkhead connector... I'm not 100%. on the newer E body wiring, I know 70...


pfonda

No worries, appreciate the help!

Does anyone have a '73 Cuda w/ factory A/C that can take some pics of the passenger side firewall so I can see the wiring layout?

Thanks,


pfonda

Ok, so I've made some progress this weekend. You are correct in that the green wire needed to be fed from the bulkhead. Essentially had to route the green wire on the dash side to the #4 slot on the bulkhead, then on the engine side, run from #4 direct to the motor pigtail. So it seems that when I press the MAX A/C or A/C buttons, I can now get the fan to run on!

The next step is...what do I do to get the door in the heater box to open that will vent fresh air from the cowl (the flap inside the area circled in red in the image below)? It's currently closed, is this actuated via a solenoid powered by a vacuum line, or is is the A/C cable that you manually toggle from "Cool" to "Heat" on the A/C gauges? If so, my cable is not connected, as I don't know where it connects on the heater box side.

Any help would be appreciated!

1 Wild R/T

Vacuum but no solenoid, your thinking modern... The car is old school... The five position push button switch is a vacuum switch, it should be fed vacuum from a fitting on the back of the intake, it passes through the firewall near the blower motor then heads over to the switch... From the switch vacuum it fed to the door actuators...

Here an older thread covering it..
https://forum.e-bodies.org/interior/6/71-challenger-heater-ac-box-vacuum-line-question-with-pictures/5396/