Resto-mod AC = No Rules !

[anlauto]

I might get some flack on this one
If you add Vintage Air AC to an E Body that was original a non-AC car, they supply a rather generic looking vent assembly that screws to the bottom of the dash....Although it serves the purpose rather well, I thought there must be a nicer way... ......not wanting vents in the dash...with a convertible I figured the lower the colder air the better....

I hunted down the rather rare and elusive E Body factory AC lower dash trim piece, I know these are very hard to find in one piece but member @YYZ came through with one in nice condition and even a nicer price

...not sure if he knew I was going to make good use of my Dremel, but here is the end result....Aftermarket Vintage Air Vents mounted in an original trim piece which I think will give the interior a much nicer finished look in my opinion

Here's VA's piece mounted in a Challenger....and mine for my "no rules" Resto-mod Cuda convertible....

[70vert]

I think that looks pretty sweet, way better than the VA vent set-up. My motto is unless the car is rare & numbers matching (with some history) there are no rules broken with resto-mod. Of course I am biased with my own resto-mod.

Dumb question - I know there are AC vents in the dash pad itself, is this piece additional vents or instead of the dash vents? I don't recall this piece though haven't had an AC car in a while (:

[anlauto]

No. So with a factory AC car the passenger and center vents are all up in the dash pad....This lower trim piece is designed to hide the AC box maybe  it's just a trim piece with no function on a factory AC car

I thought being a convertible, having the cold air vents down low might be better ? I don't know...I'm not an engineer 

[70vert]

ah ok thanks, was beginning to question everything I knew 
that is very ingenious, and your logic makes sense to me (also not an engineer). I may go on the lookout for one of these panels, wouldn't mind adding AC to my convertible and give me some additional drive time during the brutal Houston summers.

[cuda hunter]

That application looks great! 

Close ups? 

[cudaragtop]

Learned something new... didn't know there was an extra lower dash trim piece on AC E-Bodies.
Probably since mine didn't come with with AC... "¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

[larry4406]

Pretty clever!

I never paid attention to that dash trim piece as both of my cars are AC cars.

[Filthy Filbert]

So that's a factory vent piece, only found on AC cars?   All AC cars or optional on AC cars?     My car was originally an AC car, as shown by the firewall, the dash heater control piece, and it had the AC compressor on the engine still when I got it.   Everything else AC was removed though.   evaporator, drier, condenser, etc.   

Thing is, while I know my dash or at least the dash pad was replaced at some point, since it should have been blue but was currently black--The dash has NO vents in it anywhere.   and the HVAC box just blew straight out under the dash--or I could physically move the door and it would blow up the defrost vents on the windshield.   

so...I don't know what my dash really should have looked like.   I like the idea of a clean dash with no vents, and the lower dash panel pictured above.

[Challenger in NC]

neat idea

[Brads70]

Looks good Alan!  I remember hunting parts at Carlisle one year for my buddies 71 Challenger when, on one of those blue trap specials I spied that part. I picked it up and asked how much and got an answer of $75 I think it was, I told my buddy to pay the man and kept walking LOL . Great deal I thought as my buddy had no idea what it was or what it was for. He thanked me afterwards .

[blown motor]

So that's a factory vent piece, only found on AC cars?   All AC cars or optional on AC cars?     My car was originally an AC car, as shown by the firewall, the dash heater control piece, and it had the AC compressor on the engine still when I got it.   Everything else AC was removed though.   evaporator, drier, condenser, etc.   

Thing is, while I know my dash or at least the dash pad was replaced at some point, since it should have been blue but was currently black--The dash has NO vents in it anywhere.   and the HVAC box just blew straight out under the dash--or I could physically move the door and it would blow up the defrost vents on the windshield.   

so...I don't know what my dash really should have looked like.   I like the idea of a clean dash with no vents, and the lower dash panel pictured above.

@Filthy Filbert If your dash pad was replaced then it was replaced with a non-A/C pad. The A/C pad had two centre vents and one on the right side. Non-A/C cars had no vents in the dash pad. What Alan has done is mount the vents into the trim piece that was standard on A/C cars, there was never any vents there from the factory.

[Filthy Filbert]

Ok, that makes sense now.   Yea, that trim piece was not with my car.  someone gutted the blue interior and replaced or repainted everything with black.   Probably happened when the car was painted orange.   (from it's original st louis blues paint of white body and blue roof)

[usraptor]

That looks really nice Alan.  Do you have any pics of how you routed everything in the engine compartment yet?  My car (triple black) gets very hot inside on a hot summer day (despite copious amounts of sound deadener/insolation) and I've often considered installing Vintage Air but I don't want to cut up or put non original holes in my firewall.  Just curious if there is a way to route the AC component hoses into the passenger compartment without going through the firewall?? 

[anlauto]

My plan is a little more custom then that...I've moved the AC box over and will run all the lines inside the wheel well exactly like the last Challenger I did.

https://forum.e-bodies.org/your-restoration-project-roseville-moparts/10/a-g-a-r-this-just-in-the-end/19258/300

[cudaragtop]

Broken lower dash trim for AC car... $25 plus shipping
Not mine.


https://www.forebodiesonly.com/forum/threads/ac-under-dash-valance-broken-w-light.25662/