Installing the GEN II Mini A/C into my 240

[Pop's Z]

Hi all,

I am in the process of installing the Hot Rod Air system in my '73. It is not the easiest thing I have ever done, but the challenge is stimulating. When it's done, I will post a "how-to" w/ pics. At the moment I'm still plotting out the running of the heater and A/C lines through the firewall. There's not a lot of room to manuever there. I found the people at HRA great to deal with so far. They had some supplier problems earlier, but that seems to be solved. One of the reasons I went with them as opposed to Vintage was that they had a compressor mount for the Z. If you are considering a HRA system don't bother with the fresh air system. There's just not enough room to duct it. Also don't order the evaporator mounting bracket as it just won't work. I'm using aluminum bar stock and using some of the old heater attachment points. More to follow.

Cheers, Mike

[blue fairlady]

The story started with whether to destory the originality of my 73z, on the other hand to keep the car usuable in summer 33 degrees and stucked in slowly crawling traffic , the taxi and lorry drivers with no patience.

The conclusion is YES as I like to drive my 240z around.

[blue fairlady]

Getting a minimun destruction to interior to house an evaporator. I took the suggestion of the genII mini. As instructed by photos of Derek.

The difficulty is in getting the GenII as the vintage air does not seem to sell overseas, and the other Zshop that sells the whole kit, which might cause less destruction ( the evaporator replaces the heater core in original fan unit??) appears after I got the genII.

I have to ask my relative to get the genII from Canada and ship it to me!

As in photo I hate to say good bye to my original fan

[pzofsak]

Derek, nice write up, I almost considered just doing away with A/C all together to clean everything up, not to mention having to convert over to r134. Living in Texas this isn't the best idea for summer driving do doing something similar to what you have done is very plausible. Just curious though, in the end what did the setup, with lines and everything else, set you back?

[74260zt]

I'm about ready to put one of these in my car. I have a factory a/c unit in my 260 now, but I never hooked it back up after the RB install.

I found a guy selling Vintage Air kits on eBay. I'm sure I will have to buy more than comes with these kits. What do you guy's think. Is this a fair deal?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250604126632&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

Vintage Air Evaporator, Gen-II Mini HEAT/COOL/DEFROST

Vintage Air has set an industry standard in after market air conditioning. All Gen II Units are electric controlled with Servo motors that provide the best temperature control in the industry. This Gen II unit includes three standard vents, and horizontal black slide control.

This is the ideal system for coupes and smaller sedans and wagons. It features true by-level operation of cool and heat, meaning that you may mix both heat and A/C to your desired temperature.

INCLUDES:

-Gen-II Mini evaporator

-Wiring harness to install evaporator

-Three standard vents, 4.75" wide x 1.562" tall

-Defrost duct and duct hose

-Black horizontal slide control, 4.63" wide x 2.44" tall

Dimensions:

Gen II Mini: 7 1/3" Deep x 9" Height x 19"Length

Please contact us at 704-483-3300 with any questions.

[Darrel]

It doesn't have the condenser. And probably not a warranty.

[jalexquijano]

I have a Sanden 508 compressor and have purchased the Gen II Mini kit. Can someone point out which compressor bracket is the one that bolts directly to the drivers sided of my 240z which has an L24 engine block. Have seen many on ebay but want to be sure before purchasing. It needs to be the direct 4 bolt mount.

[zKars]

jalex

Can you give me a link to one or two of the ebay ads you found? I'd be surprised if one them works as a direct mount for our blocks that also puts the pulley in the right position to mate to the damper pulley grooves. If they do exist I'd love to know the source. I've done four Gen II vintage air installs on Z's (ok, one 510) and always just made a bracket to mount it where it has to go. Vintage Air has a set of generic compressor mounting plates to use as a starting point.

http://www.vintageair.com/2014catalog/Pages%20from%202014%20VintageAir%20Cat%20rev%208-15%2069.pdf

part 151015, universal fabricators bracket.

BTW there is nothing premade to make any of this whole process easy. Between making the mounting bracket, adapting the control panel into the console, routing air ducts and adapting them to the dash outlets, wiring, underdash evap/blower mounting, condensor mounting, refrig hose creating/routing/, etc etc etc its all "create it from scratch using your imagination". Installs now take me about 35-50 hours depending on the level of detail fit and finish I'm trying to achieve. It's worth it in the end. It kept my Z cool in Arizona and back for ZCON 2012 and to San Diego and back via Vegas in August while running on low.

[jalexquijano]

Can someone tell me if i will need to drill any holes on the firewall to pass the compressor to evaporator hoses or can i simply eliminate the heater hoses and use the 2 holes as this guy did?

[zKars]

If you are not going to use the heater part of the GenII system then you can just use the heater hose holes to pass the AC hoses. Well, maybe and maybe not.

A great deal depends on the routing of the hoses on the INSIDE and how they have to get from the firewall to the connections on the evaporator box. The stock heater hose holes are right behind the evap unit fan after its mounted, so you would have to run pre-bent hard lines to make an immediate 90 deg down. Each of the various plumbing options that Vintage Air has (rubber hose, hard lines, SS braided and others) will require different routing based on the how tight the hoses can be bent and how you need to get each connection from place to place. Cost also factors in, the SS lines are twice as expensive as the basic rubber stuff for example.

The "correct" way to do this is to mount all the components, THEN route the hoses between them. Unfortunately the stock heater hose holes are not in the best location....

Edited September 20, 2015 by zKars

[Derek]

I think you would be hard pressed to make everything connect using the heater hose holes. You may have to bight the bullet and blow a hole through the firewall.

 

Derek

[jalexquijano]

In conclusión, can I use the heater hoses holes to route the compressor to evaporator hoses?

Edited September 21, 2015 by jalexquijano