Vintage Air Gen IV Magnum in a S30

[Derek]

So I have the Gen 2 Mini in my 73. It works well enough but if the car has been sitting in the Florida sun on a 95 degree day it takes quite a while for it to cool it down. I’m going to upgrade it to something larger. I called Vintage Air to get some tech specs on the various models. The person helping me was able to search for sales by car model and said they sold a Gen IV Magnum last year to a person with a 73 who lives in Austin TX and they never returned it.  Now we all know that doesn’t mean that it fit or if they ever even opened the box but I figured I’d throw it out there to see if anyone knows about it.  As a side note has anyone fit anything larger than the mini in their S30?

 

Thanks

Derek

[SteveJ]

I think larger units tend to intrude into the passenger footwell. I think AC Autosolutions sells a kit that only partially intrudes into the footwell. A friend said he has talked with the guy who runs AC Autosolutions, and the guy is easy to work with. I noticed that on his website, there is some carpeting hanging down from under the dash to hide the evaporator. https://autoacsolutions.com/products/ac-kits/add-on-air-conditioning-heat-and-defrost-air-kit-with-integrated-controls-for-75-76-77-78-280z/

[Daluvian]

So it looks like they sell 2 kits one is a add on a/c that hangs out the other is a heat and a/c seems the a/c and heat combo takes less space and replaced the old heater core if anyone can confirm this was looking at the kit also. Also says 70 lbs that’s a lot of weight 

Edited August 23, 2022 by Daluvian

[SteveJ]

7 hours ago, Daluvian said:

So it looks like they sell 2 kits one is a add on a/c that hangs out the other is a heat and a/c seems the a/c and heat combo takes less space and replaced the old heater core if anyone can confirm this was looking at the kit also. Also says 70 lbs that’s a lot of weight 

That's not a lot of weight if you live in the Southeastern US. You should have seen me after driving to Memphis and back for ZCON 2015. I would not have minded and extra 70 lbs at all for that trip.

[zKars]

2 hours ago, SteveJ said:

That's not a lot of weight if you live in the Southeastern US. You should have seen me after driving to Memphis and back for ZCON 2015. I would not have minded and extra 70 lbs at all for that trip.

Perhaps investigate how much of that weight is the compressor vs the underdash components. The Sanden compressor for the mini isn’t more than 15 lbs and the underdash unit and hose aren’t anything north of 20.  I too find the mini to be “ok” for S30’s and 510’s in our northern climate, but likely not really enough for true hot southern climates.   

[SteveJ]

3 hours ago, zKars said:

Perhaps investigate how much of that weight is the compressor vs the underdash components. The Sanden compressor for the mini isn’t more than 15 lbs and the underdash unit and hose aren’t anything north of 20.  I too find the mini to be “ok” for S30’s and 510’s in our northern climate, but likely not really enough for true hot southern climates.   

Even if it just drops the air temp in the cabin to the mid 80s, that would be a BIG improvement for me.