Factory Air Conditioning Kit Vs. Aftermarket Air Conditioning Kit.....

[steve91tt]

I have the old style with modern 134a compressor in my daily driven 240Z. It works fine in here on the Texas gulf coast. It's not as good as a modern luxury car but good enough that my G37 stays parked even in the hottest day of the year. It's in the mid 80's here today with high humidity and the system had no problem keeping the cabin nice and cool during a 10 minute wait at the drive through window at lunch today. I think the key is to make sure all the under dash duct work is air tight, install the Honda blower motor and keep heat out of the cabin with tint, sun shade, etc.

[Pop's Z]

Actually, the write up on the Vintage system into a '77 280Z was done by zKars on this very site. Credit where credit is due.

Cheers, Mike

[ezzzzzzz]

Look over at www.hybridz.org too. I installed a custom system using a Vintage Air Gen III, modified S30 fan housing, Honda fan motor, custom hoses, etc in my 71 240Z. It isn't perfect but it will hold it's own in the thick humid summer air of SE Virginia. It worked well for me at ZCON2010 last year in Nashville, Tenn. I would rate it a 7 or 8 on a 10 scale. I wouldn't drive my Z nearly as much in the summer without a/c. When ZCON2011 is done I plan to tear my car down for major paint work and will revisit the a/c plumbing inside to hopefully increase air flow/volume.

[Grim]

Here is a link to the pdf for the 77 280z install if you are interested.http://www.xenons30.com/files/DatsunZ_Vintage_Air_1000.pdf

[FastWoman]

I installed a VintageAire AC in my '66 Mustang. It was a nice system overall. It was cold, and the controls were made to integrate seamlessly into the existing instrument panel. The only thing that betrayed the existence of a modern AC was the eyeball side vents under the dash near the doors. They looked as though they might have been original equipment, though. (Of course there were no factory AC systems in the early Mustangs.)

Although the system was well conceived, implementation depends on the skill of the installer. For instance, my system came back with a freon line arched up high and rubbing the underside of the hood. The fitting was turned that way to avoid the power steering pump, which was rather admittedly a rather rare feature for the '65 and '66 (so most Mustangs would not have this fitment problem). A more conscientious installer would have re-made the freon line to fit. I also had a fuse block located forward of where the left eyeball vent was to go, and that got covered up. The slinky tube connecting it was also severely kinked around an OEM vent part. So the devil is sometimes in the details. Find a good installer, be picky, and/or do it yourself (if possible).

FAIW, in hindsight I think I would have restored/rebuilt the OEM Ford Fairlane R12 AC system I had (the system dealers were installing in the Mustangs at the time). I was simply terrified R12 would cease to exist and thought it would be prudent to go 134a.

[sblake01]

My 66 Mustang had that awful large box unit under the dash. (Mine also had power steering) It actually cooled better than the York system used in the 240Zs. I installed a Vintage Air system in my brother in law's custom 58 Chevy station wagon. It cools that big 'greenhouse on wheels' as well as any modern factory equipped car.

[DougN]

I had the dealer installed A/C system in my car, and swapped out the old York compressor for the new compressor that MSA sells. It is mounted on the lower drivers side of the engine compared to the upper passenger side of the York unit. Lines now run along the drivers side of the engine, over the transmission, and through the firewall. Also changed over to R134. I have an aux fan on the front of the AC condenser (the part in front of the radiator) that I can turn on when it gets hot to help airflow in traffic. I also have the Honda blower motor "upgrade".

End result is that the AC works well here in GA (need to turn it off sometimes) except for the hottest days (95+) when it works ok. It is not the same as a modern AC, but I am happy with it. Install still looks like the dealer installed system from everywhere but under the hood. The Honda blower motor seems to work well, but it does seem that on high there is too much air for the ducting design as I don't notice a huge difference between med and high, just more noise.

Hope this helps with your decision!

[DougN]

I had the dealer installed A/C system in my car, and swapped out the old York compressor for the new compressor that MSA sells. It is mounted on the lower drivers side of the engine compared to the upper passenger side of the York unit. Lines now run along the drivers side of the engine, over the transmission, and through the firewall. Also changed over to R134. I have an aux fan on the front of the AC condenser (the part in front of the radiator) that I can turn on when it gets hot to help airflow in traffic. I also have the Honda blower motor "upgrade".

End result is that the AC works well here in GA (need to turn it off sometimes) except for the hottest days (95+) when it works ok. It is not the same as a modern AC, but I am happy with it. Install still looks like the dealer installed system from everywhere but under the hood. The Honda blower motor seems to work well, but it does seem that on high there is too much air for the ducting design as I don't notice a huge difference between med and high, just more noise.

Hope this helps with your decision!

[xs10shl]

Sorry to dig up this old thread but I'm looking for information on my AC system. I have a 1970 JDM s30 which has an L20, and it has AC in it. Kats had mentioned in his Z432 thread that Fairlady Z's were available from the factory with A/C from 1969 (Japanese domestic cars, not 240z's) I'd like to know if anyone has any other data or information about these types of installs - were they factory or dealer installs, or perhaps the information is not really accurate after all, and this was a kit from the late 70's or 80's?

Point being is that if it is true that the factory installed A/Cs, then it would follow that there is such an item as a Factory A/C kit for an s30, it was just not available when new in the 240Z, Z432, or 240ZG.

This particular setup has a heater control panel with a different sticker on it, which has an extra setting for "cold" - for all I know it's just something that someone printed on their laser jet, but it looks real enough. I didn't get a look at the guts of the internals of this switch - car is being restored at the moment, but I'll try to get a few pictures before everything comes apart. Here is the link to Kat's post: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?25575-Datsun-240z-Vs-Fairlady-z432&p=338583&viewfull=1#post338583

Either way, it wasn't operating when I got the car, and I'd venture to say it doesn't work very well even when fully functional.

[sblake01]

If the evaporator is in the center of the dash rather than in the passenger footwell, its a factory installed system. I seem to recall Alan T. posting a scan of the factory system that we never got here in the U.S.

[sblake01]

Found it!:

As a matter of fact, the S30 was designed to incorporate an air conditioning system. The Factory was fitting a very comprehensive system right from the beginning of sales to the general public in late 1969.

Of course this was on Japanese home-market models, and not the HLS30U.

Whether it actually worked as well as some people would have liked is another ( different ) discussion.

Another interesting discussion might be whether the original Factory air conditioning system was not offered on the HLS30U because it was designed for an RHD configuration, and only an RHD configuration - which would be interesting..........

For reference purposes:

Scan from the Nissan 'Service Shuho' booklet no.184 ( the first for the S30-series Z ) which introduced the new model series to the Japanese dealers. Dated November 1969:

If this is the system you have, it might be worth restoring.

Edited August 3, 2011 by sblake01

[xs10shl]

That looks to be similar- there may be some pieces missing. Car has a rotary compressor which led me to believe that it was at least a replacement, but this diagram also shows what appears to be a rotary setup. I was not aware of any company using rotary compressors in place of York compressors in 1970.