My 69 had a complete factory air conditioning system installed by a previous owner I believe in the 80s. It is not presently working and the factory invoice doesn’t show it as an option so I would like to remove it completely (except for the controls, dash vent and the perhaps the evap unit if possible). I’m not sure where to start. Do I need to bleed the system, remove the evap unit and change out the firewall cover? Are there any common brackets I need to replace, etc.?
I’d appereciate hearing from anyone who has done this and any advice you guys may have.
thanks
You are the first person that I can remember saying they want to remove A/C. I would say first check the invoice then compare it to a Marti report to see if A/C is listed as an option. If you are keeping some of the components what dosen’t work? The compressor can be replaced with a factory unit or a Saden unit. A/C is a good option, they even had dealer installed units. Just make sure you give plenty of thought before you start removing parts, it might be easier to repair the unit. I know I didn’t cover your question, I just wanted to give you food for thought.
Steven
Thanks for the input. I dont have the Marti report but I do have the Eminger original factory invoice from Marti and it does not list AC. I think the 30 amp alternator is undersized (should be a 60?). I believe AC cars had a clutch fan, which mine doesn’t have and one of the refrig lines runs directly over the washer reservoir cap. The wiring doesn’t look right either.
I realize factory AC adds to the cars value and it might appeal to a future buyer but I’ll never use it, so it seems to me removing it is the way to go. I like the cleaner underhood look of non AC cars. Perhaps I’ll change my mind once I find out how much work and money is involved in removing it.
You live a good bit north of me. I use a/c every chance I get here in South Carolina, hot and humid. You have to do what makes you happy and don’t worry about future owners. Drive and enjoy, a/c or not. 
Steven
Windows and vents wide open works for me. As a kid growing up in the late 60s, AC was a luxury that most thought was a waste of $ for the few days a year it would be used. To see an AC car was rare. I have to admit though, I use the AC in my daily driver spring through fall.
When I was born, my Dad’s '58 Ford did not have A/C, and we lived diagonally across the continent from you in the Sonoran Desert. As you said, A/C was a “silly luxury”; especially since 3 years earlier our family had moved from his New York dairy located 7 miles south of Lake Ontario! He was more interested in how a car could plow through snowdrifts than how cool it was in summer.
The second family car that I had ridden in was a '62 Galaxy coupe - still no A/C. That son of New York, veteran of over 40 New York “Lake Effect” winters, actually relished cruising about in the desert at July’s 110+ degree heat!
When I was 4, the '62 was traded in for a '66 Galaxie 500 sedan. With air conditioning. And from that point on, Dad (who was a devout Ford man) NEVER owned a vehicle without a “miniature Tecumseh lawnmower engine” lying on its side, pumping Freon to to cabin to make cold air.
When my parents took me back to Clarkson, NY to meet “the rest of the family” -in August, with humid winds blowing in from the north and therefore off the lake- his '71 LTD Brougham’s A/C compressor failed. We were at the Ford dealership in Brockport having a replacement installed within 16 hours. Seems Dad didn’t mind the heat (30 degrees cooler than it would have been at home in Yuma); but he hated the humidity.
I guess it’s all in how your body acclimates to the weather. EDIT: Once the '73 XR-7 in my carport is running again, one of the “priority items” will be fitting up a Sanden compressor to replace the defunct York/Tecumseh unit. With what feels like 1/4" of shaft end-play from a toasted front bearing; I don’t think it’s going to be fun in our August weather.