The Vintage Air Incident

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
1

So I posed the question last year on whether or not to go with Classic Auto Air or Vintage Air. Through some various discounts and other factors, I ended up purchasing a Vintage Air kit through CVF Racing since I had already purchased a compressor through them when I did my serpentine belt kit.

Here’s my experience so far.

First, Vintage Air sent me the wrong kit. They sent a kit for a 71-72 Mustang without AC. I contacted them and CVF and once they verified that the correct Cougar order had been placed, and that they screwed up fulfillment, they sent me return labels for that kit and shipped me the correct kit.

When I installed the kit, I found that it was missing the control panel wiring harness. Once I realized this and contacted them, even though I was far outside of the alleged 15-day window for missing parts, they still shipped me one immediately. However, it was a delay.

I followed the instructions, which was a mistake. They direct you to cut a section out of the passenger side of the console, which is completely unnecessary. I’ve now got to figure out how to repair that. It also instructs you to put the hot water valve in between the manifold and the upper heater core connection, which is opposite of the stock setup. I’m unsure whether that was a mistake in the instructions or not, but with that setup the S-shaped hose to the valve is too tall, and the lower hose presses on the engine valve cover.

The hoses are cut-to-fit and require the end-fittings to be swaged on.I don’t have tools for that, so I got everything installed and most of the wiring sorted before I took it to a shop to have them finish up by connecting the hoses and charging the system.

I came back from vacation to find out the shop had to spend almost two days troubleshooting the system and working with Vintage Air tech support to finally figure out the unit had a bad ECU.

We’re now waiting on the replacement ECU from Vintage Air (the third time they’ve had to send or replace something in regard to this one kit).

I’m praying that once this install is finally finished, it blows cold air and lasts a long time, but my confidence in the quality of Vintage Air is completely shot.

2

Bum deal. It sounds like one of my projects.

3

Sad to hear. I tire of all the claims these “after market direct fit” junk.
My only suggestion on A/C is to install factory stuff & upgrade the compressor, dryer, condenser & expansion valve. Try Classic Auto Air.
Flush the rest w/ a aersol flush can avail at Checker/ O’s. I’ve done over a dozens so far & all work quite well except the oval hole in the core support.

Seems these fit all Peterbilts to Yugo’s & there ya go!

4

Sorry to hear you had trouble. My experience was the total opposite. The only mistakes made were of my own doing when I ordered the wrong fittings I wanted since mine was a custom installation.

5

Sounds like a headache but also sounds like they are righting their mistakes too so that has to be worth something.

I thought their lines where supposed to be pre-made already for the direct install kits?

following along since AC is on my short list

6

Sorry to hear about all the problems you’ve had, my experience was opposite as well. You don’t need to cut the console if the car came with a.c. and it still has the correct console. On the water valve, I hooked it up like the instructions said so I hope that’s correct. I have not had it charged yet so I will keep my fingers crossed on the ecu. I did spring for the power steering bracket and am glad I did. On the hoses, I hooked up the fittings that were there and cut the hose length put a sharpie mark for orientation on the hose and the fitting. Took them to house of hose and the guy did the crimps for free (I got lucky there). Good luck.

7

That does indeed suck. Hope it works out. FWIW, my VA system has been excellent since it was installed over two years ago. I use it often.

I’m glad I listened to my car buddies who strongly cautioned me against trying to install it myself despite my otherwise generally comprehensive mechanical and electrical experience working on vintage cars. The shop I used had done dozens and it still took them a week.

At the time of install, they warned me that my pathetic stock alternator would struggle to provide enough juice at idle for the VA ECU to authorize the highest blower setting. This turned out to be correct so don’t be concerned if it seems like it won’t blow on high sometimes. The ECU is correctly limiting blower speed to match available current.

8

I have a 140 Amp alternator, so that was not the issue. The shop called a few minutes ago and said with the new ECU it’s now working right and blowing cold. Going to pick it up this evening.

9

Good to know this one!

10

Agreed!good info

At first adding ac isnt too bad price wise but then you gotta factor in needing a bigger radiator, fan and clutch, then a possible alternator. All good upgrades but if you are trying to do it all at once its going to be a big chunk out of your wallet.

11

Drove the car home with cold AC. Of course, then I decided to check the heat. It seems to blow a little less cold, but it didn’t warm up much at all. I’m thinking the heater valve may not be functioning – at this point, wouldn’t surprise me at all.

I guess I’ll pull the hose later when the car cools down and see if it opens and closes in response to the controls.

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Let us know what you find out.

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Vintage Air tech support said to make sure the valve is plugged in correctly because sometimes not all three prongs in the plug go in. He also verified that if I pull off the hose, I should be able to see it opening and closing in correspondence to the controls with the key on but without the car running.

Haven’t had a chance to troubleshoot yet.

14

You might also re-run the control calibration routine using the ground wire provided in the kit. I had to do that once.

15

Finally drained the system and checked the heater valve this weekend. It’s stuck closed. One more piece of bad equipment from Vintage Air.

On the bright side, at least it’s stuck closed, so I have cold AC.