weird AC setup...
 

Ok, here are some pics as p[romised of the aftermarket AC unit on the truck...at least i think it is aftermarket.

-Jeff

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hahahaha!!!






the thing doesnt look half bad:)

..

dig the modified glove box liner too?? :)

The fan behind the glove box looks like my after market A/C system, but non of the other components do, now that I think about it the inside of my cab looked like stock A/C. Its under the hood that made me pull it out. Lets see the compressor and the way everything is under the hood. :)

Eddie, all the under hood stuff has been removed at one point.

I think it is kinda neat, there was actually a kit made to fit our dashes. :)

looks aftermarket.

That is an aftermarket system. But thats one of the best I have ever seen! looks like a dealership installed it. I wonder what company made that, it almost looks stock. Although that may be the way A/C was installed in 1973 very early on by chevy. It kind of has me stumped, It wasn't there originally but it looks like its supposed to be there. What does the heater box look like under the hood?

Don't have one of my own so here is the one off E-bay.

If someone wants the aftermarket AC stuff (under hood is already gone, just dash stuff left), send me a decent shaped bezel and i will send you this one...you just pay shipping. I am going to sell this truck soon so now is your chance.

BTW - this is on my newly acquired '76...and GM never made them this way...my 73 had AC and it was all on the heater control portion just below this aftermarket stuff.

-Jeff

its definately aftermarket.. I had the same setup on a truck I bought from the original owner of a 1977 K10.. Here are a couple pics

http://lagparty.org/~mike/ac1.jpg



and



http://lagparty.org/~mike/york.jpg

note the aftermarket bracket, york compressor, and even the crank pulley is aftermarket for the added belt.

I have more pics of other parts of the system too if anyone is really interested. like the condenser, drier, etc

mike

That's a cool A/C. I've never seen one like that before.

Jeff,

Years ago a friend of mine had a '69 firebird that had an a/c system in it with controls close to how thoes are and it was from an after market company called "FACTORY AIR" and thay were a GM approved vendor. Maybe that system is form them.

He did some research on them and as i remember he told me a dealer would take a non a/c car and have this outfit install there system in it and then sell the car and tell the customer it had "FACTORY AIR" and it did but it wasn't OEM!

Bruce, that is an interesting fact...thanks! :)

I think it is cool there are at least three of us on this board who have seen/heard about conversions such as this...that is what makes this board great!!

-Jeff

amount............. of knowledge......... overwhelming :D

That's pretty cool! (pun intended!) Someone took a lot of pain to install an a/c system the hard way. I've seen a lot of the vintage air units installed under the dash, but the one you've got is pretty neat. Where did the evaporator go? Under the dash by the glove box maybe?

Jeff:

The air conditioning system you have is, as you have concluded, aftermarket. Along with the obvious cues noted by you and the others, there is another interesting piece of evidence. That is the manual vents and associated knobs located on the driver and passenger side kick panels. Trucks with factory installed air conditioning did not have these (they were, instead, vacuum controlled and integral with the air conditioning system).

I am about 80% to 90% certain that the unit you have (and the one shown on Mike's truck) was manufactured by ARA Auto Air Conditioning. ARA was a very popular maker of dealer installed aftermarket air conditioning for GM and Ford, among others. When I was four years old, my dad ordered and took delivery of a brand new 1970 Ford F100 Sport Custom. He purposely opted against the factory air conditioning system because of the space that system required, and instead chose the ARA system the Ford dealer recommended. Great system!

But the real clincher, here, is that the ARA system for Chevy light trucks is featured in the 1973 and 1976 Chevrolet Truck Silver Books I have. The Silver Books are publications that GM prepared and sent out to dealers each model year highlighting aftermarket equipment available specifically for GM trucks. They are essentially compilations of those equipment manufactures' sales literature for their wares. Much of the equipment featured was available directly thru GM dealers as dealer installed equipment.

Anyway, the ARA literature in these Silverbooks shows an excellent photograph of their "In-Dash Evaporator #0507316" designed for and installed in a 1973 Chevy Suburban (and pickup/Blazer) dash. It is a spitting image of yours with one very minor exception: the "Air Conditioning" scripting is placed just above the register outlet in the advertisement, while yours is placed just below it. My guess is this difference was due to common production line variances, and that otherwise you have the same unit.

I would be glad to send you a copy of the ad! Too bad I still don't have a scanner to post it here!

Ken

P.S. The Silverbook I have for 1979, by the way, no longer features an ARA unit, and instead shows a pair of Frigiking units for Chevy/GMC pickups. One is an in-dash unit similar to the ARA unit but with round knobs replacing the ARA's slide controls, and the other is a suprisingly neat underdash model. Just for the record!

The evaporator is right above the ash tray between the dash and OE ductwork...it is a tight fit and i can't for the life of me figure out how to remove it without ripping apart everything behind the dash!

Killew, if you are willing to make copies of the info you have I will glady send you some money to pay for the supplies and shipping. I would really like to read more about it...thanks! :)

BTW - I went to the junkyard yesterday and got a regular non-air bezel in perfect shape to replace this one (it is in bad shape), I plan on keeping all the controls just "in case" I or someone else needs them down the road.

-Jeff

I think Tom has a similar setup in his stepside.

As a side note to all this, there's a guy in the business complex I work in that does custom air conditioning for vehicles that didn't originally have it or where it's been stripped out. His controls and installation are top-notch. Look much better than the originals even. Can't remember the name exactly (maybe CC Classics) but he was out at the DFW swap meet in October. He has a beautiful 1980 SWB Fleetside that has his installation in it. If anyone is interested, I can stop by and get some info.

Ask him how much to take a truck from NO A/C to a complete GOOD A/C system (parts and install). Thanks

Ok, I'll talk to him tomorrow at lunch. Glad to help.

I was browsing under the hood and noticed that I have a couple of heater core looking hoses that pierce the firewall on the drivers side. One has what looks like a compressor? They goto a radiator looking coil in front of the stock radiator. I have the same fan behind my glove box, and the extra vents too, but some of the vent tubing has been removed. I will take pics and post them as I can since it seems that I'm the only one with some parts left under the hood.. :)

Check out this aftermarket system. http://www.shelbournes.net/trucksite/CCClassic.htm
A company in my buisness complex does this. It's great because it removes all that crap on the firewall and uses the same controls you have. The truck in the link is an '80 and is the owner's truck. The pictures don't do it justice.

I see he uses the stock control panel. How does he have the fan speed hooked to the back of the switch? Did he double up on the connection and add a limit switch? If so thats how my aftermarket AC system was and that deisgn (just the back of the switch) is very poor. I had all kinds of connection problems.