1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy

[pjmoreland]

Also mounted the compressor. Had to bend the dipstick tube out of the way.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks great! Nice work

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looks great! Nice work

Thanks, Dale

[pjmoreland]

Installed the condenser. Gonna have to remove the grille to get the lines installed.

[pjmoreland]

Was able to get the condenser hard lines routed through the hole in the radiator support by loosening the grille and tipping it forward. Also installed the compressor drive belt.

[pjmoreland]

Installed the A/C hoses and heater hoses. Also installed a thermostat bypass hose from the intake manifold to the water pump so that coolant can circulate while the engine is warming up now that the coolant can't circulate through the heater core. Vortec small block engines lack the bypass channel from the water pump up through the passenger side head.

[SRU1436]

Looks great, is that the gen 5 version?

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by SRU1436

Looks great, is that the gen 5 version?

Thanks. It is gen 5. I installed a gen 5 system in my other truck in 2023, and the only change I've noticed is that they no longer offer the option to put potentiometers on the stock heater controls. They now include their heater controls, and they've raised the price accordingly. I prefer the look of the OE controls. I'll have to come up with a good way to cover up the tacky Vintage Air logo on the controls.

I had a funny argument with the guy that took my order for this current system. I told him that my previous system was a gen 5, but he was convinced that gen 5 was not available in 2023. After a little digging, he concluded that it was indeed an early release of the gen 5 system. It said gen 5 on the invoice and on the installation instructions after all.

[Ol Blue K20]

Very clean installation, Very nice

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Very clean installation, Very nice

Thank you, Dale

[pjmoreland]

Worked on the wiring today. Started by connecting into the switched power and dash illumination wires in the stock harness. Used a stock connector.

[pjmoreland]

Connected the main VA harness to the controller. Installed the heater controls and ran its cable to the controller. Ran the wires along the inner front edge of the dash along with the radio antenna.

[pjmoreland]

Moved to the engine bay. Installed a little fuse panel by the battery in place of the stock 12V terminal. Also installed a relay for the compressor next to the fuse panel. Wrapped the wires passing through the firewall in the provided loom and ran the wires inside the fender over to the fuse panel. Connected the necessary wires to the fuse panel, relay and binary switch.

[pjmoreland]

A few more photos

The lights on the heater controls are a bit overly bright in my opinion. Oh, well.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

A few more photos

The lights on the heater controls are a bit overly bright in my opinion. Oh, well.

It's not like you could put a slice of Blue theatre gel over the lights.
[But I do work backstage and could send you some scrap gel. -- It's really plastic now -- they haven't used gelatine in theatrical lighting media for about 60 years.]

What about a resistor inline with the illumination power?

Also, do you have a Heater now?

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

It's not like you could put a slice of Blue theatre gel over the lights.
[But I do work backstage and could send you some scrap gel. -- It's really plastic now -- they haven't used gelatine in theatrical lighting media for about 60 years.]

What about a resistor inline with the illumination power?

Also, do you have a Heater now?

A dark plastic film could possibly tame the lights discretely. I might just disconnect the lights altogether depending on how annoying they are at night. The Vintage Air system includes a heater. The heater core is now in the box under the dash along with the evaporator.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

A dark plastic film could possibly tame the lights discretely. I might just disconnect the lights altogether depending on how annoying they are at night. The Vintage Air system includes a heater. The heater core is now in the box under the dash along with the evaporator.

I can send you a piece of dark plastic film, aka ''Theatre Gel''.
I think I have some scraps at home. Medium Blue OK?

I may want to look into a VA system for the Jimmy. Had Production A/C new. Now long gone, and heater is disconnected.

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

I can send you a piece of dark plastic film, aka ''Theatre Gel''.
I think I have some scraps at home. Medium Blue OK?

I may want to look into a VA system for the Jimmy. Had Production A/C new. Now long gone, and heater is disconnected.

That would be great. Thank you. If you have any in green, that would work, too

[SRU1436]

Install looks great, good job. I put a gen 4 system in my chevelle. Contemplating the gen 5 system or just a smaller under the dash system asi don’t want to lose the glovebox like I did in my chevelle.

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by SRU1436

Install looks great, good job. I put a gen 4 system in my chevelle. Contemplating the gen 5 system or just a smaller under the dash system asi don’t want to lose the glovebox like I did in my chevelle.

This system I'm installing reduces the glovebox size significantly. Here's a photo of the gen 5 glovebox in my other truck.

[SRU1436]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

This system I'm installing reduces the glovebox size significantly. Here's a photo of the gen 5 glovebox in my other truck.

Seems about the same on my chevelle.

[pjmoreland]

Installed the ducts under the dash. One challenge is that they have to be installed one at a time, but some of the ducts get in the way of other ducts, and there is basically no extra duct material. My driver side defrost duct ended up a little shorter than I'd like, but it fits. I should have cut the passenger defrost duct first. I couldn't get the duct onto the dash center vent with it installed, so I had to remove it, attach the duct and then reinstall it. I reinstalled the speaker and radio after that.

[pjmoreland]

A few more duct photos

[pjmoreland]

Refilled the radiator and burped the system.

Hooked a vacuum pump to the A/C lines and then left the gauges attached for a few hours to check for leaks. The gauge did not budge.

Ran the vacuum pump for 45 minutes to fully evacuate the system. Charged it with the recommended amount of refrigerant. The air coming out of the vents is getting down to just under 40°.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Nice.
I spent Six Bills getting the A/C done on my '03 Tahoe. They said covid face mask got sucked into the system and burned something out. Spendy, but it's cold now. I knew nothing about that series of vehicles, so I had to pay.

I need to get A/C back in the Jimmy. Whem I first bought it 31 years ago, I pulled out all the OEM A/C parts to make it lighter. The parts I put in a silver bucket. That bucket disappeared. So I'll be starting from scratch.