Vintage Air bracket question 6 Cyl

[Danman09]

Has anyone put the passenger side compressor from Vintage Air on their 6 cylinder truck ? I wanted to know how well it fit and if it interfered with the rocker cover or plugs . I am putting together a 1970 c10 with power steering so the compressor has to go on the passenger side. The bracket looks large on their picture.

[RichardJ]

I made my own bracket so I am unable to comment on the Vintage Air bracket from experience.

I thought $160 was a bit much and I wanted to use an HEI. In the end I had to use a short cap HEI with external coil. I still have to loosen compressor and swing it up to remove HEI cap and #1 plug.

The external coil HEI dist has different indexing slot for the different cap.

Vintage Air says their bracket is for 250 so a 292 will give you an extra inch, for dist clearance.

Their bracket looks beefy enough you should be able to enlarge holes for better plug clearance.

To answer your question about "interfered with the rocker cover ", look at their installation instructions on their web page.
They include 1/4" spacers to space their bracket away from the head. You could use thicker spacers and longer bolts if needed.

I would weld the spacers directly to the bracket to avoid a major headache during installation.

[Danman09]

Thank you for the info. That answers the question. Can you tell me what kind of pulleys you had to use to make it all work ? Did you have to use a 2 or 3 belt pulley on the alternator ?

[RichardJ]

Never heard of a 3-groove Alt pulley. If I recall jegs may have the 2-groove.
For this 6 cyl application, the purpose of the 2-groove is just to guide the PS belt out of the way.

For the AC, I used a separate single pulley that bolted to the hub on the front of the balancer. I built this about 15 years ago, but if I recall the hardest pulley to find was the water pump pulley.

I never throw pulleys away. If I don't have what I need, I visit wrecking yards with rough measurements and pick up 2-3 that look close.

For me part# or application is more of a goose chase.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Since it fits on the Head, not the Block, that bracket would probably fit on a 292 L6.

['68OrangeSunshine]

292 Harmonic Balancers had 3 grooves.

[old51sedan]

Originally Posted by Danman09

Has anyone put the passenger side compressor from Vintage Air on their 6 cylinder truck ? I wanted to know how well it fit and if it interfered with the rocker cover or plugs . I am putting together a 1970 c10 with power steering so the compressor has to go on the passenger side. The bracket looks large on their picture.

Danman09,
I purchased my Air conditioning from Vintage Air for my 292. My truck has PS so I also wanted this same bracket. They did charge me an uncharge for it. It is large, it covers Both of the first two plugs. I have if off right now, thinking of cutting out the plug holes to a plugger hole and also thinking of a way to cut of some of the rear mount to clear the HEI Dist. I have the same Dist as Richard, but it hits the rear mount, I believe part of that could be eliminated. I'm going to run my Air of the pulley closest to the engine, then the PS, then the alt. in the from. The alt has a dual pulley and will run with the PS and also off the front of the Harmonic balancer. I used a single bolt on pulley which I removed from an old 350 engine, bolted right on to the 292 double pulley. If I have a picture I will add it.

[Classic Bowties]

If anyone is looking and likes original, we have a fairly hard to find OE set of 6 cyl A/C pump mounting brackets tucked away upstairs, they were removed from a 72 I-6 292 truck that was parted out a couple of years back. Can pull them out for pics if any interest, Mel

[RichardJ]

Old51, if you didn't already have the Alt and PS brackets and pulleys figured out, I would have suggested modifying the vintage Air bracket to move it forward. At this point, it would be like starting over again.

I see a lot of AC conversions with the hoses standing up in the air like that and I cringe every time.
Sanden wants the Plug on top or within 90* , but you also have the option of clocking the rear housing (Head). With a new compressor I wouldn't even worry about a new gasket.

[old51sedan]

Originally Posted by RichardJ

Old51, if you didn't already have the Alt and PS brackets and pulleys figured out, I would have suggested modifying the vintage Air bracket to move it forward. At this point, it would be like starting over again.

I see a lot of AC conversions with the hoses standing up in the air like that and I cringe every time.
Sanden wants the Plug on top or within 90* , but you also have the option of clocking the rear housing (Head). With a new compressor I wouldn't even worry about a new gasket.

Richard,
Thanks for the concern, but the compressor sits with the fill plug straight up before it is tightened. The belt is tight just putting it on and it is only tilted up very little to tighten it. I would have to redo the bracket in order to move it out a little over 1". The PS falls right in line with the front grove on the harmonic balancer, and I just welded another piece of flat metal on the back of the Alt. bracket and moved it out so it runs on the PS belt and the added on pulley on the harmonic balancer. To do like you did, I would of had to find a water pump pulley that that was either 3 grove or stuck out even with the 2 front groves on the harmonic balancer. I do have a correct 3 grove harmonic balancer, but it needs to be rebuilt as it has slipped and started to separate.
I'm thinking it should word this way, do you have any thoughts that it might be a problem? Have you ever seen a 6 bladed fan to repack the 4 bladed one? I think I shouldn't have any problems as I'm going to by a new Radiator when I put it back together in the spring. I'm currently in Florida until May. Thanks again.

[Danman09]

Thanks for all the valuable info. This will help me a great deal.

[57Suburb]

Originally Posted by Danman09

Thanks for all the valuable info. This will help me a great deal.

Are you using a stock distributor in your build? If yes, the Vintage Air bracket works. I you are using an HEI set up with coil-in-cap, then it doesn't fit.

[Danman09]

This basket case came with an HEI from a newer C10. So I have decided to just put in a new points type distributor and put in Petronix in it as well as a new Petronix coil. Then all I have to do is get lined out with the pulleys, belts and such. Getting closer every week thanks to all the help from this forum.

[old51sedan]

Richard,
I'm back for the summer and starting on the truck where I left off. I just reread your post and realized what you are talking about when you suggested turning the rear of the compressor so that the fill mark was still on the top, but the hoses would be off on the passenger side. What all is involved in doing this? Does it have to come completely apart or can I just lose it up and turn it? Even though everything is setup, I would still like to have the hoses of to the side, would like a lot neater.