Adding Vintage Air to inline 6 250 ?

[Danman09]

I just picked up a 1970 c10. The guy took it apart, put on all new bed and fenders with ash and stainless, new front fenders, had it painted , frame off, had a machine shop rebuild the 250 inline 6, dropped the motor back in then quit. Never put the bolt-ons onto the motor. Left engine holes all covered. It sat in his garage for years and I asked and got it for a steal. Here's the question. It has power steering , front discs, and power brakes. HEI distributor and original one barrel Rochester. Will this motor handle the addition of Vintage Air ac if I install it, or should I just not try to finish the engine assemble and buy exhaust etc for this and just get a V8 ? I would like to drive this truck almost daily.

[Danman09]

It is a 3 speed on the column. 12 bolt rear end but I have no idea what gear ratio it might be.

[Hugh in NC]

I put a/c on a 1951 Chevy car with the stock 235 and powerglide. I could not tell any difference in engine performance whether the a/c was on or off. These Sanden compressors take very little hp to operate. Go ahead and add the Vintage Air and you will not regret it.

[Danman09]

Thank you for the reply. I think I will keep the 6. Just what I had hoped for.

[Steeveedee]

Yup. Millions of four and six cylinder engines with AC on them. That six will pull it just fine.

[70 shorty]

Does vintage air, or some other supplier make the brackets needed to add the compressor to the engine? Adding VA or something similar is something I've considered on my 70 C10 with an inline 6.

[RichardJ]

..

[flattie39]

The AC bracket for 250s that VA offers is for the smaller original point distributors and won't fit over an HEI distributor. I found a bracket from Davis Speed Equipment that was made to fit over the HEI. Their part # is 10001 and runs about $155 incl shipping. Nice, well made bracket.
Ken

[Danman09]

Vintage air also sells a bracket that mounts the compressor down low on the passenger side that they say will work with the HEI distributor. Discussed it with them yesterday. A $200 additional charge on the package.

['68OrangeSunshine]

If you want to go GM HEI [and not Pertronix] you might want to look into the separate Coil set up. Coil is mounted between the lifter covers, and distributor cap is a ''Low-Boy''. L6 distributor body is the same as the coil-in-cap, but a different coil-to-distributor harness is required.
I found it had less interference with the 292's taller head, so I got one for my L6, even if I don't have AC.

[70 shorty]

Thanks guys, I've got an HEI so I'd have to take that into consideration.

[RichardJ]

The 292 has a taller block so it sits the AC bracket a little higher. I still have to take the belt off and swing the compressor up to remove the cap. I made this bracket myself, using the adjuster slots from another.