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NEED AC HELP!

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Old May 3, 2016 | 12:45 PM
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NEED AC HELP!

Okay guys, so I have a 78 f100 I bought right after I turned 15 and got it on the road in a few months. It's a short bed 2wd with a 302/c6 3 speed auto. It a non-air conditioning truck. Here in Florida where I'm at it's only May and it's hot!😩But I have a local junkyard called bronco dales. They have a couple dents with Ac. On that I'm looking at has all the Ac components from the factory. Do any of you have an idea on how easy it would be to swap all of that over to my truck? Please please give me some insight! Any help is much appreciated
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 01:14 PM
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Originally Posted by 78BluePig
Okay guys, so I have a 78 f100 I bought right after I turned 15 and got it on the road in a few months. It's a short bed 2wd with a 302/c6 3 speed auto. It a non-air conditioning truck. Here in Florida where I'm at it's only May and it's hot!��But I have a local junkyard called bronco dales. They have a couple dents with Ac. On that I'm looking at has all the Ac components from the factory. Do any of you have an idea on how easy it would be to swap all of that over to my truck? Please please give me some insight! Any help is much appreciated
1973/79 F100/350 & 1978/79 Bronco: Three different types of Ford A/C

Upper picture: Factory installed integral A/C is combined with the heater. The A/C controls are in the same panel as the heater controls.

Center picture: Deluxe dealer installed A/C is combined with the heater. The A/C switches are located in a HUGE dash bezel that sweeps across the entire right side of the dash, covering up the glove box.

A "hang-on" glove box bolts to the bottom of the dash.

Lower picture: Economy A/C is not combined with the heater. The two A/C switches are located in a panel that also contains two registers. This panel fits into the dash to the left of the glove box.
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 02:28 PM
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If you pm me or email me, I can send a link to a guy who shows all the steps for a factory install of ac in a non ac truck
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 02:31 PM
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Probably be much easier (and cheaper) to install an aftermarket unit like one from Vintage Air.
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 02:38 PM
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Originally Posted by benbuilder
If you pm me or email me, I can send a link to a guy who shows all the steps for a factory install of ac in a non ac truck
I'm pretty new to the forum. How do I do that? Or what's your email?
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Canus
Probably be much easier (and cheaper) to install an aftermarket unit like one from Vintage Air.
I'm really not in the market for something that expensive. The reason I ask is because I have all the components lined up and ready to purchase for less than cheap
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by benbuilder
If you pm me or email me, I can send a link to a guy who shows all the steps for a factory install of ac in a non ac truck
I'm pretty new to this forum. What's your email??
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 03:41 PM
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Originally Posted by benbuilder
If you pm me or email me, I can send a link to a guy who shows all the steps for a factory install of ac in a non ac truck
Why not just share the link here?
 
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Old May 3, 2016 | 04:18 PM
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I will gladly post it here if I can figure out how. I was giving myself a fighting chance to do it off the forum. Bringing it on here, I am afraid, is a bit above me. I will try.
 
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Old May 4, 2016 | 06:57 AM
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This was cut and pasted from a post from MikeoOoOoO




Yeah, like Rich said, factory A/C can be a real pain to work on.
Go to this link for some pictures of what you'll be getting into
1979 F100 Air Conditioning

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Old May 4, 2016 | 07:43 AM
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Originally Posted by benbuilder
This was cut and pasted from a post from MikeoOoOoO
If you're talking about installing factory installed A/C then yeah, it can be a real pain. The problem is the firewall. On factory A/C (Ford calls it "integral A/C") the firewall is different, it has a huge hole to mount the evaporator housing. You'll either need to cut out and patch in the part of the firewall or cut out the existing firewall to match the hole for the evaporator.
The other thing with factory A/C, with that huge evaporator housing sticking in the engine compartment, it makes working on that side of the engine a bit of a pain.
If you do pull the system from another truck, two things, get one from a late '75 or later and be sure to get the two "accessory" wiring harnesses that go with it. The main wiring harness is the same for A/C and non-A/C trucks, these harnesses plug into the main harness to power and control the A/C.
Like Bill said, there are also two "Ford" dealer installed versions that are bolt on and don't require major firewall mods.
This is the hole you'll have to deal with with the integral A/C installation.
 
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Old May 4, 2016 | 11:02 AM
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Originally Posted by mikeo0o0o0
If you're talking about installing factory installed A/C then yeah, it can be a real pain. The problem is the firewall. On factory A/C (Ford calls it "integral A/C") the firewall is different, it has a huge hole to mount the evaporator housing. You'll either need to cut out and patch in the part of the firewall or cut out the existing firewall to match the hole for the evaporator.
The other thing with factory A/C, with that huge evaporator housing sticking in the engine compartment, it makes working on that side of the engine a bit of a pain.
If you do pull the system from another truck, two things, get one from a late '75 or later and be sure to get the two "accessory" wiring harnesses that go with it. The main wiring harness is the same for A/C and non-A/C trucks, these harnesses plug into the main harness to power and control the A/C.
Like Bill said, there are also two "Ford" dealer installed versions that are bolt on and don't require major firewall mods.
This is the hole you'll have to deal with with the integral A/C installation.
What's the deal with the ford dealer installed that doesn't need the massive hole in the fire wall? Turns out my deal on all my Ac isn't going to work due to the local junkyard screwing me over. Resulting in my anger saying I won't be back to do any more business😒
 
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Old May 4, 2016 | 11:07 AM
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Originally Posted by 78BluePig
What's the deal with the ford dealer installed that doesn't need the massive hole in the fire wall?
Sorry to hear about the bad deal with the junkyard.
The dealer installed system is like any other aftermarket system. It fits up under the dash. These are A/C systems only and still use the factory heater.
The factory integral system replaces the heater with a "package unit" that bundles both the A/C evaporator and the heater core in the same housing.
 
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Old May 4, 2016 | 11:16 AM
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Originally Posted by mikeo0o0o0
Sorry to hear about the bad deal with the junkyard.
The dealer installed system is like any other aftermarket system. It fits up under the dash. These are A/C systems only and still use the factory heater.
The factory integral system replaces the heater with a "package unit" that bundles both the A/C evaporator and the heater core in the same housing.
So this is a unit that DOESNT need a big hole in the firewall and DOESNT replace my glove box? Also I want to use all the factory flash vents. I want cold Ac in my truck now lol. How about compressor? How does all that work? And can you post some pics??
 
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Old May 4, 2016 | 03:46 PM
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Not cheap but should be an easy install.
 
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