Was there a factory A.C. option for 66? from my research I cant find one. if not what are yall using, junkyard parts or complete kits from a place like vintage air? I really want A.C. being in south texas and planning on putting a lot of miles on my 66. thanks for any info!

 

 

Bill,
Was that hang on unit designed to clear the floor shifter with a 4 speed?

Also what was the first year that F100 AC was not a hang on unit, but integrated into the dash/firewall? I assume it had a lot of the parts mounted on the engine side of the firewall on the pass side. I'm sure you'll have a diagram.

 

Some dealers had to bend the shift lever to clear the A/C bezel. I've seen several examples of this here on FTE

1968/72 F100/350's also had 'hang on' A/C bezels.

Pictured A/C in post #2 is the Rotunda unit. 1965/67's were also available with the same 'hang-on' bezel as 1963/66 Falcon and 1965/66 Mustang.

It looks slightly different than the Rotunda bezel, as the switches are located between the 4 round registers. See pic below:

 

I'm very familiar with that Mustang unit. The '66 we built for our daughter's first car, 18 years ago, got AC from a donor car and I'm in the process of installing factory AC in my '65 that I've had for 25 years. One of the ugliest things on those units is the drain hose cover. Even though I have one I'm probably not going to use it on mine, one small hose looks way better than how lopsided it makes the unit look.

I'd have to put a big bend in my shifter to clear any of the hang on units, it almost touches the dash in reverse.
I should probably spend some time in the '73-'79 forum to get a look at the in-dash/under hood units to see if that is a way to adapt them to a '65.

 

The '66 Mustang under dash unit is different than the 63-65 in several respects:
1) The hoses exit at the center top on the '66, the 63-65 unit has the hoses exit on the driver side like the Rotunda unit, so the evaporators are not interchangeable but both are available in reproduction.
2) The switches on the 63-65 unit have integral resistors and are not available new, the '66 switches are simple switches and the resistors are mounted on the body of the A/C unit. Occasionally an NOS '66 switch will come up on e-bay. I've never seen a NOS 63-65 switch but they could still be out there.
3) The face of the 66 unit is black and has an integral "coin tray" on top whereas the face of the 63-65 is argent and uses a separate "coin tray".
4) The louvers on the 63-65 unit have an extra ring in the middle.

They all share the same basic envelope however so they can all be adapted to fit. The Rotunda dash mount bracket is only designed to work with the Rotunda unit as it has 2 studs that come up through the top.

In addition to these units, there is a 63-65 full size car unit that has the hoses exiting on the passenger side and 2 drain tubes, one at each lower corner. The small car units have a single drain tube at the passenger rear corner. The evaporator for this unit is not available in reproduction but can be cleaned with a mild acid and re-used. This unit shares the same envelope as the small car units, so it could also be adapted to fit.

I have examples of each of the 63-65 full size, 66 Mustang/Falcon and 65 Mustang units (albeit most are incomplete cores I bought to scavenge parts from), so I know they exist and exactly what the differences are.