The cab on my 79 project is an AC cab.
I don’t know that I’d ever get it hooked up and working. The brackets are there but the compressor gone and hoses cut.
I’ve never liked the big heater box in the engine bay and this one is broken beyond repair.
with that said I’ve always liked the heater in these as opposed to the non AC trucks.
on the con side again is dealing with the vacuum crap rather than cables only.
I’m going to Missouri soon for parts and the guy has a cab I can cut the patch panel from and get the heater box.
do you think I should hunt up a new heater box or buy the patch panel and convert even if I may never have working AC?

 

My '77 was a strictly heater / defrost truck originally. In 1986 I was sweltering in it one hot late Spring day, almost no air came through the vents. I had friends with donor trucks. I stripped a '73 of all it had in AC, ... and a '79 crew cab at another place. I made a cardboard template after stripping the '79, of dash vent holes and the big hole in the firewall. I did buy a new condenser and rcvr-drier, and cut my holes with a sabre saw after removing my heater. Used the '73 controls as I liked the "Air Conditioning" script on it. I did unbolt the dash on the passenger side. I spent a week of working on it each day after working 12M to 8 AM shift and then getting home to a nap, then work on the truck until supper, eat, another nap before hitting the big road. I added a switch to manually turn on the AC compressor even in defrost or heat mode. Vents still sucked though. My heater core came from the '73 truck too as the one from the '79 leaked under air pressure in water.

It was nice on some long trips we took just us and our dog. In 1989 I had the truck repainted. I put a hood from a '79 on it too. Somewhere about then, I tried it without the big bug shield across the hood front, and suddenly my vents worked, even the AC seemed to blow better. In 2022 / 23 I was in the process of refurbishing the truck, including the AC. New Compressor seal. Seemed like it fought me at every turn, then the final straw, I damaged my copper radiator as a tube and fitting twisted off at the condenser and I removed it to mend or replace. Somehow the radiator got damaged too. I was pi55ed.

That day I decided to do away with the compressor, drier, etc and just use the rest of it as a nice heater / vent setup. I have the driver side kick panel vent too (I don't think factory AC trucks had it). No regrets, someday I may put the compressor back, new fill, hoses, etc .... but not likely. I will not be driving it to Vermont for a motorcycle or hauling the motorcycle to York, Pa. again. No trips to Georgia or SC outer banks on vacations in it either. I had not used the AC in years. The compressor mount is still there, like a heavy duty shelf, & I might even put an old ammo box there just to keep my lunch from the "Texas Inn" warm if we go "pic-nic-ing" in it up on the Skyline Drive? Maybe without burning it up tied to a exhaust manifold even? I started to remove it too but then I would need to make a spacer for a bolt.

The big black box under the hood doesn't really bother me as I can't see it from the driver's seat and I do like having dash vents, and someday I'll pull the evap core out and replace with a screen maybe, to keep debris out of the heater core behind it. I haven't tried it, but once that is done, might even be easier to replace the heater core if needed. I have added two 5/8" 'ball type valves" in the heater hoses so I can totally isolate the core from engine coolant in case of a leak & on hot summer days when not needing heat.

Someday, I might put the AC back in order, but I don't hold high hopes for it. Even when driving my other vehicles which all have AC, I rarely use the AC, preferring to roll my glass down instead.

 

Back in the day, I'd routinely rip out all the A/C stuff to clean up an engine bay...
Now being 30 years older, tinted windows and the A/C system is a no costs spared kind of deal.

 

i'd chalk it up to what the weather is usually like. i live in se texas so it's very humid here. I'd like ac but for my truck and me preferring heat, i dont mind not having ac in the truck my daily cars however...
gauge what youre using your truck for and then make the decision.

 

Mine had AC and since it's not my daily I decided to remove all the AC parts to clean up the engine bay a little. The other part of my decision is the fact I'm in the PNW north of Sea Town and it doesn't get blazing hot for days on end here. Also figured that since the system was originally R12..converting to whatever the latest reiteration of freon is, would probably send my bank account reeling in utter shock.

 

As someone said it depends on the weather maybe what you use the truck for and if you like to sweat or not?

My 81 F100 was not a factory AC truck but in my old age I wanted AC even if I was not going to drive it as a DD.
Thing is the firewalls are different between factory AC and non-AC trucks and I did not know this at the time I bought my truck and a AC parts truck that the parts were going to swap from.
Crazy me swapped the AC firewall into the non-AC truck. Yep that is how bad I wanted AC.

I did change from the 81 York compressor to a 84 Sanden one. This caused issues with hoses to the drier as they had different threaded ends but was able to get hoses to work.
When it works it works great but I keep loosing charge and keep pulling my hair out to find where from.
O-rings have been changed many times over the years. It will hold a vacuum for over an hour but looses charge in 6 months.
When it gets warmer I will look into it again and hope I get it fixed this time.



So again how hot / humid is the weather, if out for a cruise and get into slow moving traffic how well do the open windows work keeping you kool?
Dave ----

 

Reads like a city thing?

But you're right.

 

When and where abouts in Missouri are you going for parts? I might have a couple, in case you need more. I am 1 hour north/west ish of Springfield. An idea of what parts you will need for the swap.

A fancy version of the block off plate.

One I measure out for a FTE member a long time ago. Everything is in X " 's off the pinch seam.

 

My opinion...get the AC parts and get it working. I worked in the heat all my life and won't drive anything without it. Only time I open the window is at the drive up.
FuzzFace, AC system can hold a vacuum forever and still not hold a charge. Get yourself a cheap leak detector kit with a uv light and put about 100 psi air pressure in it and you will find the leak. To be correct you should use nitrogen to pressurize but air works fine if you suck all the moisture out with the vacuum pump.

 

If I had had a parts truck to donate the heater and that firewall section, I might would have totally erased the AC .... except those dash vents, maybe plumbed them through a few pieces of plumbing from Lowe's to maybe grab air from "somewhere" like the passenger kick panel vent or just give them a dedicated fan or just left them looking like they have purpose?

 

R12 not a problem, I'm certified and bought a 30# off eBay years ago.

 

AC is a nice thing to have.....

Wife and I will probably try to get the AC in this dump truck we are buying fixed at some point.

 

As an alternative, and if money is not too much of a problem - you could always go with a Vintage Air system. I recently did a complete overhaul of my truck which included new body panels and paint, and along the way I decided to put in an an A/C since it gets to 95+ for days at a time, for about 4 months where I live. Unfortunately the install was done around end of September towards the tail end of the hot months, but I did give it a whirl during an uncomfortably warm day and let me tell you - it was glorious AND my 360 didn't skip a beat. Clean install too, nice OEM looking controls, and uses OEM vent placements in the dash.

 

I already have the dye in the system and I also bought a sniffer last year after I recharged it for the 100th time The other day I gave the AC a try as it was 70*+, 24* this morning, and it did not work.

I also know about the "holding a vacuum but not pressure" thing. When it gets warmer I will use the UV light and see if I can find anything then may use shop air, no nitrogen here , but I also have a auto blow down on the tank, no water laying on the bottom, and I have a drier before it goes through out the shop, 5 hose drops with drip legs also.
So it is pretty dry air to start with just have to come up with fittings to charge the system with shop air.
Dave ----

 

I had 3 "wants" when I purchased my first dentside. 4wd, 4spd & a/c. I settled on a 77 4wd, factory a/c (that did not work) and C6 auto. 2 outta three not bad to find in the northeast. I bought it about 11 years ago and just got the a/c working this past summer. Don't know why I waited so long and it honestly did not cost me as much as I thought it would to get it going, basically changed everything except the evaporator coil and the fan motor. I converted to r134A, at idle or sitting in traffic, it could be colder but, while driving it is a dream. My 76 had dealer installed a/c which did not work at all and can't find parts, so i pulled it all out. I think next year I will install an aftermarket system.