[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by 67Twistytee

That tilt column coversion looks great. How long did it take to get it done?

You would have to call and ask Jim. GMTilt.com I'm sure times vary. It took me about 2 months from the time I sent it assuming it shows up this week, though I think he likes to get them done faster than that. He let me know he got hammered with 20 columns at once so things were getting backed up.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Wow. The gauges look great bud, really. And for some reason, I never thought about doing mat on the dash pad, that's a super idea. Nice work!

.

Thanks! I'm really excited to see how it will look with a new dash and insert. As far as the Dynamat I'm sure the install will help some squeaks, heat and engine noise.... but man what a pain in the ass. My back and right shoulder are pretty sore. Under dash work is hard on the body.

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by Nicks67GTO

Thanks! I'm really excited to see how it will look with a new dash and insert. As far as the Dynamat I'm sure the install will help some squeaks, heat and engine noise.... but man what a pain in the ass. My back and right shoulder are pretty sore. Under dash work is hard on the body.

I just finished putting that stuff on the floor of my car last week. I never considered going that far up the firewall, but then again, I don't have the dash out. Great idea.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by Old Blue 66

I just finished putting that stuff on the floor of my car last week. I never considered going that far up the firewall, but then again, I don't have the dash out. Great idea.

Ill be dynamatting the rest of the interior at a later time this spring. Have you noticed any reduction in noise?

[67Twistytee]

Originally Posted by Nicks67GTO

You would have to call and ask Jim. GMTilt.com I'm sure times vary. It took me about 2 months from the time I sent it assuming it shows up this week, though I think he likes to get them done faster than that. He let me know he got hammered with 20 columns at once so things were getting backed up.

Thanks. Your car is going to be very nice when done. I checked Jim's website and it says he's no longer accepting new orders for now. I don't want the car down for 2 months this time of year but maybe I'll check with him in the fall.

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by Nicks67GTO

Ill be dynamatting the rest of the interior at a later time this spring. Have you noticed any reduction in noise?

I haven't finished with it yet. The sound deadener is down ( I used the Eastwood product) but the carpet hasn't come yet.

[Nicks67GTO]

Well Iv'e made some progress this week. I got some Dynamat tape in the mail from Amazon and I taped up all the Dynamat seams under my dash. Nothing too cool but progress is progress and im all done with the dynamat up under the dash.

I started my Vintage Air install. Ill be honest....this is kind of a PITA and i'm not 100% sold on the quality for the money paid. The plastic evaporator is a thin housing. Way thinner than anything GM ever stuck in a car. I guess it saves weight but at the same time, one really stiff kick and i'm afraid the unit might end up with a hole in it? I also think vintage air has a horrible looking firewall panel cover. For the money paid you would think they could engineer a fiberglass cover that didn't look like hell. I opted to leave my ACdelete.com parts in place, remove the blower motor and make a custom plate for the hoses to go though the blower motor hole under the fender, of course this adds to the PITA factor so maybe thats part of my gripe. I'm much happier with the look of the AC delete parts at this point. I will give them this. The instructions are top notch. That sounds petty but if you have ever done anything custom to any car, you'll know this is a huge deal. Especially for something like this. anyhow here is a shot of the evaporator mounted.....Ill do a big update on this eventually with my full opinion after its up and running....



So unfortunately my glovebox radio setup I installed last summer will not work with the vintage air. It works with the stock AC and non AC cars but the VA unit takes up too much space. Ill be selling this setup as a whole, radio and aluminum glovebox adapter. If you're interested PM me ill be putting it up for sale in the next few days.



I got my GMTILT.com tilt steering column installed today. I'm very happy with the product. Jim has been pretty good about everything and the column looks fantastic. The tilt functions perfect. This is a MUCH cheaper alternative to paying stupid ass money for a stock '67 tilt.











I got my Speedhut gauges installed and wired up today as well. I'm am extremely happy with the outcome here. I love everything about it. It's very different but it keeps the vintage '67 flavor at a glance. That's the theme. Feel 1967, perform 2015. I'm going to throw a huge shoutout to Speedhut too. The gauges are top quality, they are extremely easy to wire up, they are practically plug and play and the directions are fantastic. Again a huge deal. A+ to Speedhut.






Ill be updating later this week as the Vintage air install continues.

[HWYSTR455]

Valuable feedback on the Vintage Air setup, thank you. Now I'm curious about the Classic Auto Air setup's box, and will see if I can find one to look at in person.

I noticed a block off plate at a cruise-in 2 years ago and thought the same of the look/quality, hence why I opted for a firewall smoothie plate. Sure I'm going to be nervous when selecting and drilling holes in it!

As for the hose pass-through, I've been thinking about that as well. There are manifolds available that can be used and improve the pass through, even if you can't see it, it's something I feel is worth the effort.

http://www.vintageair.com/2014catalo...08-15%2082.pdf

I'm looking forward to moving to Speedhut gauges, have heard nothing but good about them. I know they still do stencils on the faces, and although no longer listed on their' website, going to call and ask about the Pontiac arrowhead logo.

.

[PurplePackFan]

Nick,

I know what you mean about the VA system. I think it looks like a pretty good set up, but not perfect. Here are some ideas that I went with for my install:

I agree that the block-off plate, as designed, looks like crap. Since my project was a frame-off, I welded in the plate and filled it in with bondo to give a smooth firewall appearance.


I also got a couple 90 deg fittings and ran the heater hoses through the firewall instead of through the fan hole.


As can be seen from the first picture above, I found a pre-bent 5/8" hose and used that to come through the firewall and mount the solenoid valve. Much cleaner looking.

I also mounted the drier on the core support instead of the recommended spot on the inner fender. This meant making a couple hose modifications, but again, a cleaner look.


Another thing to be aware of is that the controls can interfere with all that tubing behind the dash. It was a PITA to get everything aligned back there so the sliders weren't obstruct by the tubing. So make sure these have enough room to operate.


I have all my hoses hooked up and tightened and I went through the test procedure for the controller. Next is to get the system charged and see if it works. Not quite there yet.

Good luck with your install and I will chime in again if I think of anything helpful.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Valuable feedback on the Vintage Air setup, thank you. Now I'm curious about the Classic Auto Air setup's box, and will see if I can find one to look at in person.

I noticed a block off plate at a cruise-in 2 years ago and thought the same of the look/quality, hence why I opted for a firewall smoothie plate. Sure I'm going to be nervous when selecting and drilling holes in it!

As for the hose pass-through, I've been thinking about that as well. There are manifolds available that can be used and improve the pass through, even if you can't see it, it's something I feel is worth the effort.

http://www.vintageair.com/2014catalo...08-15%2082.pdf

I'm looking forward to moving to Speedhut gauges, have heard nothing but good about them. I know they still do stencils on the faces, and although no longer listed on their' website, going to call and ask about the Pontiac arrowhead logo.

.

I'm pretty sure you can get the Arrowhead logo on the Speedhut stuff. If not you can upload any graphic you want to the gauges on their website. They will do anything. The best part is if you get sick of looking at the gauge faces, you can send them back in and have them do another look.

As far as the VA unit goes....its just a first impression. Iv'e read nothing but good stuff about the function. Having a smooth firewall would be ideal for this install. I'm probably going to be messing with locations of everything to make this as clean of an install as possible. Of course this means It will be taking more time than expected.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by PurplePackFan

Nick,

I know what you mean about the VA system. I think it looks like a pretty good set up, but not perfect. Here are some ideas that I went with for my install:

I agree that the block-off plate, as designed, looks like crap. Since my project was a frame-off, I welded in the plate and filled it in with bondo to give a smooth firewall appearance.


I also got a couple 90 deg fittings and ran the heater hoses through the firewall instead of through the fan hole.


As can be seen from the first picture above, I found a pre-bent 5/8" hose and used that to come through the firewall and mount the solenoid valve. Much cleaner looking.

I also mounted the drier on the core support instead of the recommended spot on the inner fender. This meant making a couple hose modifications, but again, a cleaner look.


Another thing to be aware of is that the controls can interfere with all that tubing behind the dash. It was a PITA to get everything aligned back there so the sliders weren't obstruct by the tubing. So make sure these have enough room to operate.


I have all my hoses hooked up and tightened and I went through the test procedure for the controller. Next is to get the system charged and see if it works. Not quite there yet.

Good luck with your install and I will chime in again if I think of anything helpful.

Sweet. Any help is great. I'm not a big fan of how it goes together out of the box. It seems like its function over form. Although my car is no show piece, i'm going to try to make the install as clean as possible too. Did you have to get new hoses made from a local AC shop? Who did your crimping?

[HWYSTR455]

I was thinking studs on the inside of the firewall so you don't have the 2 going through.

.

[PurplePackFan]

As far as the hoses go, you do need to bring them to an A/C shop or one that will do A/C or hydraulic hoses, yes. I searched online to find the fittings, you have to do the research and figure out what you need. It ended up that Summit carries most of the fittings.

[1966geeto]

Looks good so far I installed V/A in my 66 but mine was an ac car to start loved the system very efficient and will freeze you out I should have used a manifold as the 4 hoses going through the fender were a real PIA Totally agree with the block off plates I made my own looks better love your gauge setup looks way cool .Who did you get your column from looks nice.
Keep going you'll get there I'm closing in on 6 years almost done.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by PurplePackFan

As far as the hoses go, you do need to bring them to an A/C shop or one that will do A/C or hydraulic hoses, yes. I searched online to find the fittings, you have to do the research and figure out what you need. It ended up that Summit carries most of the fittings.

Hey. Do you by any chance have any good photos of your finished product under the hood? I'm looking to see how I want to run my hoses and what kind of stuff Ill have to have custom done. I think i'm going to mount my drier just like you did yours. Its much cleaner. I would just like to see what im getting into for custom hoses/brackets at that point.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by 1966geeto

Looks good so far I installed V/A in my 66 but mine was an ac car to start loved the system very efficient and will freeze you out I should have used a manifold as the 4 hoses going through the fender were a real PIA Totally agree with the block off plates I made my own looks better love your gauge setup looks way cool .Who did you get your column from looks nice.
Keep going you'll get there I'm closing in on 6 years almost done.

Yep a manifold would have been the way to go here for sure

Column is from Jim @ GMTILT.com He takes stock non tilt columns and converts them into fully rebuilt tilts.

[PurplePackFan]

Nick,

I don't have any up to date pix under the hood, but I will take some. You'll have to wait a day or so as the car is spending a night in the shop waiting for alignment and master cylinder replacement tomorrow. Got exhaust done today, looks sweet. Will update later.

[1966geeto]

This is all I have right now.

[1966geeto]

Originally Posted by Nicks67GTO

Yep a manifold would have been the way to go here for sure

Column is from Jim @ GMTILT.com He takes stock non tilt columns and converts them into fully rebuilt tilts.

Thanks sorry thought you were asking me for pics.

[PurplePackFan]

Nick,

Sorry for the long delay in getting you some pix, been busy. Got my exhaust and alignment done last week, it's a driveable machine now!

Anyway, here are some pix of the final install of the AC system as it looks under the hood.

The compressor and brackets fit fine. If I could do-over, I would shorten the large diameter hose going to the compressor from the evaporator. Unfortunately, with the fenders on it is very difficult to get back out to have shortened. My suggestion: If you have the front clip off, run your hoses to the compressor and check for length, then have them adjusted accordingly. I need to wrap the hose under compressor to make it work. Not bad, but not the best.


Here are the heater hoses as they come out of the firewall. Clamps are behind firewall.


Hose from compressor to hard line to condenser-no changes.


Drier mounted on core support. Hose from drier to condenser shortened. Fitting you see is a replacement. Fitting on right side of drier is original VA on hose from evap routed under fender.


Hope this helps.