[Qball]

I've been in need of this main AC duct for my GTO for some time. When my Dad possessed the car, the original unit was so brittle, it pretty much fell apart.

I finally got my hands on a real nice unit from eBay,

Has anyone installed one of these in an otherwise complete car?

Do I need to pull the dash face out? I'm assuming I'll need to pull the climate control unit?

It's a factory air car.

I appreciate any tips you can give.

[66sprint6]

I did the whole thing last year, when I rebuilt the entire AC system on my '67 LeMans. I wasn't easy but it wasn't that hard, either. You don't need to pull the instrument bezel or the head unit. But I would recommend removing the glove box liner, so that you can see where the main horizontal piece meets the plenum. You will also want to remove the pieces that hold the vent balls on either side. It's simply two screws holding them onto the dash. And the lap vents if they're present. For me, I also removed the seat(s) to make the job easier.

I started with the piece that goes up to the vent in the head unit. It just kind of sits there, it didn't seem to click in at the top where it meets the head unit. But you may have a different experience.

Next is the one main large horizontal duct. While it looks like it's held on with four fasteners, the top holes just interface with locating pins on the main plenum, then two little bolts on the bottom hold it on. The slot at the top left helps to get it into place by giving you some flexibility. While you do this, you have to make sure that the one piece that goes up to the head unit slides over the square-ish hole that it mates to. It may take a few tries. Again, that little slot on the top left helps you to do this.

Once you have that main horizontal piece in, install the sides that go to the ball vents. You have to deform them a bit to get them in, but they go back to their original shape with a little massaging. The two elbow pieces shown in your picture are for the left side only. They fit together. You will have to source the flexible duct for the right side if you haven't already. It's like a little piece of dryer duct.

Other than that, the two pieces that hold the ball vents slide into dash. You have to reach under to get the dryer duct piece onto to the right side. The one on the left just slides into the plastic duct. Then install the lap vents and that's it.

One thing that I found was that the duct that goes up to vent in the head unit didn't stay lined up with the vent, no matter what I did. It was tilted a little. I believe that it was installed that way at the factory and it just kind of settled that way. When I tried to make it 100% at the head unit vent, it didn't want to slide onto the main duct at the bottom of it. Hopefully you will have better results. But the system works beautifully no matter what, and certainly keeps the car cool inside. Ours is an original R12 system and we lucked out finding a 30lb bottle locally.

Good luck.

[66sprint6]

Here’s the sheet from the assembly manual. Of course, you’ll want to be sure that you have done every other job under the dash before you install, because it will be impossible to access anything after the ducts are installed.

[Qball]

Originally Posted by 66sprint6

I did the whole thing last year, when I rebuilt the entire AC system on my '67 LeMans. I wasn't easy but it wasn't that hard, either. You don't need to pull the instrument bezel or the head unit. But I would recommend removing the glove box liner, so that you can see where the main horizontal piece meets the plenum. You will also want to remove the pieces that hold the vent balls on either side. It's simply two screws holding them onto the dash. And the lap vents if they're present. For me, I also removed the seat(s) to make the job easier.

I started with the piece that goes up to the vent in the head unit. It just kind of sits there, it didn't seem to click in at the top where it meets the head unit. But you may have a different experience.

Next is the one main large horizontal duct. While it looks like it's held on with four fasteners, the top holes just interface with locating pins on the main plenum, then two little bolts on the bottom hold it on. The slot at the top left helps to get it into place by giving you some flexibility. While you do this, you have to make sure that the one piece that goes up to the head unit slides over the square-ish hole that it mates to. It may take a few tries. Again, that little slot on the top left helps you to do this.

Once you have that main horizontal piece in, install the sides that go to the ball vents. You have to deform them a bit to get them in, but they go back to their original shape with a little massaging. The two elbow pieces shown in your picture are for the left side only. They fit together. You will have to source the flexible duct for the right side if you haven't already. It's like a little piece of dryer duct.

Other than that, the two pieces that hold the ball vents slide into dash. You have to reach under to get the dryer duct piece onto to the right side. The one on the left just slides into the plastic duct. Then install the lap vents and that's it.

One thing that I found was that the duct that goes up to vent in the head unit didn't stay lined up with the vent, no matter what I did. It was tilted a little. I believe that it was installed that way at the factory and it just kind of settled that way. When I tried to make it 100% at the head unit vent, it didn't want to slide onto the main duct at the bottom of it. Hopefully you will have better results. But the system works beautifully no matter what, and certainly keeps the car cool inside. Ours is an original R12 system and we lucked out finding a 30lb bottle locally.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by 66sprint6

Here’s the sheet from the assembly manual. Of course, you’ll want to be sure that you have done every other job under the dash before you install, because it will be impossible to access anything after the ducts are installed.

Awesome!!!! Thank you for that very thorough explanation! That helps a ton.

I love this forum!

[77 TRASHCAN]

Q,
Glad to hear you are making progress on car!!!

[Qball]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Q,
Glad to hear you are making progress on car!!!

Little by little, my friend!

I started working for the V8 Speed & Resto Shop. I work remotely out of my house. I drove the GTO to the shop a couple weeks ago. It’s just shy of a 600 mile round trip. She ran well and returned 14 mpg.


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