[rockin78T/A]

This past weekend I finally got around to pulling out the heater core in my 78 T/A. Man what a job that is. When I bought the car it had no A/C compressor, and 170, 000 miles. So needless to say I figured since I already pulled the heater out ,what the hell pull the ugly A/C box along with it. I don't plan on putting A/C back in the car right now or any time soon. I saw on E-bay, someplace called American Graffetti is selling an A/C delet box for 70-81 T/A's. They want $129.00 for it. Does any one know of any other solutions for the hole left in the firewall, but being able to still use the heater? I got to admit the engine bay will look alot better without all of the A/C in there.

http://groups.msn.com/rockin78TA/_whatsnew.msnw

[rockin78T/A]

This past weekend I finally got around to pulling out the heater core in my 78 T/A. Man what a job that is. When I bought the car it had no A/C compressor, and 170, 000 miles. So needless to say I figured since I already pulled the heater out ,what the hell pull the ugly A/C box along with it. I don't plan on putting A/C back in the car right now or any time soon. I saw on E-bay, someplace called American Graffetti is selling an A/C delet box for 70-81 T/A's. They want $129.00 for it. Does any one know of any other solutions for the hole left in the firewall, but being able to still use the heater? I got to admit the engine bay will look alot better without all of the A/C in there.

http://groups.msn.com/rockin78TA/_whatsnew.msnw

[mike nixon]

a friend of mine removed the a/c from his turbo t/a and welded a plate in the hole from the a/c. he then took a non-air camaro box and recut the hole to match the new unit.

it worked well.

i believe the unit you saw on e-bay was meant to leave the a/c box and ductwork inside and remove the evaporator core housing and attachments in the engine compartment.

it sounds handy if you don't want the hassle of pulliing the dash and fabbing up a new hole in the firewall.

mike

[428GTO70]

I have seen those also. I always thought, man.. thats kinda spendy. But if its what you need then you gotta pay,I havent seen anybody else offering anything like this. If you want it to look good then you dont want to skimp, but i would kinda figure it to be HOT in Texas? If you do convert, keep your old stuff. You may decide that A/C is nice in a couple years and end up paying to get back the stuff you tossed. I have done it a couple times already.


GR-RRR!

[rockin78T/A]

Your right about the summers in Dallas, the car gets hot enough running the headers. I haven't tossed anything yet, but does anyone know if someone sells a vintage air setup for these cars.

['ol Pinion head]

Removed the a/c from my '80 turbo car when I was autocrossing it. With the a/c pulled out, the defroster did not work, & I had to wipe the inside of the windshield down to see out of the d#mn thing when the air was moist. Real PITA.

If converted over with the newfangled aftermarket box, maybe the defroster function would work (?). Do know the a/c & non a/c 2nd Gens used different dash defroster ducts & a/c cars do not have the upper/lower vent controls in them like non a/c.

Someone on here has got to have made their own outer heater box & tried doing this before.

[428GTO70]

Im pretty sure that a/c delete box will keep all the heater function intact as all the inside stuff stays where it is under the dash. Its just removing the evaporator and keeping the fan and a route to the heater core open. Sounds like it would still work like a normal heater setup.


GR-RRR!

[sscherin]

If you remove the exterior A/C box just be sure to keep the vac control lines intact and plug the unused ones.

on my 70 I took a standard non-A/C box and cut a hole in it where the A/C heater core tube comes through then put the grommet from the A/C box on there to seal the hole.

On the firewall if you fold the lip flat it's just enough to seal up with the non A/C box.. you may have to drill a few new screw holes.

This isn't the best pic but it's all I have access to right now.
http://www.pontiacs.org/content/70bird/pics/engine4.jpg

If you don't have the Vac control lines you can always replace the kick pannels with non A/C pieces and zip tie the vent linkage so it's always in defrost mode.

I have a complete Non A/C setup in the garage.. It should work better for me since I'm missing ALL my underhood vac control lines on the 70..

Oh yeah.. be sure to relocate the fan relay and low speed resistors someplace. you may want to drill another hole in the airbox and mount them in the Non AC box like there were done in the A/C setup so they don't burn out.

Mounting the real Non A/C gear should be interesting.. They have doors that mount into holes cut into the cowl just under the windshield.
the upper dash vents get air dirrectly from the cowl area through these doors. The doors are controled by the upper slider on the non A/C kick pannels.

It's going to take completly removing the dash to do the conversion using the complete stock parts.

I guess if you dodn't want to you could just swap the interior/exterior boxes, kick pannels and dash control. all you'd loose is the upper dash vents..

GURU: One who knows more jargon than you

Scott Schering
70 Firebird 455 12.34 @ 108.2
Http://www.pontiacs.org

[Trev]

I bought a Vintage Air setup (I think it was their Universal Kit) and 90% installed it in my 79 Trans Am. I thought it was a lot of fiddly work at the time, and expensive at about $1,100 all in. However, having got about halfway through the rebuild of the stock system on my 78 Trans Am, I am already wishing I had done the same thing to this car.