[omarsphatt]

Anybody out there familiar with the firewall/cowl sheet metal differences between a 1963 factory A/C car vs. non A/C car? Specifically, is it just a difference of the holes that are cut out for the outside/inside air intake, and a bigger cut out to fit the evaporator case, or is the cowl/right kick panel "evaporator" area completely differently shaped?

[misterp266]

Here’s what an A/C firewall looks like. Quite different.

BTW, that’s for sale from Frank’s in case you’re looking for one.

[omarsphatt]

Originally Posted by misterp266

Here’s what an A/C firewall looks like. Quite different.

BTW, that’s for sale from Frank’s in case you’re looking for one.

Yeah I've been eyeballing that exact picture for a while - looks to me like it would be easy enough to recreate the actual cutouts, but it's hard to tell if the inner structure on the far passenger side where the evaporator case goes is different too.

I'm not opposed to buying what I need, but I'd hate to find out I could have accomplished the same thing with a jigsaw & a sharp blade.

[pfilean]

It sure looks like just cutting in a few openings should make it a bolt in job. But as the parts book lists different part numbers for the under dash heater case between non AC and AC units there may be more there than meets the eye. Could just be relocating a few bolt holes or it could be a nightmare.

[T.Weber]

omarsphatt, Don't know if this will help you any but I added Factory A/C to my 62 Catalina many years ago. Here's a link with the differences on a 62. There is a metal filler piece that attaches to the firewall when installing Factory Circ-L Aire in a non A/C car. I didn't have this piece but when test fitting the evaporator case to the firewall I only had about a 1/16" gap between the firewall and the case I used a strip of sealant on a roll t fill the gap and it worked great. Again this was on a 62 Catalina. Here's a link showing what I was working with at the time. Check out post 1, 9, 10 & 12 on this link. I did get lucky though, as I also was able to obtain an original installation manual for installing CIRC-L-AIRE in a non A/C car which helped put a LOT.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...58#post2613858





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[omarsphatt]

Originally Posted by pfilean

It sure looks like just cutting in a few openings should make it a bolt in job. But as the parts book lists different part numbers for the under dash heater case between non AC and AC units there may be more there than meets the eye. Could just be relocating a few bolt holes or it could be a nightmare.

Yeah pretty much every single part of the system is different, but I was aware of that when I started accumulating the parts. Thankfully the entire dash on this unbolts so access to either side of the firewall for install is pretty easy.

[omarsphatt]

Originally Posted by T.Weber

omarsphatt, Don't know if this will help you any but I added Factory A/C to my 62 Catalina many years ago. Here's a link with the differences on a 62. There is a metal filler piece that attaches to the firewall when installing Factory Circ-L Aire in a non A/C car. I didn't have this piece but when test fitting the evaporator case to the firewall I only had about a 1/16" gap between the firewall and the case I used a strip of sealant on a roll t fill the gap and it worked great. Again this was on a 62 Catalina. Here's a link showing what I was working with at the time. Check out post 1, 9, 10 & 12 on this link. I did get lucky though, as I also was able to obtain an original installation manual for installing CIRC-L-AIRE in a non A/C car which helped put a LOT.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...58#post2613858

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You're exactly the type of guy I'm looking for! I know some of the details will be different from 62 to 63, but the overall idea should be the same. I'm still in the process of gathering all the parts, piecemeal unfortunately. But now that I have the evaporator case, I just wanted to be really sure what I'm signing myself up for - cutting or patching some holes in the firewall isn't a big deal for me, but replacing the passenger side of the cowl could be a deal breaker.

Any chance I could get an electronic copy of that install manual?