AC/Heat

Starting to tackle the AC/heat. Ignorance reigns.

1. I have seen several ways to route the lines. Which is recommended, exiting the evaporator at the wheel well area or into the footwell?
2. Should we have bulkhead fittings included with our kit?
3. If I were to use hard lines, what size and material is recommended, and where should the hard lines run?
5. If I bend hard lines, how should the ends be formed?
4. What is the best way to transition from hard line to hose?

Michael,

I think you need to find a good hose shop in your area. Look under "hydraulic hose suppliers" or something similar. A good hose shop will have every possible imaginable hose fitting you can imagine...every possible type of tube and hose you can imagine...and they have the right machines to compression fit these fittings to the appropriate hose/tube. In Seattle here we are very fortunate to have a large variety of great hose shops to choose from.....a by-product of having a large aerospace industry here.

I've used aluminum tube in the past for A/C lines...and brazed on the fittings where the fitting is going onto the hard line. I don't know if that's the recommended way, but it worked well for me.

For long runs you might find it's best to use hose rather than tube. Hose will be more reliable over the long haul as tube can crack and corrode when it comes in contact with other liquids (brake, coolant, etc) and contact points. There are compression fittings for fitting the hose to tubes where you want to bend the tube or connect the hose to a component in the A/C system. You can buy pre-bent tube in brass, aluminum, copper (not recommended) and steel which is proper mandrel bent tube (doesn't have flat sides).

This is just my personal experience and I'm certainly no expert.

The VintageAir HVAC kit comes with pretty much all the hoses and fittings that are needed.

Personally, I'd minimize routing the lines where they will be exposed in the front wheel well. I routed my heater and AC lines from the engine up thru the top of the passenger foot well and I installed some additional bulkhead fittings to seal the opening and tuck the line up high so you don't see them.

I did a mock-up jig before drilling the bulkhead fitting holes in the footwell.

Note: I used a different HVAC air handler.