Greetings all...

I know this question will be pretty vague, but here it goes.

I bought my 1st Corvette 2 years ago (I'm turning 40 this year... must be the mid life crisis thing...haha). A 1970 convertible. It's currently going through a frame-off restoration. I cannot wait until it's done.

It is a non A/C car, but I want to convert it to A/C. I would prefer to keep it as original as I can.

I guess I'm simply asking anyone that can give me any advice as to how I should proceed with this aspect of my restoration. Does anyone know of good suppliers where I can buy the parts. Should I use R12 or R134? Is there anything I should avoid?

Can I simply go to one of the Corvette parts web site and enter "conditioning" to search, and basically see all that is offered?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

P.S. Feel free to check out my web site (hopefully it appears in my signature) and comment on my car.

Hey Denis, welcome to mid-life.
As far as the choice between R-20 nd R-134, I don't think you have a choice. They don't make R-20 anymore.To do with freon(R134 uses something else)

Phil

Sorry, that should read R-12

You can still buy R12 and I would. There is much debate on that. You can find a stock A/C setup from a Corvette recycler, Swap Meet, or go with an add-on Vintage Air kind of system. There should be a post in the A/C section on what is involved in a stock swap, I'll look later and try to find it.

The post was called "a/c swap". Here is what I wrote. He already had a donor car.

If you have both cars it is a help. To do this right you need to seal the fresh air vent on the left side and install the max door/gate in the cowl on the RH side. Without the max door, you will not be able to re-circulate air and get the max setting. I did this on my 69 while it was apart and so it can be done. I don't remember the heater hoses being in a different place, if they were I think I just added the slots for the A/C type box. I used an 80 outside box (fan and evaporator) because it has the better orfice tube instead of the complicated VIR setup of the 71. If you do that, you may have to grind the outside of the fan portion so it doesn't hit the body. Regardless of which outside box you use, you need some different ducts (not all), a different wiper-switch bezel with the vents, and a shifter plate without the vent-knob slots. Good luck.

I wasn't very impressed with Vintage Air. I went with a package from Hot Rod Air. www.hotrodair.com
They sell in dash & under dash packages for BBs & SBs. My 74 originally had AC but it was taken out by the previous owner. The left hand & right hand ducts were missing and the whole system was sealed with duct tape. I found the missing pieces & the seal kit at Dr. Rebuild http://docrebuild.com/dr-r-web/AAA-HOME.html

JUST KEEP THE TOP OFF---LOL!!!