Still searching for data on evaporators for cooling my A-Body. Anybody looked at, or better yet, using the Vintage Air Generation II Super Cooler System? I know I can install it that is not the issue my main concern is can it cool a Chevelle interior to "meat locker" type temps.

I originally had a super cooler unit shipped when I ordered my V/A setup. I was disappointed with the quality of the unit. One of the fan switches disintigrated in my hand while I was looking at it. I decided to return it because I felt it was going to be too much of a hassle to modify my dash to accept the electronic control panel, The unit wouldn't fit under my dash with the factory am/fm radio in place, and I also thought the thing was a piece of s!#t. Vintage Air gave me a hard time about returning it, and told me that the sure fit unit wouldn't work in my factory air car (we all know how great their tech advice is). I ended up going with the sure fit system, but would've really liked the option of blending inside and outside air and controlling the temp of the heater. I see your quest is not over, OMAN, maybe you should look into modifying a factory setup from a late model car....Good luck.

I modified a factory set up using the new style compressor on the driver side (wayne grove sells the compressor bracket) and had my evaporator built by a local company in Toronto (saved a couple of hundred dollars) deleted the valve so the car draws the cooler air from the passenger compartment to cool the system. All this using factory duct work and boxes with a factory contol panel. Got to use the new freon gas in the system with the new style compressor too.

I still don't get it. My GenII with the electric servo's was a piece of cake to install - it tucked tight up under the dash on the firewall and since I smoothed the firewall on the engine-side with fiberglass, I just ran extra long bolts through the AC mounts to give me 3 mounting "posts" on the engine firewall. I attached a neat carbon fiber plate to the posts and now have plenty of room to mount odds and ends.

There fit between the Gen II electric AC slide controls and the radio is very tight so I put a 1/8" rubber sheet on the bottom of the radio for extra protection. I understand the bit about flimsy controls, but you ain't gonna get anything better anywhere else. All the controls are made by Indak - one of the largest multi stage control suppliers in the auto industry. If I take my 02 Ram 4x4 or my wife's suv AC controls apart, I'll find some Indak parts. I bagged the idea of vacuum slide controls and the "Sure Fit" early on because I knew my engine would never make enough vacuum and didn't want to mess with a pump and tank just for AC controls. Also, I recently retrofitted to a Haneline dash so I went back to the rotary AC controls (VA swapped them out no charge - the slide contol system costs them way more to make than the separate rotary controls). Haneline simply drilled the 4 holes to my spec in the plate that fits next to the gauge assembly and covers the radio cutout in the dash. Instead of the radio, I now have 4 neatly spaced AC control knobs (the billet ones from VA come close to matching the stock Chevelle knobs). I had a local guy make a nice SS plate (very slight bottom curve) to cover the cutout for the old AC slider controls and mounted a Custom Autosound SecretAudio radio head unit there. With the ProCar seat mounts sitting so high, the SecretAudio tuner/amp fits nicely under the passenger seat. It's all squeaky clean. I'll put pictures up soon.

As for cooling capacity, the last test drive of my car (before we had to rebuild the piece of crap crate motor from you-know-who) was in 105+ humid Katy, TX weather. My Gen II was one of the ONLY things that gave me pleasure on that test drive - and it was only blowing air from the side vents at that time.

Another datapoint is both VA's competitors are TX-based companies. Why? Give you three guesses and the first two don't count. I think Chisnhall is a standup guy. He lets unhappy people leave and go compete with him - something he could use the legal system to shut down if he wanted. He'd rather say, "Go for it." Competition is a good thing. At the end of it all, VA will still be on top.

I was just there today picking up a new modifications to the FrontRunner system - an extended inlet that allows for easy access to the heater hose coming off the water pump - something that was a huge problem in the beginning. Why did it take VA 7 months to get the right part into production? Because their requirements for a well machined heavy stainless part blew most of the companies bidding the job out of the running. Did they go with a cheaper pot metal part? Nope - they waited until they found something that would meet their spec's.

If this sounds like an ad for VA, I apologize. I've got all the guidas I'll ever need and have no interest in hyping anything. But when I compare my VA AC or my Jakeshoe TH350 to that crappola crate motor I had, I rather think there is a substantial difference between talking about high quality and customer service and actually doing it.

Mike

That is what I needed to hear. Just two follow up questions...what year car are you running the system in and are you running the biggest Gen II unit they offer?

What you tell me is that it is more or less "easy" to load in the Gen II and the cooling is good on 105 degree days. I don't leave the house on 105 degree days I can assure you of that so that Gen II has to work at 90 / 95 degree temps which is my max outside temp for ANY activity outside of the house.

My issue with the VA unit (Sure Fit ) is that the peripheral brackets and such around the unit don't seem to have the quality I wanted. Then I got some bad data, some incorrect parts with my order and worst of all some smart mouth from ONE of the on line guys (some are great others are well ...not great) and I worry that the Sure Fit is not gonna deliver cold temps. VA says the Gen II offers 15 or possibly 20 percent more cooling capacity plus the benefits of the servos. Now I know who to talk to down there and I have his direct dial extension.

I worked VERY hard getting my firewall and indeed the entire car the way I wanted it, routing the hoses professionally and generally just doing the car up to be something I can be proud of. If that Sure Fit was marginal in the cooling departmnet I would likely go NUTS.

I am right at the point of loading in the in dash unit which means just doing the final cutting and crimping of hoses. I just got a sorta sick in the gut feeling about the Sure Fit and started looking at the alternatives. I can't bring myself to think about redoing the hoses and redoing the under dash unit given that I am right at that crossroads right now. Everything else is ready, all the hoses are routed, the condensor is ready the dryer is mounted... it is all done. Like I said it is just a matter of doing the actual under dash bolt in work.

Please let me know on those 2 questions so I can shoot in an order and get this done at long last.

I have a 67 coupe and am using the largest (4 a/c ports) Gen II and condenser they offer. I had to make custom brackets to mount the condenser and went to a lot of the same trouble it sounds like you did in routing lines and such. I even bought a Hydra-Krimp tool so I could make my own hoses and not have to index them before I crimped. It made that particular part of the job quick and painless (snagged if off ebay for about half what they normally sell for - otherwise I wouldn't have one). It's a shame you are not closer - I'd be there in a second if you were. I took a ridiculously long time to make extra sure everything was in it's place before the final mounting. I'm glad I did. Also, I did just the opposite of what you are talking about. I initially bought a Hot Rod Air vacuum unit before I knew anything about these darn things. Thank goodness I was able to trade it for a new wiring harness and installation. It worked out fine as the guy that has it put it in a Nova that had controls in much better shape than mine. Since the Nova is smaller, it cools his car *okay*, but I think it would have been a problem for the Chevelle.

BTW, VA will be coming out with a system competitive with Air-Tique's latest offering. the HiPo market is always going to be that way - the "leap-frog" effect. A similar analogy can be made maybe with Dart heads/blocks vs. motown products. If you took a pole, you'd probably find that the original company - Dart - is still the vendor of choice.

Best,

Awwww Mike

Check you e-mail!!!!!!!! The address you have in the Chevelle Forum Profile.

Why did ya have to go and tell me there was something NEW coming? I talked to Air-Tique already and your message above would seem to indicate that the Air Tique is better than the current VA Gen II????? This is like the damn computer business.

Is the current Air Tique top end unit better from a cooling perspective than the current Gen II 4 duct VA unit? What is the upcoming VA ofering? Does it offer more cooling capability than the current AirTique?

Yup we both did go thru a tremendous amount of work to get these things right. I worked and fitted and fooled and redid and fitted and fooled. Now I am more or less down to the short strokes and I am all confused again! It is like buying a GD computer. I WANT COLD, meat locker cold.... nothin less is gonna get it done for me. PULEAASE advise on the Air Tique and the comming VA offering. If ya want send info to HPEXPATRIOT@Yahoo.com.