After Market AC thoughts

[SeaVee]

All- after sitting in my garage for 23 years, my 77 is off to the shop for some resto
Going to keep it box stock with original paint scheme (white ) with a black soft top.
Is aftermarket A/C worth it? Will it keep the cabin cool in 90 degree heat? Don't want to sink that much cash into an AC system if it can't keep it cool. Any input is appreciated.
TIA,
SeaVee

 

[Broncobowsher]

Black soft top, not the best for A/C performance.
What are you doing for flooring? Bare steel? Carpet with insulation?

If you are assulted with heat from all sides, A/C isn't going to mean anything.
If there are enough good thermal countermeasures installed, A/C can work. I'm not sure if a black soft top will be too much or not, but it goes toward the borderline condition really fast.

Where are you at? How much heat are you talking about?

 

[blubuckaroo]

We bought our '77 new, and had the dealer install A/C before delivery. It was one of the typical add-on units that keep the existing heater. I've attached a photo of a similar unit installed.

After over 20 years of service from that unit, it lost a compressor. It ran on the old R12 refrigerant. That stuff made compressor cost prohibitive, so I replaced the whole thing with a Vintage Air unit that runs R134a refrigerant.

The new unit cools and blows much better than the old system however, the heater /defroster sucks. The problem is Vintage Air doesn't use outside air for heat in any of their units. Instead they run the compressor to dry the air. When it's cold and rainy here, you have to use the defrost, and that means the compressor is running most of the winter.

 

[Rustytruck]

I don't have AC but on my truck I wrapped the exhaust pipe from the exhaust manifold down the floor board that made the floor more bearable. any you can do resist heat input will make the AC more efficient. I would look into just where the AC vents are aligned. cool air blowing up your shorts will be more effective keeping you cooler than air blowing between the seats. weigh your options before you make the leap. are you trying to cool the back seat area too? You dont post where your are so cool may not be the total package. air conditioning cutting allot of moisture in the air can be a big comfort change too.

 

[73azbronco]

Where do you live? It's all about the amount of insulation you can install, and the worst temp you can expect.

Phoenix. Not many AC installs here. That help much, if at all.

Anyplace cooler than 105, probably could help.

Cooler than 90, would be optimum.

I did not install AC, glad I didn't.

Even with that, I did like rusty, my exhaust is wrapped from behind the ceramic headers (which do a great job containing heat), to right in front of tailpipe (to keep fuel tank cool), I have dynamat, then ACMat carpeting, which is about 3/4 inch of insulation on top of the dynamat. I have the after market firewall insulation, with an extra layer of reflective insulation. No heat comes off the floorboard, or dash except where I have not as yet sealed the firewall holes. I can hold my exhaust pipe about 1 foot behind header engine on for about ten seconds before it gets to hot to hold. It never gets to hot to just quickly touch it and think it's just really warm.

That and I have sliding rear windows. Makes all the difference. With no AC, it was fine at 105 degrees... Before I restoed this thing, I would hesitate to take it out above 90 degrees, and it had underdash dealer installed AC that worked pretty well. Not.

 

[SeaVee]

Thanks for all the good input. I'm in SE Va/ NE NC . Hot and humid in the summer. Definitely going with insulation and carpet. We drove it daily back in the 90's without A/C and it was bearable, but I'm trying to figure out if it's worth all the extra money. Seems like maybe not.

 

[blubuckaroo]

Thanks for all the good input. I'm in SE Va/ NE NC . Hot and humid in the summer. Definitely going with insulation and carpet. We drove it daily back in the 90's without A/C and it was bearable, but I'm trying to figure out if it's worth all the extra money. Seems like maybe not.

Our previous home was in Bakersfield CA, where 110 degrees for days and 90 degrees at night are common most of the summer.

Both the dealer installed air and the vintage Air I replaced it with have been worthwhile investments.
The thing you need to keep in mind is the A/C will be competing with the drivetrain and the Bronco's massive amount of windows. Add to that any air leaks and you might as well just open the windows.

I've doubled up on the floor and firewall insulation, insulated the side panels and roof with the styrofoam boards from Home Depot. I also tinted all the rear glass.

It works. In fact I've used it in Phoenix during the summer, and was glad I had it.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Don't think insulating a black soft top is going to be a viable option.

 

[blubuckaroo]

Don't think insulating a black soft top is going to be a viable option.

Oh, certainly not.
There's a big difference in insulation between the tops on a modern Jeep, and the retrofit canvas tops available for Broncos.
A black canvas top will never work with A/C. It's meant to be opened.

 

[SeaVee]

Yeah- think I'll just keep it as is, thanks again for the insight. My buddy is adding it to his 73 but he has a hardtop, I'll see how his does

 

[tbratz]

I installed a vintage air unit a while back and it was the worst and most regrettable upgrade I did. There were a lot of fitment issues for it being a "direct bolt on" system and its cooling performance was subpar. I even took it to an A/C shop and they said the main problem was the small size of the condenser which prevented the system from being very efficient. It barely blew cool air and only as long as the ambient temp was below 90 degrees or at night. My Bronco is fully insulated and it didn't matter if I had the full top on or half cab, it just wouldn't cool. The compressor started to leak oil, so I just ripped the system out. I did however leave the under dash unit in, since the heater wasn't bad. Over all it was very disappointing and a waste of money.

 

[blubuckaroo]

I installed a vintage air unit a while back and it was the worst and most regrettable upgrade I did. There were a lot of fitment issues for it being a "direct bolt on" system and its cooling performance was subpar. I even took it to an A/C shop and they said the main problem was the small size of the condenser which prevented the system from being very efficient. It barely blew cool air and only as long as the ambient temp was below 90 degrees or at night. My Bronco is fully insulated and it didn't matter if I had the full top on or half cab, it just wouldn't cool. The compressor started to leak oil, so I just ripped the system out. I did however leave the under dash unit in, since the heater wasn't bad. Over all it was very disappointing and a waste of money.

I've got to admit that if I wasn't an A/C Tech, I would have given up on Vintage Air. I had so many issues, that some of their designs came from my drawing board.
Mine works great now, but I wouldn't do it again.

 

[73azbronco]

I installed a vintage air unit a while back and it was the worst and most regrettable upgrade I did. There were a lot of fitment issues for it being a "direct bolt on" system and its cooling performance was subpar. I even took it to an A/C shop and they said the main problem was the small size of the condenser which prevented the system from being very efficient. It barely blew cool air and only as long as the ambient temp was below 90 degrees or at night. My Bronco is fully insulated and it didn't matter if I had the full top on or half cab, it just wouldn't cool. The compressor started to leak oil, so I just ripped the system out. I did however leave the under dash unit in, since the heater wasn't bad. Over all it was very disappointing and a waste of money.

This^^^. It just does not make sense thermodynamically to try and blow cool air on your knee when the rest of you is 110. Besides, Biggest EB guy I know at Driven said don't do it. Glad I didn't. I also agree, before I finally gave up, I had both vintage and the other EB specific units. I was going to try and take the best of both. It ended up being nothing was going to be right. Probably biggest thing besides little benefit, you lose fresh air/dry-er outside defrost air. WTH does that?