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Air Conditioning Removal question

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  powerrodsmike 
#1 ·
Okay Im building up a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and Im yanking all of the AC stuff out of it.
Now that I have the condenser, the wonderful 900 pound compressor and Accumulator out, What do you do with the hole that has the sweeping door for the AC/Heater core in the firewall? Do you weld that closed? (weld a cover on it I mean) or what? What did the firewalls look like with GM cars with no AC in it? Right now I have that big fiberglass piece that the core sits inside that the blower motor blows air across and the core cools the air down and then blows into the cars cockpit.
But what do you do when you yank that all out of there is my main question.
Anyone have advice on this?
Need some help. Thanks
Jason
 
#2 ·
Your best bet would be to go to a salvage yard and find one that didn't have AC. One thing to think about though is that sometimes the firewall is different between vehicles that came with and without AC, different hole placement and shape.
You might also want to look at the climate control panel, yours might have vacuum controls for the AC vents or cables for just heater/defrosters. If you want to take it that far.
I found that out on my 71 GMC. What I thought would be a quick job took almost two days.
There is a company that makes new blower housing for the engine compartment that remove the AC junk, unfortunately I don't remember the name or if they make them for your vehicle. It was an ad I came across in the back of a magazine. (of course they didn't make them for 71's)

Good luck
 
#3 ·
Are you trying to make the engine compartment look cleaner, or are you just trying to get rid of the A/C?

I haven't looked at that vintage of Firebird, but many GM cars did have different firewall cutouts for non-A/C cars. The underhood plenum is a different size and the controls are often cable instead of vacuum. Switching to an original non-A/C setup is much easier with a donor car.

For a simple solution, you can remount the old A/C plenum without an evaporator in it, and just seal the holes that connect to the A/C lines. Then remove the condenser and the A/C lines. You can leave all the A/C controls and wiring in place.

Since you live in Florida, someday you might want to sell this car to a person who thinks they need A/C, or to someone who wants it to look original.

Bruce
 
#4 ·
This part looks like it may be of some help if you still want a heater.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970...ryZ33548QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

I think that the defrost air was routed across the evaporator in those cars, so just hacking everthing off at the firewall is a bad idea.

If you want to ditch everything including the heater, then you just cut a piece of steel or aluminum out and bolt it in place of the giant hole. (you could weld steel in, but it always looks cheesy when you do. To me , anyway)

I

Later, mikey
 
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