A/C Question?

[76f350spercamprspeal]

Hi,How are you guys?
I have been making My Father go to the junkyard EVERY DAY,this is the second time we've went in 2 days.Well anyway,we saw a 75 F250 Camper Special Ranger Out there,Me and Father are gonna go out and take some things at about 6:30-7:00Am,it has A/C! Could me an Father pull out all the AC things and then some how put it all in our truck?
If so how and is this a lot of work and has any one done it?
Off Topic,but I'll just let you know what all my dad has taken so far for our truck at the Junk Yard OK?
-All of the Trim,Cab Bed from a 76 F250 Camper Special.
-Mufflers-From a 1965 F100 (will they fit? I hope so.P.S.He took the whole thing,all the way from the front to the back. He got both.
-Some weird blue thingy off the 65 that was small and had wires coming out of it.
-today we are going,who knows what we will get,I will fill you in when we get it.
So any help would be very helpful,Thank you so much in advance.
BTW:You guys are the best,and we are the best Forum,73-79s are THE BEST
And Also:What all do we have to get?

 

[surewhynot]

Sure, you could put the a/c in your truck. It will be alot of work, but may be worth it in the long run.

You will need every little piece. The controls, the a/c box from the firewall, hoses, everything. I did it once on a 79 Bronco.

 

[dreo2003]

76f350sprcamprspeal,

That's exactly what i've done!! My truck came from the factory with no air and i used all junkyard parts to put air in my truck for under 100$! Its not that hard. I would say the hardest part is swapping out the regular blower box for the evaporator blower box. I lot of different years fit together too. My compressor, hoses and control head are from a 94 f150, evaporator box, evaporator, and accumulator from an 89 bronco, condensor from a 91 f250 and everything works great!
Its not hard to do at all! all the wires are there (at least they were on my 95). Let me know if you have any questions. I just got done this about 3 weeks ago and i use the A/C every day. do it! you'll be happy you did.

 

[dreo2003]

If you find a truck will all the A/C components in tact you're in luck because its easier that way. Here's what you need to take:

Condensor (looks like a radiator and is in front of the radiator)
Compressor (looks like an A/C compressor lol, it has two hoses coming off the back, you need these hoses too)
evaporator box and accumulator. (It's where the blower motor is, in your truck, this box doesnt have the evaporator in it, you need to get one that does)
Control head (you need to swap out the controls so you can turn A/C on Duh!)

My truck is a '95 so i needed to make sure to get the low pressure cycling switch hanging of the side of the accumulator. I'm not sure if you'll need this because your truck is older with fewer electronics.

Then just put all those parts on your truck the way you took them off the truck at the yard. After you get it all together, you can take it to a shop to charge it for you. or if you want to do it yourself, you'll need a vacuum pump, r134a conversion fittings and referigerant.

 

[bucks77ford]

You may even want to pull the dash out too. If it doesn't match your truck, you could always paint it a color you want. But, either way, you are going to need the holes in your dash for the vents. It is going to be some work, so I hope you don't plan on driving your truck for awhile. With the front clip on, it is going to be difficult to cut the hole in the firewall for the "big black box".

 

[Fellro]

There were also a good number of dealer add on units, if you come across one of those, it is easier to swap in... otherwise, it can be done, just takes some doing. the 80 and newer trucks were easier to swap since the hole in the firewall was the same, as well as the harnesses being common.

 

[dreo2003]

bucks77ford, The truck already has the vents for the heat to blow through and the hole in the firewall is already there from the regular blower box. This was true on my '95 at least. I drive my truck to work every day and it wasn't down at all while i was doing this. I just paced myself and did one component a weekend and there was no down time at all. Unless the process is different for the older trucks, its a pretty straight forward and easy thing to do.

 

[Fellro]

Prior to the 80 models, they did not have the same hole like they do on the later models, so some firewall work is required to put factory air on them.The heater core on my 75 was inside the cab, while the a/c trucks have it out with the evaporator. There is also some vent routing changes, since the non-air trucks back then did not have dash vents.

 

[76f350spercamprspeal]

Heres what we got:
Original Radio.
Original Cigarette lighter.
Ignition Switch(With Key)
The Wiper Washer Thingy(With knob)
The Headlight switch with knob.
The Ducting.
The Vents on Driver and all around.
The Glove box
The ashtray(White,mines red)
The instrument cluster.
Maybe me and father could go again and get what we didn't get this time?(On another truck)
P.S. It was a 74 F-250 Camper Special.And it sat for a long time.
Me and father were covered in dust,I mean COVERED!!!
What am I missing for the AC that I need?

 

[Fellro]

How about the heater/ac/defrost controls? You can modify the harness to work, but the controls are necessary, especially with the relocation of the heater core. Have to ask, did you get the air box from the inside, as well as the evaporator casing from the outside of the firewall, as well as the condenser and pump?

 

[bucks77ford]

bucks77ford, The truck already has the vents for the heat to blow through and the hole in the firewall is already there from the regular blower box. This was true on my '95 at least. I drive my truck to work every day and it wasn't down at all while i was doing this. I just paced myself and did one component a weekend and there was no down time at all. Unless the process is different for the older trucks, its a pretty straight forward and easy thing to do.

Different for these. Non-Ac trucks only have the defrost vents and the blower motor is mounted where the "big box" should be.

You can probably get the donor parts cheaper for the installment, but for the work that is involved, if A/C is worth it, than a underdash unit would be better IMO.

 

[76f350spercamprspeal]

How about the heater/ac/defrost controls? You can modify the harness to work, but the controls are necessary, especially with the relocation of the heater core. Have to ask, did you get the air box from the inside, as well as the evaporator casing from the outside of the firewall, as well as the condenser and pump?

I got the Heater controls,as they are conected to the radio thing,I have no idea what else your talking about.

 

[bucks77ford]

I'm missing a few pieces from the pics, passenger side vent tube and the drivers side vent piece and the center flexible ducting. The drivers side vent tube can be either the hard plastic one like I have or a flexible tube.

 

[Fellro]

Ok, those were the parts I was talking about...

 

[Lost]

Basically U need to get everything that is behind and conected to ducts from driver side top pasengers as well as inner and outer boxes. all condensers,hoses ,brakets for motor,pump,etc etc . U can cut the holes for vent but get whole dash . Just remove dash face u will see what need. As fot the under hood stuff like compressors u may get stuffoff newer .

But the air boxes etc . R 79 down only .

 

[Brian_B]

I wonder if there is some weird way to adapt a newer AC system to an old truck. Hmm.....

I know...I can buy a kit, but they are $$$$$$$$$$

 

[surewhynot]

With a little bit of fabrication on a box under the dash to hold the evap, I'm sure you can.

 

[Brian_B]

With a little bit of fabrication on a box under the dash to hold the evap, I'm sure you can.

Now you guys got me thinking.

I know there is not enough room under the dash for all the stuff posted in Buck's pic.

I think I would have to adapt it to what is already under there and find the parts from something smaller (like a ranger maybe).

My brother's old international scout had factory AC, but the controls and vents were in a sepearate "box" mounted below the dash (sort of above/in front of the shifters). The heat came out of there as well. Yes...he had a defroster setting (I assume that was duct work).

Oh well...probably a pipe dream, just like my power steering. I have to much else to spend money on right now.

 

[bucks77ford]

For all the vents, you could fab some flexible hose of some sort to use instead of the hard plastic vent tubes also, that way you could route them the way you wanted and go from there. I don't see why you couldn't. There isn't much underneath the dash except for all the A/C stuff.

 

[Fellro]

My cousin told me that a lot of street rodders are going to the rear air systems out of the vans to put the a/c in. You could possibly fit it under your seat, or make it work under the dash somehow...