62 Buick Electra A/C aftermarket

[buicksforever]

Have a 62 Electra that did not have factory A/C.  What's involved in installing an aftermarket A/C from scratch?  Is this a bad idea?  Any idea what it would cost if I sourced it out?

[TerryB]

Have you looked at the Vintage Air website?  Seems they are the most popular aftermarket air conditioning manufacturer.

[buicksforever]

I went to the website.  They don't have any specific kit for any Buick.  Not looking for a universal solution, as A/C was offered as an option on that car.  Do you have any thoughts on my 3 questions?

 

[TerryB]

1 hour ago, buicksforever said:

I went to the website.  They don't have any specific kit for any Buick.  Not looking for a universal solution, as A/C was offered as an option on that car.  Do you have any thoughts on my 3 questions?

 

No I as I was one of those guys, living in the northeast US, who did not buy cars with air conditioning.  Just another thing to go wrong as my father would say.  My first car equipped with AC was in 1983.

 You may get better responses to your questions in the Buick section of this forum.

[joe_padavano]

You have three options.

 

1) Find a same year parts car with all the factory A/C equipment and transfer everything. Expect to have to pretty much disassemble the car to do this, but it looks most like factory.

 

2) Install an aftermarket under-dash A/C unit. You can either get a 1960s-vintage unit (like the old Mark IV) or a new reproduction of the Mark IV. This is the least invasive mod to the car, but also the least attractive. The compressor can be the huge, clunky York style, a GM A6 (or equivalent) with Buick factory brackets, or a new Sanden style with custom brackets.

 

3) Remove the current heater system and install an integrated aftermarket unit like Vintage Air or others. Since yours is not a popular car to modify, there are not "bolt-on" aftermarket kits. The universal kits are your only option. Depending on your fabrication skills (or those of whoever you select to do the work) this system can be completely hidden under the dash. You can retrofit OEM dash vents and controls if you can find them, or you can adapt aftermarket ones from the system vendor. Similarly, if you can find a factory A/C control head, you can retrofit it with controls that interface to the Vintage Air system but look stock from the front. This is also a lot of work and requires the most custom fabrication.

 

The decision is between you and your wallet.

[Marty Roth]

Humidity, as well as heat are a way of life here in New Orleans, so "just put down the top" is NOT an acceptable solution - especially when travelling cross-country on the interstates.

While not a Buick, our '54 Cadillac convertible brought us to the same decisions you face. Our solution was to buy a complete set-up from Vintage Air with the under-dash version, and modern style Sanden-type compressor, and the to source a correct factory bracket appropriate to our engine family (new model but same block design. Vintage Air supplied an adapter between the bracket and the compressor, and we fabricated a mount so as to use a dual belt pulley alternator rather than the original generator, matching the compressor. No, it does not look "factory" under the hood, and the interior looks as it would have with aftermarket A/C in the 1950s, but ours is a serious driver, and is comfortable even here in our heat and humidity, as well as when we drove through Phoenix during rush hour traffic.

 

Your choice - and good luck.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Marty Roth
additional note (see edit history)

[buicksforever]

I discovered that a company called Air Manufacturing Corp makes an under the dash A/C Heater package that includes a COMPLETE AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR 12 VOLT VEHICLES COMES WITH ALL NEW PARTS NEEDED FOR COMPLETE A/C INSTALLATION. PACKAGE INCLUDES UNDERDASH A/C EVAPORATOR ASSEMBLY, COMPRESSOR WITH CLUTCH, CONDENSER, Receiver DRIER, HOSES, COMPRESSOR MOUNTING HARDWARE, AND ALL BRACKETS, SCREWS, NUTS, BOLTS AND WASHERS.  The kit is specific to the 1962 Buick and costs $1,300.Their # is 8775428192

http://autoacsolutions.com/

[EmTee]

Go to the Buick forum and read this thread: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/344841-working-on-the-60-electra/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-2137823.  This covers ongoing installation of Vintage Air on a '60 Electra.