Classic Auto Air Review Updated

[Austin Vert]

Hi to all,

Just wanted to follow through as promised, and give a final report back on trying to solve the operating and running problems i have had with this Classic Air system.

My major problem where i left off last time in January, was that i was not getting any hot air coming into the cabin of the Mustang. Jeff73Mach1 suggested that there might be factory installed bungs left in the heater in/out piping, at the firewall area, and that might be the cause of my problem, by not letting hot water circulate into and out of the under dash area, and back into the block. Before i started ripping into the firewall hose connections to investigate this issue, i decided to do a test first.

My local mechanic and myself set about to do a simple water test, by forcing water under pressure into the heater inlet hose to see if there would be any water flow restrictions going into and coming out again.Would you believe that the test showed that there was no real water restriction problem here, and water was flowing freely into and out of the system.

That was good news, but here's where it gets weird. We connected the hoses back into and out of the block again, and tried operating the aircon system to see what we had. Would you believe that for the first time since i had this system installed about 2 years ago, hot air was finally coming into the cabin. I could hardly believe it. What exactly happened for this to occur, i really don't know, but was super glad i was getting good results at last.

I then took the car for a short drive and got the motor to a really hot running temp. I then turned the aircon on to cold mode, and the compressor started to cycle on and off every 6 seconds, and would not stop doing this. Why this happened for the first time, i don't know as well.

I let the motor cool down, and then tested the aircon on cold again, and didn't get this 6 second,off/on compressor problem occurring under these conditions. As time has gone on, i have tested out the system a few times, and it seems to want to work properly without problems at this stage.

The compressor angle problem, i will leave alone for now, and accept what i have got. If this mounting angle as it stands now, causes compressor probs down the track, i'll address that later on. Also, i will have to live with the weak force of air that this systems blows out into the cabin, as there appears nothing amiss with the install setup that was done. The 25amp fuse thing - i'll look into that later as well. I still get a whining compressor noise from the compressor itself when operating. God knows what's causing that to happen. No professional mechanic or fridegy that has inspected this has any answers as to what's going on here. The juries out on that one.

To finish off, this brand and system has caused me nothing but major and minor problems since it was first installed to now, and has cost me a great deal of extra time, effort, worry, energy and money trying to fix and rectify all the issues that have come my way. It would seem at this stage, that i finally have a aircon system that works reasonably well, but with some limitations.As far as being a reliable system into the future, God only knows.

Here is my original review thread about the Classic Air System ........................

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-classic-auto-air-review

This product gets one & a half out of five points from me. (five being the best).

Many thanks,

Greg.

 

[72HCODE]

hey thanks for the review and update on your situation.

Makes me glad i decided to spend the extra time and money and frustration in restoring my factory A/C to working condition.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

While my experience was different, I've been watching this. It is frustrating to see such different outcomes for what should be a consistent product.

I found the micro switches operated by the cable system to be a fairly hokey way to maintain the original controls for which vents open etc.

The replacement center vent they send is not close to original looking (thankfully I had a handful of original vents that are now all in other peoples converted cars)

The one size fits all convoluted tubing they send is another weak point. Making a manifold out of PVC might be worthwhile someday

And the instructions are pretty decent in some areas, but there are a number of areas where they just fail to address anything.

One thing to check is the refrigerant charge as over charged or undercharged systems don't tend to work properly.

 

[Austin Vert]

Thanks guys,

Yes, it was unfortunate that i did not have a factory installed aircon system installed in my Vert as well. It would have saved me from all this agony.

Jeff,

Yes, the micro switches and cabling gave me operating probs as well, and i needed to modify things there so my system would work properly. I went out and bought a factory center vent myself, as theirs was very average indeed.

I also suspect that the ducting is not letting air flow properly as it should and therefore, is restricting air flow to some degree. The instruction manual was very basic and a few things were missed as such. My frig mechanic checked the ref charge, and found it normal. Classic rubbish is what it's all about.

Greg.

 

[mustang7173]

Hello Austin Vert,

Appreciate your time, input and agony with this kit. So, I have read through all of the threads and wow, I will stick with my factory A/C. After looking at the product and instructions, I just wonder why they did not try to simulate the original box while not infringing on the Ford patents. On the compressor angle, would an original A/C mounting bracket work better with the new compressor?

Since you got some of the heating section working, would a recalibration be in order? Could the ECU be defective or required a software update?

The kit is not a bad looking retro fit there.

Mustang7173