Vintage air air temp?

[MUNCH72]

Hey guys I have an 86 Silverado that was factory air and I just put in a vintage air surefit kit. I got it from matts classic bowtie parts at a great price. I installed it myself and had a vintage air dealer/installer in my area charge it. It blows 52 degrees out the vent. It's cool but not what I was expecting. The installer said he thought it should be blowing at 48-52 degrees. A 30 minute ride and I never turned it down or moved the vent off of me. For $1500 I was expecting it to blow snowballs. It's a factory air truck so the carpet and firewall insulation is all that is there but it worked for the factory. Anybody else with vintage air have this issue?

[2wd73blazer]

I just had it installed in mine. Im having other work done to the truck so i havent had a chance to test it. I would hope it would blow colder than that. My 07 Sierra blows 38 at the vent using a temp probe.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Vent temp should be around 38-40 degrees with a properly charged system. Maybe the system is undercharged or not enough airflow over the condenser?

[obijuan]

Got a good fan clutch and shroud?

My non ac crew cab with no headliner and rubber floors is ok in Texas summer. If I park in the shade it's nice and overcomes the heat like a newer vehicle. I'm at 45 vent temps with a 3 blade fan.

[SunSoaked]

Originally Posted by obijuan

Got a good fan clutch and shroud?

My non ac crew cab with no headliner and rubber floors is ok in Texas summer. If I park in the shade it's nice and overcomes the heat like a newer vehicle. I'm at 45 vent temps with a 3 blade fan.

Is yours factory or vintage air?

[obijuan]

Vintage air in a factory non ac truck

[SunSoaked]

Cool...no pun intended. I'm installing the surefit in my 85 currently; evap kit will be delivered tomorrow. I put the v/a condenser and hose kit in Saturday thinking I was going to keep the OEM evaporator and controls but changed my mind. Going all V/A. Had to order a trinary switch to play well with the dual spal electric fans and Sniper injection. Swapped in a dual core all aluminum rad this weekend. That fixed the engine temp issue. Can't get it over 195 now (105 here yesterday).

[DieselSJ]

Vent temp depends on the ambient air temp. System should be tested with engine at 1500rpm, A/C on full, with doors/windows open. If you are getting 52 degrees and it is 102 ambient, a 50 degree drop is excellent. Sure, I can get the vent temp in my 87 down into the 30's, but that is after the cab is cooled down into the 80's. You want to judge based on drop from ambient, not the actual vent temp itself.

[gmachinz]

You should insulate the entire interior-behind door panels, above headliner, underneath carpet, against the firewall, back of cab behind the seats...etc. You need to “trap” the cool air inside-and the AC will get cooler and cooler inside. These trucks are poorly insulated from the factory-you cant expect new truck AC temps unless you at least do that. IMO there’s NO reason to use VA in an already equipped AC truck-just overhaul the stock setup and insulate the entire cab.

[SunSoaked]

Completely agree with the insulation. However, IMO, the V/A is a nice upgrade from 35 year old technology. Nice, clean firewall, no sticky cables, leaking vacuum lines and ridiculously expensive freon.

[HunterRotten]

My dad and I charged the surefit system ourselves over this past weekend, and the coldest temperature from the vent was 38 degrees. I have a big block with a 21" clutch fan with 9 blades.

[gmachinz]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

Completely agree with the insulation. However, IMO, the V/A is a nice upgrade from 35 year old technology. Nice, clean firewall, no sticky cables, leaking vacuum lines and ridiculously expensive freon.

I guess I’ve done enough AC restos its not a big deal for me. But freon is cheap-$6 bucks a can at Wal-Mart.

[SunSoaked]

I'm 5 miles from Mexico. People here still hop over there and pay for the R12. I won't deal with the hassle, to much trouble.

[MUNCH72]

I have an update on the air situation. I took the truck to another guy to look at it and come to find out the unit is blowing 41 degree air out the vent. I also talked to a tech from vintage air to ask what the deal was and his reply was if it is blowing mid 40s that is good as it gets. He also asked if my windows were tinted and if I had good insulation like dynamat. So this being said if I have to tint my windows and put dynamat in just to stay cool that the factory did not have, what does that say about vintage air. I thought vontage air was the best out there but now i'm not happy with the performance of it. A regular cab pickup and you need to do all this other stuff to keep cool. This is all vintage air does!

[SunSoaked]

Well if you went from 52 to 41 that's nothing to complain about. On the other hand, you have an uninsulated, metal, box with untinted windows making it essentially a rolling greenhouse. Add the southern humidity to it and maybe you were expecting too much? I'm glad you're getting 41 vent temps because I'm currently putting the same system in my 85. To me that means the a/c has done it's job. The rest is up to me. BTW, I live in the official "Sunniest place on Earth." But, we don't have humidity, so dry air feels cooler than moist air.

[MUNCH72]

Yeah my thermometer was wrong so it was reading high. Im getting my windows tinted next week and looking at different insulation so I HOPE that will help. It was 103 with the heat index yesterday so it is HOT here in North Alabama.

[truckin 79]

I dont know if it is true for a 85 truck but for a 79 vehicle the blower motor fan is weak compared to modern vehicles. I think if people were able to increase blower fan flow it would cool down a whole lot better in a poorly insulated cab with giant windows.

[68post]

The factory air in my '78 C20 worked great in Dallas 112*- 114* heat several years ago. It was an 8 to 10 yr old truck at the time. A work truck so I really didn't think about tinting the windows.

[Woodyboat]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

I'm 5 miles from Mexico. People here still hop over there and pay for the R12. I won't deal with the hassle, to much trouble.

That may be one option for those who can do it, but I gotta tell you that I've been using some other stuff and I've had fantastic results with it. It's called Maxi-Frig and you get it at this website:

http://www.maxifrig.com/

The best part of this is that it is even more efficient than the old R12 and is WAY more efficient that R134. This means that it requires less refrigerant than either the R12 or R134. So when I charge a system up, I put enough in for the vents to get real cold and let it go at that. I don't even come near the pressures that R134 will place on the compressor. My compressor doesn't have to work near as hard and lasts a whole lot longer.

[SunSoaked]

Almost sounds too good to be true. Makes one wonder why the OEM's aren't using it? Scouring over thier website, I think the most important thing I discovered was the risk of developing tumors on my testicles as a result of 134a contact! Who knew!

[WorkinLonghorn]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

I'm 5 miles from Mexico. People here still hop over there and pay for the R12. I won't deal with the hassle, to much trouble.

You have to smuggle it in since the U.S won't allow it. I agree, not worth the trouble. Anyway the last time I checked it wasn't being stocked any more.(Tijuana area) -BA

[Woodyboat]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

...Makes one wonder why the OEM's aren't using it? ...

I have no doubt that that is all politics. The R134 people had the best lawyers and lobbyists.

[DieselSJ]

Originally Posted by Woodyboat

That may be one option for those who can do it, but I gotta tell you that I've been using some other stuff and I've had fantastic results with it. It's called Maxi-Frig and you get it at this website:

http://www.maxifrig.com/

The best part of this is that it is even more efficient than the old R12 and is WAY more efficient that R134. This means that it requires less refrigerant than either the R12 or R134. So when I charge a system up, I put enough in for the vents to get real cold and let it go at that. I don't even come near the pressures that R134 will place on the compressor. My compressor doesn't have to work near as hard and lasts a whole lot longer.

LOL...yeah, you just filled your system with either propane or butane. Good luck with that. There is a reason why they don't post their MSDS online any longer...they got slaughtered a few years back when people realized they were filling their A/C systems with something that was flammable. I hope you don't ever get into a wreck and split open that system with an ignition source close by.

[DieselSJ]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

Almost sounds too good to be true. Makes one wonder why the OEM's aren't using it? Scouring over thier website, I think the most important thing I discovered was the risk of developing tumors on my testicles as a result of 134a contact! Who knew!

Because it is flammable and explosive would be my guess.

Originally Posted by Woodyboat

I have no doubt that that is all politics. The R134 people had the best lawyers and lobbyists.

Or that maybe they don't want your A/C system to be a bomb? As for R134 having the best lobbyists, I guess you don't follow the industry much because they are now trying to push out 134 like they did with 12.

[Woodyboat]

Originally Posted by DieselSJ

LOL...yeah, you just filled your system with either propane or butane. Good luck with that. There is a reason why they don't post their MSDS online any longer...they got slaughtered a few years back when people realized they were filling their A/C systems with something that was flammable. I hope you don't ever get into a wreck and split open that system with an ignition source close by.

I KNEW someone was going to say that I was using propane. The fact is that they DO post all their specs online. (I don't know what MSDS stands for) So here is the page that shows the specs on Maxifrig: http://www.maxifrig.com/technical-info-1/

Originally Posted by DieselSJ

Because it is flammable and explosive would be my guess.

Yes, it would ONLY be a guess. Please, let's deal with facts and NOT guesses.

So no, I don't know what it is but I do know that it is definitely NOT propane or butane. I've been using the stuff for almost ten years now and have never had any sort of indication that the stuff could catch fire. There is no information one way or the other as to whether the stuff is flammable. But it IS natural, environmentally friendly and meets all OSHA safety requirements. That's good enough for me.

This is one of those misinformation things I was talking about previously. If you think about it, it makes sense. I have a GMC mobility van that has a front and a rear AC. It takes five cans of Maxifrig for it to be blowing snowballs - which is two cans more than it takes for any of our cars. Even if it were flammable, that is a mere fraction of the amount of highly flammable gasoline that I put in the gas tank every day. OMG! What a risk I'm running there! I hope I'm never in an accident where my gas tank gets split open!