You know, I'm interested to see how it works too vectorit. I'm not sure how well it'll compare to an installation with a full Vintage Air kit though because I'm reusing my old R4 compressor and 1970 era condenser. The condenser is huge at 28.5 x 12.5 x 1.25 thick, but it's a tube and fin style.
Glad you guys like the Z. It is my first full vehicle paint job and I'm fairly pleased with how it came out too. Gave me some experience for future projects (and an appreciation for how much work goes into a quality job).
I forgot to mention that I finally got a little color on my Suburban. I had been using the original hood from it as a test panel when I painted the Z, so that one piece is mostly blue now (with a grouping of runs on one side and plenty of thin spots too). It took a little getting used to since I hadn't seen any sort of color on the Suburban for a long, long time.
Well, a week or two ago I bought 8' of 5/8 heater hose as recommended in the Vintage Air instructions. The first two pieces I needed were only 3 long each. They attached the evaporator unit to the firewall bulkhead.
Close, but not too close.
The other fittings were a little trickier. I'm keeping the stock style coolant flow routing as found on the '88 truck my engine came from. Intake manifold > heater core in > heater core out > radiator. Luckily, my Suburban's old four core radiator has a handy built in port on the outlet side tank for the heater return hose, just below the transmission cooler inlet.
The fitting that was at the rear of my Edelbrock intake, on the other hand, was sized for 3/4 heater hose. Meanwhile, the Vintage Air unit utilizes 5/8 size hose. Of course, none of the stores in town (including dedicated plumbing outlets) had a 3/8 pipe taper to 5/8 hose barb fitting (kind of an oddball size I guess) so I ordered one online. The company accidentally sent me two, so perhaps 10 years from now I'll find a use for the second one. Here's a size comparison between the 5/8 fitting and the 3/4 one.
While waiting for the new brass heater fitting I made a patch for the hole that had been the prior dwelling place of the fan blower motor.
With the firewall completely smoothed I slathered it with two coats of POR-15, but my can was almost empty and the remnants that had settled to the bottom of the paint receptacle made it come out all bumpy (well, that and the fact that I was painting during a snowstorm). I'll sand it smooth yet again and put on a fresh coat when the new quart that I have on order arrives.
I still need to plumb the heater valve and run the wiring for the evaporator unit, but it's getting close. Yet another to do involves cutting holes for the side dash vents. I found a template from Vintage Air for the center vent and chopped that one out real easy. The repro center vent that had been sitting in my collection of stuff for a few months didn't come with mounting hardware. I searched the boards here and found that 1/4 threaded rod worked as a substitute for the original stuff. So, after spending $1.97 at the hardware store for a few feet of 1/4 - 20 rod I cut it to length. A quick run through with a tap and some red Locktite should hold them in the back of the vent fairly well I think.
Some small stuff I've taken care of recently:
The battery cables are hooked up now. I bought a longer positive which was snaked down along the frame (firmly attached so it can't swing into the headers) and to the starter. The smaller positive lead follows it then snakes back up behind the engine and into the cab where it attaches to the power distribution block. I recycled the old positive cable that had been too short and grounded it to the block.
The 454 is now primed with oil. Finally unpacked my Summit Racing tool and chucked it up in the drill. I was relieved to find that there is just barely enough room to pull the dizzy out and clear that firewall, but the cap and rotor have to be removed first. I ran the drill enough to drain the 80 gallon tank on my compressor three times and called it good.
No matter how much I looked, neither my '89 Unit Repair Manual or the '93 Service Manual show any procedures for properly installing and / or aligning the distributor. Perhaps they're included in the Fuel & Emissions supplement that I don't have? With the engine at #1 TDC I aligned the rotor with the #1 post on the cap as best I could. Hopefully it'll be close enough to get it fired up and then set the timing properly at 4°.
In preparation for routing the A/C lines (hose kit is on the way now), I hooked up the Vintage Air adapter block to the R4 compressor. It's looking like the bracket just behind it might get modified to allow better clearance. Can't tell for certain until the fittings arrive.
I started sorting through all the items which positively will not be used again. Items like the old transmission linkage, A/C hardlines, under dash temperature gauge, etc... While digging through boxes I found a a bag with instructions and leftover hardware from the K&N air cleaner. It tuned out that I'd left a vent fitting off which was meant to be bolted to the bottom of the chrome housing. This only added another mystery item to my list of things left to hook up. There weren't any unused fittings that size on either the intake manifold or TBI, so it remained a mystery for a few days. Then I remembered another mysterious hose of similar size. There are three lines connected to the fuel pump. I knew that two of them were obviously fuel feed and return, but the third had been an unknown for quite a while now because it was a bit larger than the other two (another item that's covered in the fuel & emissions supplement?). Then it occurred to me that if it were a vent line, then the air cleaner would be a very logical spot for it to attach. Two birds with one stone there.