Why does Vintage Air route the hoses through the kick panel?

Dear V-8 Buick A/C experts,

Since the dash of my trusty wagon has to be completely taken apart to install the Vintage Air system, it seems really easy to upgrade my car stereo at the same time. I've been pondering adding a pair of kick-panel speakers to upgrade the sound without too many interior modifications. However, I've discovered that for a 65 GM A-Body, Vintage Air uses the fresh air vent on the passenger side to of all things route the heater and refrigerant hoses.

Here is a link to the Vintage Air manual for a 64-67 GTO: http://www.vintageair.com/INSTRUCTIONS/64-67gto/904467 REV A 06.09.10.pdf

The suspicious instruction is on page-11 and looks like this:



This seems like a really wasteful and unnecessary loss of the kick panel. While these hoses seem stiff, they are getting bent so it doesn't seem like it would be impossible to route these hoses differently. On the next page of the installation manual there is a view of these hoses and they are getting bent at some really tight turns to reach the kick-panel vent.



I've got only one idea for why this might be true. In the Vintage Air installation kit, the material to cover up the holes in the firewall resulting from removing the OEM heater are made of plastic. I don't think these plastic panels can take the load of these stiff hoses. However, I've bought a heater delete plate from Detoit Speed:



I would hope that the hoses could be routed through this heavy steel plate without squandering the kick panel vent space.

What do you'all think? Does anybody know a reason why Vintage Air proposes to route the hoses like this?

Pearls of wisdom on this one would be greatly appreciated!! :Smarty:

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

Edouard:

I took my hoses through the heater core cover like you are suggesting and it worked great. Things are a little tight but it all fit. There are some old pics at the end of this thread. They aren't that revealing but you can barely see the hole to the right of the vintage air "box" in one of the pictures. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?124325-Factory-Air-Retrofit&highlight=vintage air I have a picture at home of the hose routing through the cover. I'll try to post them when I get home.

I think you're on the right track.

Rick

---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:53 PM ----------

Here are the pics I have handy. Look at the last two pics first. From the engine side, both freon lines point left and go up and over the inner fender well to the front of the car. Both heater hoses come from tucked up under the far left side of the firewall. Pay close attention to where your service ports will wind up. You will need to stand on your head to hook up the gauges. These are obviously before the lines were crimped.









---------- Post added at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:07 PM ----------

Here are some pics from the inside after the install. Note the water valve is above the hose to keep it safe from leaks. Also notice all the scrap hoses cut and covering the sharp edges to keep the lines from getting cut. I also had to modify the air box housing since the lines came in a little below the housing.

I did wind up moving the MSD from the location in the old post.

 

If you look around on the chevelle boards there are a lot of ideas for routing the hoses inside the fender and through the blower motor housing. This is the best way I think as the lines stay somewhat hidden. There are also nice bulk head fittings available for passing through the firewall. I have some pics saved somewhere. I will try and find them later.

 

I couldn't find the pics that I had but it was done similar to what Rick had done. Only difference was the installer used a pre made bulk head through the old blower motor housing and he cut a small hole above the fresh air duct and lined it with rubber to prevent chafing of the lines.

 

Thanks for the tips!! (Re: Vintage Air hose routing though kick panel?)

Dear Rick, Todd, and V-8 Buick A/C "plumbers" . . . .

Thanks for the advice and thanks especially Rick for the pictures!! :TU:

Okay, I'd better look at what has been done on Chevelles and other GM A-bodies. However, it certainly looks possible to avoid taking over the kick-panel space.

The ball is back in my court and the team at Orinda Motors!

Cheers, Edouard :beer