Vintage Air Evaporator Install

I had finally reached the point where I could install the evaporator under the dash. I set the evaporator on the passenger floorboard and looked to make sure all the wiring was out of the way of the evaporator. Then I slowly attempted to work it up into place on the firewall. That’s when I found I was unable to fit the evaporator past the dashboard, as the front bracket interfered. No amount of twisting and turning would get the evaporator past the front edge of the dash.

The fix for this was fairly obvious. I needed to remove the front bracket, position the evaporator on the firewall, and then reinstall the front bracket in the evaporator. Once I removed the bracket everything went into place. When I pushed the evaporator hoses through the firewall one of the grommets popped out. I knew I could reinstall it later so I continued with the evaporator installation.

Once I had all of the evaporator hoses and the mounting studs through their respective firewall openings, I propped the evaporator box up from beneath to hold it into place. Then I started the mounting nuts from the engine side. I went back and forth a few times with moving the evaporator and tightening the nuts until the evaporator was all the way up against the firewall. Then I reinstalled the front bracket, drilled the required mounting holes in the cowl, and tightened down all the mounting screws and nuts.

I checked the evaporator for level. From left to right it looked good. Front to back it tilted to the front a bit. I loosened up the bolts and attempted to change the angle of the evaporator. I don’t think this made very much of a difference. I may come back and attempt to level it out some more but for now I moved on.

For the grommet that popped off I attempted to push it back over the evaporator pipe. The fit was too tight, so I made an X cut in the grommet using a razor blade. That gave me enough room to push the grommet over the pipe and secure it on the firewall mounting plate where it belonged.

The last step in the evaporator install was the drain hose. I measured and drilled the hole for the drain. Then I measured and cut the supplied hose, installed the right angle elbow, and added the left over hose the the end of the elbow. Then I inserted the hose through the new hole from the engine compartment side and attached it to the evaporator drain.

That was about all I had the time and energy for. I did spend some time organizing and gathering parts for installing the rest of the vents and their associated hoses. I plan to install them, as well as the control panel and some wiring next time.