I am planning on putting a 383 Stroker into my 1969 Camaro in two weeks. I want to remove the A/C Box from the firewall to give myself some more room and allow the installation of headers. Someone told me to just pull the old ac box and cover the opening with a panel. I would still like for my heater and defrosater to work after I am done.

Is it really that easy? Where do the heater hoses connect? Where is the blower motor located and will this effect its operation?

Thanks for ther help.

Mike

There are headers that fit but are limited to 1 5/8" diameter. There has been much discussion on this topic in the past.

You can delete the A/C box but it will require quite a bit of fabrication. All cabin ventilation runs through the fan and A/C evaporator. In order to maintain the proper airflow you would need to cut the box just downstream of the fan and make ductwork similar to non-a/c heater boxes on the engine side. A/C and non A/C cars do not share similar firewalls. I don't know if it is practical to fit non-A/C parts in since much fabrication would be required. Fan access on both cars requires RH fender removal.

Probably the best solution is a Vintage Air A/C system. For a $1000 you can eliminate the factory evaporator box so you can fit as large a header as you wish. Several members have done this swap and hopefully they can comment.

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I had an AC car once where the previous owner yanked the ac box in favor of headers. Because of the duct work, as mentioned before, Outside air circulating into the car will go right through the heater core. It's like driving your car with the heater on all the time! there is a vacuum operated shut off valve on the right fender well that keeps coolant out of the heater core when the heater is off. There was so much stuff missing from that car that I never was able to get it to work right.. Hope you have better luck.
John
69Z/28 (It don't have AC!) :)

John,
67-8 did not have the valve. Hence, coolant circulates through the heater core at all times. If the heater box is lacking in the sealing dept. hot air will continually pump out.

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Click here to see see my car and hear 5-speeds. http://www.geocities.com/casanoc

I have a question? My 69 coupe was a non factory a/c car, when I had it built they used factory a/c parts. I have since replaced the 6 with a 350. Getting to the plugs is a pain. Carl had mentioned the firewalls being different. I was planning on removing the box and putting on a SB heater box cover and getting rid of the a/c will this be a direct bolt in? Thanx, Sean.

It will depend on how many firewall mods they made. To do it right they should have pluged the non-AC heater core hose attachment holes and made the hole for the air passage taller/narrower. Maybe you will get lucky. The #6 and #8 plugs are no fun if you have manifolds and straight plugs. Headers and angled plugs actually make the job easier on AC cars.

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Click here to see see my car and hear 5-speeds. http://www.geocities.com/casanoc

I don't know how similar the two are, but I just converted my 1971 pickup to a simple heater system. I found a junk doner for the firewall box, ductwork, and controls. I would think with the number of people converting to AC you would be able to do the same. The hole in the firewall was too big and I had to weld in a patch panel. I also had to fill some of the mounting holes. Instead of drilling new mounting holes, I welded in mounting studs which made installing easier. The wiring changes are very simple. The whole installation process took about an afternoon not including cleaning and painting the doner. It works and looks great. Good Luck!