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AC in a non-AC K5

super10brss

super10brss

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Any one ever pull this off? I have a nice 85 K5 that I want to hang on to, but it would be real nice if I could swap in AC from another truck or blazer. What is involved? Thanks for the help.
Kevin A.
 
i can say ther is differance in the fire wall the non as only has 2 holes for the heater core and the ac has a big hole for the air to go threw
 
It would be easy if you found a complete truck in a yard to pirate the complete setup from , and take pics and measurements from for welding up your hole and making a new one .

And replace what needs replacing with new stuff .

The actual harnesses and such will fit into your wiring plug and play .

It would be easy if you were here , I saw no less than 15 trucks with complete setups this weekend in yards , one of them a solid complete gorgeous tbi 454 .
 
You will have to modify the firewall as well as find a complete truck to pillage. I just scrapped a truck that had dealer installed A/C which would have been the easiest way for you to convert because it utilized a non-ac heater box and controls. There weren't a whole lot of these on the road but there are some out there. I know this method was popular in the earlier 80's along with dealer installed power doors, delay wipers, and so on.
 
Thanks for the replies guys... I had planned on getting a donor turck to pull the ac out of. I have ran into a few folks that have told me the same thing...... if you would have let me know a month ago... I just sent one to the crusher... I am sure I will get my hands on one by the time I need it. I guess the biggest worry I have right now is the fire wall issue. I have a 350 old tbi engine that I built for the truck so I already have the compressor.. I guess the vents I can just rob from my donor.... I would assume the general only made one inner dash frame with AC holes for all.... and covered the holes on non AC rides with a big dash pad.... guess we will see.... as for the wiring... is it going to be that much I will have to pull from my donor? :confused:
 
Dash frame is the same as well as the pad. You will need the instrument bezel from the a/c truck as well as the trim panel in the dash pad, and of course the obvious stuff like duct work and the heater box. Also, the later trucks (not sure of cut-off) used vacuum controls....and there are a bunch of vacuum actuators hidden in the cab (kick panels and cowl) for letting in outside air etc. I would, if swapping, probably try to find the mechanical setup. Depending which setup you get you will probably want to steal the kick panels from the A/C truck too as they are different than the non-a/c trucks.

While I was at it, I would also fix that damn door clip that goes to the defroster as every one I have every seen is broken and the door doesn't close all the way.
 
That's right...non-AC trucks got an exterior-fed floor vent on the drivers side which AC trucks did not get. The cabs are actually different there AC vs non-AC...at least my '86 is. You can leave that kick panel vent in place, the passenger one is the one that is totally different with AC.
 
When I swapped my cab I got one from an a/c truck so i had to go tracking down the parts to make the heating system work. There may be holes and what not you have to drill? I can't really comment on that because my swap was a little different than trying to stick A/C into a non-a/c truck. I ended up pillaging a '91 K5 Blazer for the box, vents, controls, etc. This was the vacuum style setup...I don't see much difference in performance from the mechanical setup other than the actuators are really fun to get to. IIRC you will probably have to remove the hood, cowl trim, wipers, etc to get to the outside actuator inside the firewall. Not such a trivial task when you are allready swapping the cab but I imagine it would be a project in a truck thats all bolted together.
 
I picked up a dealer installed AC for a mid 80"s suburban at a junk yard. When I depresurised it, it must have been full. The non factory AC's used a Sanden compressor. I brought the components to a shop that sells and installs non factory AC's . Since this unit ran on R 12 they replaced the expansion tube with a R 134 tube and replaced all the hoses with R 134 compatible ones. The evaporator mounts above the heater box but behind the glove box. It has its own controls ( 3 speed fan and temp control ). The vents are at the same height as the factory AC truck uses. I still haven't installed the unit ( too many honney-do projects ) but I probably will do it this fall.
 
Another possibility that COULD be cheaper/easier would be to check with one of the companies that build add-on a/c units for hot rods. I can't recall the company names although one is similar to "Old Air" and is in Texas. I've not priced them, but by the time you pull a unit out of a donor truck, convert it to 134, etc, etc, it might be better to have all new stuff. Since a lot of guys hot rod K10s, etc the same vintage as our K5s, it might fit pretty well.
 
rjpastor said:
Another possibility that COULD be cheaper/easier would be to check with one of the companies that build add-on a/c units for hot rods. I can't recall the company names although one is similar to "Old Air" and is in Texas. I've not priced them, but by the time you pull a unit out of a donor truck, convert it to 134, etc, etc, it might be better to have all new stuff. Since a lot of guys hot rod K10s, etc the same vintage as our K5s, it might fit pretty well.
Click to expand...
The place you are thinking of is Vintage Air, plenty of people use them for the simple setup and low cost as compared to converting from non-AC to AC.
 
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