Best aftermarket ac for 69/70 mustang?

[70tp]

Who makes or offers the most powerful retrofit ac for 69/70 mustang without factory ac?   

[Cyclone03]

I’m running Vintage Air Gen IV I my 68. 8 years now works great. If you can get factory dash vents the install looks nicer.

[Falcon67]

My first pick also would be Vintage Air. 

[turbohunter]

I’ve got three systems.
Two Vintage and one Classic Auto Air from Arizona.
They’re all pretty much the same operation wise.
There are a couple things I don’t like about them looks wise. To much plastic and they give you no options to speak of for different knobs and face plates. You have to use you noggin to get them to fit (looks wise) into your car. They have hot rod looking stuff but nothing for our cars. I just consider that to be part of the deal and what makes it fun.

[70tp]

I’ve used the old under dash box before and wasn’t really impressed with the air flow from it.  Really was hoping some of the behind dash set ups would move a lot more air and probably do.   Still kick myself from not gettin a factory air set up out of a junkyard car years ago when they were plentiful    Florida summer and a big block is not a very pleasurable combo without ac.  Was pretty much seeing which set up would be better than the others.    Thanks for the feed back so far

[Bolted to Floor]

I have the Vintage Air Gen 4 set up for a 67 with factory air. The instructions are great. I had one of the hard lines that arrived damaged, talked with Jegs and Vintage Air on a 3 way call. Without fuse, feuding, or fighting, it was warranted out and a replacement was sent. I have 10 months of use and 5200 miles on it.

I expect an AC system to be able to freeze the balls off a pool table....and this one does well on a cloudy overcast day. In the blazing sun of Houston in the low 90’s, it struggles cool the car down if it’s been sitting in the sun.  If the car was cool from being in the garage, it does good.

To add some numbers, I borrowed a digital thermometer from a guy at work. It gets calibrated yearly for measurement purposes. I used it in my truck on the way home from work. 2014 F150 crew with 98k, the air at the center registers dropped to 46 quickly. After 45 minutes of driving, it was down to 43.6. In the Mustang, after 30 minutes of driving in the afternoon, it was down to 44.3. Both were on recirculate and just below high.

It seems like both should blow colder and maybe the old R12 systems did....or it could have been the thermometer I was using at the time.

[turbohunter]

Although they do work ok, to me they don’t work as well as a good factory unit (air flow wise).
But they’re a heck of a lot better than nothing.
It seems as if John and I have had the same experience.

[Stangman]

A lot of new car especially Audi, BMW, MERCEDES, the temp out of the factory is 38-40 so your pickup isn’t doing to bad. How do you guys have the idle kick up when compressor goes on. I would assume there is a soloniod  with the kit. Also with the condenser in front of the radiator do you see a difference in engine temps.

[turbohunter]

No solenoids supplied with the kits I’ve had.
I just make sure idle can handle it. Not necessarily just raising rpm but making sure idle is strong. I guess that just means tuned well.
Just by coincidence I was in traffic the other day with my 292 and it shut off when I came to a light.
Which tells me I need to tune ‘er up again. Been quite a while.

[turbohunter]

My engine temps rise a hair but not much.

[Bolted to Floor]

No solenoid in the kit here either. I bought a Holley solenoid and bracket for the idle. It’s about $100  bucks. It’s wired into the power feed for the AC clutch. Well worth the money for me.

Still working on how much my engine temp rises. I only have the factory gauge. Sitting in the driveway last week with hood closed and no moving air, it rose to the hot side but never maxed the gauge. Using an infrared temp gun through the snorkel of the Shelby scoop. The temp sender unit and both sides of the thermostat were showing 230. Standing at the front of the hood, the hot air hitting my ankles from underneath was extremely hot. I guess this is a text book case of poor air flow in a shock tower car. Im sure the fish gills help with the heat escape, but I’m not above kicking up the back of the hood. This is also on a .60 over block where the machinist told me I could have cooling issues. Going down the road, it’s just off center to the hot side.

[RustyCrankshaft]

I've never installed any brand of aftermarket AC that was as good as factory, they all seem to just be ok. There are some things you can do to help their performance. Using more hard-ducting instead of all the slinky tube they come with helps.

There are also alternatives to R134a that are compatible with 134 systems. Stuff like the blended "HotShot" R414 cools better than straight 134. A lot of people in the AC world won't tell people about it because they hate dealing with the company that sells the stuff, but bottom line is it works. There are other better standard refrigerants but they aren't directly compatible. R22, although is being phased out is still readily available, is a high pressure refrigerant and it works VERY well. We have some trucks and buses here running R12 and it will frost the window on a 100* day no problem.

Not always any option depending on the car, but running the biggest multi-pass condenser you can fit with 134 also helps quite a bit.