With the trunk taken care of my Grandson and I started on the Heater/AC install. Heat and AC are mandatory for this build and of course the Valiant had neither. After looking at various options I eventually settled on piecing together a system for the car. I already have a new Sanden 508 compressor installed on the HEMI so that part’s taken care of. I found a behind/under-dash heat/AC unit on E Bay that looked like it would work so I picked that up.


z ac by M Patterson, on Flickr


It took a bit of looking but I eventually found a set of under dash vents I liked (hardest part was finding ones that were set up for 2” ducting). The Y connectors will be installed in the ducting to the outer dash vents to divert the air to floor air when the heater is used. In order to keep things simple, the Y connectors and in-line water control valve will all be cable operated.


Z Vents by M Patterson, on Flickr


We got the evaporator/heater unit mounted up under the dash Sunday. I’m really pleased with the way it tucks up under the dash.


Z EVAP by M Patterson, on Flickr


And I got the under dash vents installed (I’ll run the ducting later this week). I could probably make the factory controls function with this, but I’m taking the easy way out and will just build a custom control panel and use the switches provided.


Z V by M Patterson, on Flickr


I’m still figuring out which way to go on AC hoses and still have to pick a condenser and receiver dryer but we’ll get to that in time.