A/C in 68 Mustang

Marcus

Marcus

Well-known member
Gentlemen: About to install a Vintage Air SureFit A/C unit in a 1968 Mustang Convertible, strong and healthy 289, C4 - local "experts" say no problem with 100% stock radiator; Vintage Air says "probably" no problem; really don't want to take unnecessary chances with the car overheating, so what are your thoughts? High dollar replacement radiator? Auxiliary electric fan? Or??
 
If I’m reading about the right unit when I google it, it says

“2. We recommend using our heavy-duty fan blade and shroud”.

My experience with heating problems in a 55 bird (and others, with and w/o ac) is the fan and shroud are a big deal. My other thought would be what did a factory a/c option use for the fan and shroud. That said, if the local guys say it’ll be fine, I’d try it before I got carried away spending money on items you don’t need. If something is already going bad, then I’d do the upgrade as part of the install.

Does it come with an electric fan for the condenser?
 
To be 100% (or as close as possible) sure you're not going to have "heating" problems look at a "bigger" radiator, fan, and shroud. Most heat issues are air flow related followed by coolant volume. The stock radiator in that car is small with respect to volume. Adding a three core will increase volume. A shroud will help move air through the radiator at idle and low speeds. New cars cool all day long with a little bitty radiator, they use every inch of the fins by very strict air control, that and the computer richens up the mixture to aid with temperature control.


Bottom line after having said all of that....if it ain't loosing water it ain't overheating. Some people get a little excited about water temperature. An old school hot rodder friend always said his car was running hot. After looking and trying to make it boil the hottest it would get was 190. Turns out he thought "normal" temps were 160 - 170 and anything higher was "over heating".
 
I don't believe Ford ever put AC in a car without a fan shroud. Many of the aftermarket fitters of the day would skip that part. Unibody Fords of that age didn't have much room for air to get out of engine compartment a shroud helped keep air from going back forward.
 
If you do install a shroud, be sure to correctly position the fan. the fan blades should be half way ( half of the blade centered ) in the shroud opening. if it is not in far enough, or in to far, you are defeating the purpose of having a shroud.
 
All good advice, and thank you. I should have added that it has the factory stock fan shroud and fan.......I'm inclined to follow the preponderance of advice and just do the installation: see what develops from there!
 
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