1950 Dodge Power Wagon Rebuild

[sdobson]

Hi All,

Has anyone thought about or installed one of Vintage Air's packages. They have a builder series with options for heat, cool and defrost. I'll eventually have my 1950 back in Dallas TX and thought air may be nice to have.....but a major luxury. But if I'm going to do it it'd be much easier to install something now than later.

https://www.vintageair.com/builder-s...%20II%20Compac

Thanks in advance for the help.

Scott

[Desoto61]

I have a Gen II mini in my truck. It's a tight fit for sure and the hoses take up a lot of space too, but it works OK, definitely not what you're used to in most modern cars but better than not having it for sure. The hardest part depending on the motor you are using is driving the compressor which can require a custom bracket changes to belt routing. Take a look at my build thread, I'm sure there's pictures of the unit and how I installed it.

Definitely spend the money and get the mockup unit. Trying to wrestle the original one into place to determine where and how you want to mount it is hard enough without all the weight and potential to damage it that doing so with the actual unit requires. Only downside to the mockup is that it's just an empty case with no ports, so you have to remember where they so you can think about how the hoses will route since there's no real way to mock them up with the dummy case, and they will affect where it can go.

[sdobson]

I think I'm going to stick with a heater only, maybe from Vintage Power Wagon.

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

I have pondered this alot, I have seen several restomod trucks with them installed. What I have been trying to figure out is on a stock flathead truck. One with Power steering, a 12 volt alternator and air conditioner. The pulley and bracket configuration I cannot figure out yet. If a person didn't have the power steering It would be easier.
Are you putting this on a flat head or doing a motor conversion?

[sdobson]

Matt,

The motor is a 318 to NP435 to NP208 to Dana44 on front and Dana 60 on rear. All of that stuff came from a low mileage 1985 Dodge W250. From a sanity standpoint I think sticking with just a simple heater is a lot easier. I may regret that when it gets hot.