Anyone with Vintage Air -- pics? placement of knobs/dials?

Check out Restomod Air. They have a new unit called the Cyclone-S that's remarkably compact. The Bantam-S model is more sophisticated but installation is more difficult. They have many different control options too. That being said, installation isn't a trivial matter. Bring fabrication skills. It's easier on late dash cars though.

Food for thought: decades ago, POCA master mechanic Jack Richards mounted a Vintage Air trunk mount heater / AC unit in the front trunk, ducted into the interior and connected to the vents. It freed up so much space, he was able to eliminate the center gauge and radio console. This allowed his right knee to flop over to the passenger side, like Ferrari's since the late 1970's. According to Jack it made the car much more comfortable.

Haha. I feel like half the Pantera driving experience is having your right leg and foot crammed into the footwell, who would want to lose that!

I installed a Restomod Bantam II unit in 2511. As David mentioned, this is far from a trivial project.

that unit has provisions for three zones, dash, floor and defrost. in my installation I removed all the outlets for those three zones and created my own outlets and distribution plenums.

I also modified dash structure to allow the installation of outboard vents.

rebuilding the OEM heater box involves no engineering or fabrication, just component replacements.

pick your battles. 😉

Larry

Yikes. The shop says the Vintage Air requires a lot less modifications than this, but I will lose glove box functionality. I know the Vintage Air will be way more reliable and efficient than the original system, but for the extra cost, I have to decide if it's worth it. Although I say that now, but when I'm stuck in LA traffic coming back from a show in the middle of the summer, I'd probably give my left arm to have good AC.

There are hundreds of stock OEM air conditioning systems that deliver perfectly good air-conditioning.

if your “shop” needs to delete or disable your glove box I think they are doing something unnecessary. Unless they have previously installed that unit into a Pantera, you will be their prototype and guinea pig. 😉

Larry

No, it's a Pantera shop/vendor... he's done many, and I trust him. It's just the extra cost vs stock which I'm debating could be spent on other things I need/want. I put a Vintage Air in my 68 Camaro years back, and I do remember how much more efficient and cooler it was than the original, so I know they're better. I need to find some of that crypto money laying around!

I know P.I. Motorsports has done a few Vintage Air installations and they do, indeed, sacrifice the glovebox. Having done a Restomod Air installation, with a unit that's larger than the two units I mentioned earlier, I can't see why they lose the glovebox. My main reason for going with a Restomod Air system, rather than Vintage Air was, the knobs are much nicer and more in keeping with a European car. I also liked the fact they have 11 fan speeds. All their knobs are backlit too. They'll do custom knobs if you don't mind waiting a while for them. Restomod Air also uses a very nice, highly adaptable mounting bracket system. I was able to hang my unit from the OEM mounting tabs with adapter brackets. Since I have a late dash, I was able to connect all of the ducts on the unit to my OEM vents with hoses and adapters as opposed to fabricating a plenum like Larry's.

I think I'm just gonna have the stock fan/heater replaced and keep the original look. I have brand new compressor, drier and an upgraded condenser so hopefully with new lines and everything, it'll be fine. If it was my daily driver, I would have done the vintage air. Thanks for all the input here, it definitely helped. I'll give an update once it's in and all done.

David - that’s pretty sweet that you will be able to crank the fan up to 11....  just like Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap!

😆

Rocky

Chuck,

actually, The fan potentiometer has 11 detents, position number one is off and is followed by 10 fan speeds.

😁

Larry

Riley, replacement blower motors have three speeds, as opposed to the OEM two speed motors. Since our fan switches only have two speeds, you have to pick which two of the three speeds you want to use. Pantera Electronics has a console switch controller that allows you to use all three speeds, as well as a ton of other improvements and cool features. Have a look: https://www.pantera-electronics.com/csc.htm

Also, the Vendors have a heater/evaporator unit that has a bigger evaporator and a smaller heater core, in order to improve A/C performance. I bought one from Wilkinson years ago but I've seen them on eBay too.

I have figured out how to make a stock fan switch operate all three speeds, but, the off position becomes low and will run constantly, until a higher speed is selected, which is how some cars (not Panteras) are set up anyway.  

I suppose a discreetly placed fan master switch would allow a full off if desired.

Looks best if you have a rocker switch with the 'fan' symbol rather than the words.

I should do this on my car.