M1009 Air Conditioning

[alpine44]

I am finally surrendering to the heat and am going to install an A/C in my M1009.

Here is the plan:

• Install evaporator, blower, heater, and duct work from civilian Blazer. This requires minor sheet metal work on the firewall.
• Replace evaporator core with new and add Expansion Valve in lieu of orifice. (Orifices are optimized for either idle rpm or cruising speed but not both.)
• Install the biggest parallel flow condenser that will fit in front of radiator. Replace radiator fan clutch and tighten up the ducting. Possibly add 12V electric fan in front to enhance cooling in stop and go traffic.
• Install Sanden SD7HD15 compressor on passenger side similar to the Nostalgic AC setup, except that I am going to use a double groove pulley on the compressor and drive the second alternator from there. That will not require the additional crank pulley. If this idea does not work out, I can always buy the brackets and pulley from Nostalgic Air later.
• Branch off a second evaporator for the rear of the vehicle similar to what was done in the Suburbans. I cannot use the Suburban rear HVAC unit since my M1009 is built-out with a bed platform and storage underneath. I plan to bolt an after-market evaporator unit to the vertical wall supporting the platform in the front at the hump between cab floor and rear floor. The cold air will be ducted to outlets at the perimeter of the bed platform. There is about a 6" space between the mattress and the side walls. The refrigerant hoses will follow the path of the cables for the rear 24 Volt panel.

Any comments or suggestions about this project?

 

[alpine44]

Just realized that there is another possibility to drive the compressor and the passenger side alternator without an additional crank pulley.

The belt for the passenger side alternator wraps around both the crank pulley and the fan/waterpump pulley in the original configuration. There is enough space to run one belt from the fan/waterpump pulley to the alternator and a separate belt from the crank pulley to the compressor as shown in the attached sketch.


I'll try that first as it would not require any modification to the alternator bracket.

 

[Sharecropper]

Seems like you are making it more complicated than it really is. I am just now starting to add AC to my M1028 build and I’m simply going to install the Vintage Air kit. I’ve already purchased and received the special brackets and crank pulley. Bought those directly from CPI in Ft Worth, the manufacturer that Nostalgic gets them from. I’ll be photo documenting my progress in my rebuild thread.

The CPI bracket kit includes the crank pulley. The quality of the brackets is excellent, however the paint was lest than good. So I bead blasted them and repainted them with engine enamel. They are drying now and I will begin the installation process tomorrow.

The Vintage Air kit completely replaces the factory air, heater, and defrost. The unit fits completely behind the dash and includes a new electronic control panel to replace the factory panel and cables.

Good luck. Post photos so we can see your progress.

 

[alpine44]

Seems like you are making it more complicated than it really is. I am just now starting to add AC to my M1028 build and I’m simply going to install the Vintage Air kit. I’ve already purchased and received the special brackets and crank pulley. Bought those directly from CPI in Ft Worth, the manufacturer that Nostalgic gets them from. I’ll be photo documenting my progress in my rebuild thread.

The CPI bracket kit includes the crank pulley. The quality of the brackets is excellent, however the paint was lest than good. So I bead blasted them and repainted them with engine enamel. They are drying now and I will begin the installation process tomorrow.

The Vintage Air kit completely replaces the factory air, heater, and defrost. The unit fits completely behind the dash and includes a new electronic control panel to replace the factory panel and cables.

Good luck. Post photos so we can see your progress.

What was the price for the brackets and pulley from CPI and are they still selling them separately?

The problem I have with the kits is that they mark up each and every piece and you still need the same installation time compared to using OEM components and generic AC hoses and fittings. Yes, using a TXV and a second evaporator is a bit more complex but a retired engineer needs something to mess with.

I am going to spend the $80 on a new LMC control panel. My vacuum pump can be used exclusively for the HVAC control after converting to a 700R4 transmission.

 

[Sharecropper]

The kit from CPI was around $240 + freight. To my knowledge, CPI is the only source for the crank pulley. It is heavy cast with excellent machining. In my opinion, the crank pulley is the best source of energy to power the compressor. Independent from the other belt driven appliances.
The Vintage Air Sanden 508 compressor arrived today. Bought it from Summit a little cheaper than from Vintage and free freight. I’ll buy the other Vintage stuff also from Summit as I get to that point in my rebuild.
I’m really sold on the Vintage kit because it replaces the entire OEM system with one unit for AC, heat, and defrost. And easy and efficient blending and temperature control. No more 30 year old cables to operate air doors. The design and engineering has already been done. But to each his own. If you go a different route, I will respect that and hope you post photos of your processes.
By the way, I too am installing a 700R4 behind my P400. You can see photos in my rebuild thread.

 

[alpine44]

The kit from CPI was around $240 + freight. To my knowledge, CPI is the only source for the crank pulley. It is heavy cast with excellent machining. In my opinion, the crank pulley is the best source of energy to power the compressor. Independent from the other belt driven appliances.
The Vintage Air Sanden 508 compressor arrived today. Bought it from Summit a little cheaper than from Vintage and free freight. I’ll buy the other Vintage stuff also from Summit as I get to that point in my rebuild.
I’m really sold on the Vintage kit because it replaces the entire OEM system with one unit for AC, heat, and defrost. And easy and efficient blending and temperature control. No more 30 year old cables to operate air doors. The design and engineering has already been done. But to each his own. If you go a different route, I will respect that and hope you post photos of your processes.
By the way, I too am installing a 700R4 behind my P400. You can see photos in my rebuild thread.

Do you have the current contact info for CPI? I can't find them on google.

The Vintage evaporator looks great but I need to keep the back of the truck comfortable for my four legged companions hanging out on the mattress.



The old-school Blazer front evaporator/heater/ducting may be better suited for my needs and cost me less than $200 including a new evaporator core.

The 700R4 is an awesome upgrade for the CUCV. Turned my M1009 into a much more comfortable long distance vehicle and got the mileage from ~13 mpg to 18-20 mpg. With manually locking the converter in 3rd it drives like a 5 speed. I'll check out your conversion thread. Feel free to ask any question about beefing-up the 700R4 and doing the swap. You can borrow my holding fixture for the case if you rebuild the tranny yourself.

 

[alpine44]

Here are some photos from today.

CUCV heater and blower removed:



Blazer blower/evaporator pre-fitted:



Flange straightened and additional holes match-drilled:



The new rectangular cut-out needs to fit the interior unit:

 

[Sharecropper]

Do you have the current contact info for CPI? I can't find them on google.

The 700R4 is an awesome upgrade for the CUCV. Turned my M1009 into a much more comfortable long distance vehicle and got the mileage from ~13 mpg to 18-20 mpg. With manually locking the converter in 3rd it drives like a 5 speed. I'll check out your conversion thread. Feel free to ask any question about beefing-up the 700R4 and doing the swap. You can borrow my holding fixture for the case if you rebuild the tranny yourself.

I managed to pry CPI’s info from the warehouse guy at Nostalgic. They seem to be just a small mom & pop machine shop in Ft Worth. They are old fashioned with no website or social media presence. I have their contact info at work and will post it when I get back into my office. The lady I spoke with was a Ms. Lilian. We had a pleasant conversation and she said she remembered when Eisenhower was president. She seemed surprised when I told her that I remembered him as president too. Anyway, she told me the price of the kit and I whipped out my credit card. That’s when she informed me that they don’t take credit cards, but she could send it COD. I said sure why not. The kit arrived on Wednesday, so I am just now figuring it out. There were no instructions with the kit, just a parts list and 3 pages of grainy black and white photos which appeared to have been copied in 1985 on one of Zerox’s first machines.
If you will subscribe to my rebuild thread you can watch me work through this adventure.

Regarding my 700R4, I opted to simply purchase a completely rebuilt Level 2 K-case from Bowtie Overdrives in Californicate. Dam auto correct. Located a new-looking 6.2 TV bracket and found a new correct GM TV cable on EBay. Photos are on my thread. The Bowtie unit is built and rated for 450 HP and 450 FPT. it shouldn’t have any problem with the 225 HP my P400 will produce.

 

[alpine44]

I managed to pry CPI’s info from the warehouse guy at Nostalgic. They seem to be just a small mom & pop machine shop in Ft Worth. They are old fashioned with no website or social media presence. I have their contact info at work and will post it when I get back into my office. The lady I spoke with was a Ms. Lilian. We had a pleasant conversation and she said she remembered when Eisenhower was president. She seemed surprised when I told her that I remembered him as president too. Anyway, she told me the price of the kit and I whipped out my credit card. That’s when she informed me that they don’t take credit cards, but she could send it COD. I said sure why not. The kit arrived on Wednesday, so I am just now figuring it out. There were no instructions with the kit, just a parts list and 3 pages of grainy black and white photos which appeared to have been copied in 1985 on one of Zerox’s first machines.
If you will subscribe to my rebuild thread you can watch me work through this adventure.

Regarding my 700R4, I opted to simply purchase a completely rebuilt Level 2 K-case from Bowtie Overdrives in Californicate. Dam auto correct. Located a new-looking 6.2 TV bracket and found a new correct GM TV cable on EBay. Photos are on my thread. The Bowtie unit is built and rated for 450 HP and 450 FPT. it shouldn’t have any problem with the 225 HP my P400 will produce.

Subscribed to your thread. There seems to be at least an order of magnitude difference between our budgets. That is great for anyone following the threads as it shows the spectrum from "Po-Boy" to "Open checkbook" approach.

 

[Sharecropper]

Im spending my daughter’s inheritance. She will never know.

 

[alpine44]

Im spending my daughter’s inheritance. She will never know.

There is my problem. I do not have a daughter whose inheritance I can spend.

 

[alpine44]

Cut new hole in firewall, patched old one, and installed interior air box:



Blower/Evaporator mated to air box:




Now waiting for condenser, compressor, hoses and fittings to arrive. Will clean and test the air box in the meantime.

 

[Barrman]

Alpine,
when you get to doing the under dash stuff. Take the entire evaporator housing apart and put new foam in. It really makes a difference.

Sharecropper,
glad you got her on the phone. She was super nice when I spoke with her as well a few years ago. The holes in the brackets are sized for metric fasteners. If you use standard, it just won’t fit right and you will throw belts. Metric makes it all fit up like a precision instrument.

 

[Sharecropper]

Sharecropper,
glad you got her on the phone. She was super nice when I spoke with her as well a few years ago. The holes in the brackets are sized for metric fasteners. If you use standard, it just won’t fit right and you will throw belts. Metric makes it all fit up like a precision instrument.

OK here is the contact information for the A/C brackets -

Component Parts, Inc.
Fab Division
PO Box 7514
3100 Chesser Boyer Road
Ft. Worth, TX 76111
817-834-4771
Fax: 817-834-8647 (yes they have a fax!)

I spoke with Ms. Lillian, who I understand to be the wife of Herb the machinist who developed the kit. The kit for our CUCVs is #5255 with a price of $249.34 plus shipping and COD charges (they don't take credit cards).

As previously stated, the quality of the parts is excellent. There are front and rear compressor brackets which piggy-back to the side of the passenger alternator. These brackets could probably be replicated by anyone with a plasma table, however the hallmark part is the cast crank pulley. This part undoubtedly had to be pattern-molded and then machined, not only to properly fit inside the crank pulley but also to accurately run the V-belt. I will post photos on my rebuild thread whenever I can get to it.

 

[alpine44]

Alpine,
when you get to doing the under dash stuff. Take the entire evaporator housing apart and put new foam in. It really makes a difference.

...

Do you mean the weatherstripping/seals in the air-handler box?

 

[alpine44]

OK here is the contact information for the A/C brackets -

Component Parts, Inc.
Fab Division
PO Box 7514
3100 Chesser Boyer Road
Ft. Worth, TX 76111
817-834-4771
Fax: 817-834-8647 (yes they have a fax!)

I spoke with Ms. Lillian, who I understand to be the wife of Herb the machinist who developed the kit. The kit for our CUCVs is #5255 with a price of $249.34 plus shipping and COD charges (they don't take credit cards).

As previously stated, the quality of the parts is excellent. There are front and rear compressor brackets which piggy-back to the side of the passenger alternator. These brackets could probably be replicated by anyone with a plasma table, however the hallmark part is the cast crank pulley. This part undoubtedly had to be pattern-molded and then machined, not only to properly fit inside the crank pulley but also to accurately run the V-belt. I will post photos on my rebuild thread whenever I can get to it.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Barrman]

Yes. All the doors that move inside there have some kind of seal on them. New seals make it really nice.

 

[andyh1956]

For everbody's info here the M1010 Ambulance has everthing needed to mount a compressor. It mounts to the left side of the engine & both alternators mount on the right.
It mounts the big Frigidaire A6 but A Sanden can mount with a common adapter kit.
I just removed all the mounts, compressor, pulleys, belts & brackets if anybody needs part #s from them.

 

[DmentdDan]

For everbody's info here the M1010 Ambulance has everthing needed to mount a compressor. It mounts to the left side of the engine & both alternators mount on the right.
It mounts the big Frigidaire A6 but A Sanden can mount with a common adapter kit.
I just removed all the mounts, compressor, pulleys, belts & brackets if anybody needs part #s from them.

I’d like those part numbers please. I pick up my M1008 on Monday from the US Army Corp of Engineers and have lots of great ideas to start working on thanks to this website. Thanks in advance.