SEMA 2021: Vintage Air Now Offers Kits For ’81-’88 Monte Carlo This year at SEMA, one company that really stood out was Vintage Air. We caught up with Wayne Potter, the brand’s sales manager, and got the low-down on everything new from the Vintage Air.
This Vintage Air customer is rocking some serious cooling power in their killer G-body Monte Carlo, and so can you! It’s a complete sure-fit system that removes all the OEM components except the dash vents. It comes with a stamped-steel firewall cover that goes over the firewall opening that was a little difficult to fabricate. This is because, on those cars, the firewall has some challenging curves and angles to deal with. So, the A/C, heat, and defrost become electronic with this kit. It comes with a Sanden 508 compressor if you’re running the stock engine which runs off of a v-belt. But if you’re rocking an LS, they have LS brackets and pulleys. What are some of the advantages of this system over the factory A/C on the Monte Carlo? “The factory A/C on the car is mostly all vacuum, ” says Wayne. So, that becomes increasingly important if you’re doing an LS swap because you don’t have vacuum to operate with, and if a lot of the old parts are missing, you might have difficulty replacing them. Being an all-electronic system, you can run any motor or engine combination. It’s also got the newer-style condenser that utilizes R134A refrigerant instead of R12, which no one has anymore. It also cools much better than trying to use that old stuff. This system also uses high-pressure barrier hoses, and it’s a complete bolt-in. It comes with everything you would need to swap out or add A/C to a vehicle that previously didn’t have it. It comes with a new control panel that even goes into the stock location. Which is all electronic fly-bywire, so no vacuum anymore. The system also cleans up the engine compartment considerably. The black powder coated firewall cover doesn’t protrude anywhere near as far as the factory box did, giving you much more room in the engine bay. So, if you’re looking to up the cooling power of your A/C system and clean up the engine bay of a Monte Carlo project, check out vintageair.com. 10
