Here's a picture of my high pressure power steering hose connection. I used AN fittings came over the top of the A/C compressor.

 

It was a long day in the garage. I did some smaller tasks like install the fuel filter, measure how long of a drive shaft I need and putting the front pads in the brakes. I also took some time to clean up and scrap some pieces I know I no longer need. I also pulled the engine and put it on a dolly so I could do some work in the engine bay.

First up was pulling the Delenair MkII. Remove two nuts and some wire connectors and it comes out pretty easy.


Here she is sitting on my workbench. I have two options here - replace the heater core and AC evaporator, or replace it with something new. I put a Vintage Air Gen II Super system in my XJS a few years back and was very happy with it. Not sure which option I am going to go with this time.


While everything is accessible I cleaned the firewall so I can address the surface rust. I'm also going to replace the firewall and transmission tunnel heat shields with a combination of dimpled aluminum heat shield and lava exhaust heat shield (seen here on the right side of the firewall where the battery normally sits).

 

I took some time off last week for the holidays and to help Dad get the engine back in his Charger, but I was able to get some work done on my XJ tonight.

First up was the HVAC system. I decided not to put the Delenair back in and upgrade the system while I was here. Today UPS delivered a Vintage Air Gen 2 Super heat/AC unit.


A few years back I put one of these in my XJ-S so I was familiar with the unit. Step 1 was to void the warranty by pulling the blower fan off the box.


Without the blower fan, the box fits perfectly in the dash. I'll need to trim a little off the right hand support for the blower but it won't need much.


Next off was to pull the right side blower fan. I need to figure out a way to attach the new blower fan to the original housing - this will give me the ability to have outside air or recirculated air blowing through the hvac system.


Tonight I was also able to plumb the fuel supply line to the fuel filter.

 

At the time, I read your adventure with your XJS Climate Control with great interest.
Quite a difference in fans! Did you do this with the XJS too? I don't remember that part.
(';')

 

I did. I replaced the fresh air/recirc air motors with linear actuators and mounted the Vintage Air blower to the right side air box.
This time I think I am going to keep the vacuum motors in place and come up with a way to control them.

 

A busy day in the garage. I started working on the attaching the new blower fan to the factory right-side air box, finished it, stuck it in place, and decided I didn't like it. But I know how to fix it - I'll work on that tomorrow.

I was successful in creating a plate to close off the 3"x4" hole in the firewall from the Delenair box. Here is a piece of aluminum cut to shape and drilled for two bulkhead fittings and four mounting bolts. This side faces the engine.


This is the side that faces the firewall. It's covered with high-temperature foam to seal it against the firewall.


Here it is bolted into place. These two fittings to the right of the plate are the heater supply and return fittings.
I also plugged the holes leftover from the Delenair mounting bolts.


I was also able to finish the firewall heatshields. The top half of the firewall is covered with a lava heat shield fabric. I covered the stock transmission tunnel shield with a thermal barrier - more for aesthetics than anything.


I also knocked a few more items off my to-do list. The front brake pads went in, the tie rods got connected to the steering arms, and I finished running the battery cable from the firewall post all the way to the battery in the trunk.

 

As I mentioned, I was unhappy with how the HVAC blower turned out. I measured everything and thought I had enough room but it turns out that mounting the new blower fan to the original air box + blower case was just too much intrusion into the glove box area and passenger footwell.


Back on the workbench you can see the height of the assembly. I did it this way as it would be easier to mount the box into the car as the original blower case has the mounting tabs to bolt it back in.


To make things fit better, I removed the original blower case from the original air box and attached the new blower fan directly to the original air box. This gives me the ability to select fresh air or recirculated air flowing through the HVAC box.


Bolted back in place. I'll need a short run of flexible tubing to connect to the new HVAC box.


Before I put the firewall heatshields back on (for the last time), I made a new 2 gauge cable to connect the firewall power terminals. The original one had stiff insulation and I thought this was a good time to replace it.

 

Thorsen, how are you going to fuse that batt cable and are those post insulators on the firewall good for another 40yrs?

 

I didn't fuse the battery cable, but I am putting in a battery shut-off switch. I followed a pretty similar path that Jaguar did when they trunk-mounted the battery in the XJS.
Good thinking about the firewall insulators. Thy look like they are in great shape but you're right - this is the time to tackle it.

 

The new firewall feed-through connectors arrived today.


I had to slightly enlarge the holes in the firewall for the new connectors but these should be good to go.

 

On my LS swapped C3 corvette I used a Ford type starter solenoid in place of that batt shut off switch, I switched the solenoid on with ign 12v position 1. That way it disconnects that heavy guage wire whenever I shut off the car and back on when I start it up. I only have three or four very low drain circuits connected to the battery, ecm memory, radio memory etc... I also fused the battery cable at the battery with a 70 amp fuse, I've seen too many bad situations after being in the car stereo business for 12yrs. If that big cable ever does short to ground for whatever reason, it's gonna light up at 700cca from that point to the battery. Just food for thought, I wouldn't feel right without mentioning it.

 

I appreciate that - it's a good idea. I will look into that.

 

What a Good Idea!!
These little tidbits are why I hang out here....
(';')

 

We had a warm day in Chicago so I opened up the garage door and got some fresh air while I got down to business. First up was installing the new heater hose fittings in the engine compartment. The heater hoses are on the right side oriented vertically and the AC fittings are on the left side oriented horizontally.


I've never used the Gates PowerGrip hose clamps but I thought I would give them a try. We'll see if they work as good as the advertising copy makes them sound.


Next up was extending the air inlet on the heater box. I removed the Vintage Air blower fan from the box but I still need a way to hook a duct between the box and the fan; this will give me something to attach the duct to.
I cut a couple of 2" strips from a large sheet of ABS plastic and clamped it to my work bench so I could bend it.


After heating it with a heat gun I had a perfect 90° angle.


I trimmed it to fit, then made another one.


Both of the duct extenders screwed into place.


I need a bracket to mount the heater box in the car so I whipped one up real quick.


The Vintage Air HVAC box is now secured in the car. You can see the two 180° heater hoses exiting the air box and running to the left hand side. I'll hook those up to the bulkhead fittings tomorrow. I need to order a couple AC fittings to plumb the inside of the car but that's easy enough.
On the far right of the picture you can see part of the fan for the Vintage Air unit. I'll need to run a duct between that and the inlet extension on the air box I made. I'm thinking about using silicone hose but I need to experiment to see if I can make it do square corners.

 

Today I was able to finish building the "inside the car" heater hoses. I'm using a traditional hose clamp where the heater hose attaches to the heater core - there's way too much plastic there to use a heat gun.


I also spent some time improving the look of the brackets I made. A few minutes with the disc sander and I turned the square edges into rounded corners. I also painted these to keep them from rusting.


I spent the rest of the day eye-balling possible locations for the heater valve and the ECU. Tonight I ordered parts to make the "inside the car" AC hoses as well as the controls for the HVAC.

 

Ya know, Thomas, what you really need in your shop, some Proper Tools for just Doing stuff!
(';')

 

I found that a 4" round duct was almost the perfect size to bridge between the heater box and the blower fan. 3.75" would have been better but since that's not easy to find, the 4" duct will work. I'll use some butyl rubber sealant to close the gaps on the corners.


I also started wiring up the new system and realized I never bought the controls for it. So a blower fan switch, mode switch, heater potentiometer (the new system comes with an electronic valve), and AC thermostat are on the way.

 

Last week my wife got sick then she shared it with me. Today was the first time in a week and a half that I had time and felt well enough to go out to the garage. I finally got around to making the AC hoses for the inside of the car and hooking them up to the firewall.


Then I started putting the HVAC box into place for the final time. I need to tighten up the heater hoses and attach the blower duct.

 

The goal today was to get air blowing through the new Vintage Air box. I started the day by connecting the HVAC box on the left to the blower on the right with a flex duct.


I wanted to put the controls for the Vintage Air unit in the stock location as best I could. The Vintage Air has four controls (fan speed, AC temp, heater temp, and mode selector). I decided to mount the AC temp in the left side of the panel and the fan speed on the sight side.


Here's the back side of it panel.
I'm going to replace the radio with something more period appropriate.


I had to reconfigure the front braces on the HVAC box to accommodate the radio.


Starting to lay the dash and center console back in place to check alignment.


The dash sitting in place. I have plenty of room around the Vintage Air box.


Before I could test the blower I needed to hook up the battery ground. I also decided to put a charge port on the right side of the trunk to make it easier to hook up my battery maintainer.


The charge port in place.


Battery cut-off switch in place.


With that done I was able to test the blower fan


I'm using the factory ducts for the defroster and outside vents. This makes it easier to run the air ducts and eliminates the need for separate defroster vents and air ducts.


Next I turned my attention to the heater hoses. I'm using Vintage Air U-Bend-Em heater hoses to eliminate the amount of rubber hoses in the system.


I made a bracket to mount the heater valve to the firewall.

 

No flies buzzing around you (never mind it's December)!!
(';')