Strange car need help.

[jjltthomas]

This 83 Coupe I bought is strange so Im asking for help. Im going to post some pics and anyone with info would be appreciated. First off my coupe is an 83 but as you can see in the pic its a late year 82. 9/82 build date. First Im curious about the AC. I have owned 12 fox cars and as everyone else seen thousands more. Never with this setup. The ducting under dash isnt hard plastic and the AC unit itself isnt Ford. Also I have a pull handle under dash drivers side that opens a flap to allow cool air into the car. Also has the horn on the column but has the 83 up orange guages. Also has aluminum sill plates. I am now the second owner I bought it from the original owner and he said the only changes he made was the seat reupholstering and he painted the dash grey. (Alabama fan). Someone tell me what Ive got going on here. Also the only option this car seems to have is PS and AC. Everything else is completely plain jane. The next pics are of the flaps. closed open


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[KCoker]

Dealer add on air. My dad bought a 81 that didn't have air and he had air put on at the dealership before he took it home.

[84StangSVT]

^^^^ Definitely dealer added air. The only cars that had the cowl fed manual "cool" air ducts were the factory non-ac cars.

[jjltthomas]

Ok thank you very much. I was looking at it scratching my head and thinking what is this mess? Lol


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[84StangSVT]

Had they of not added the air, you would have had a pull lever under the passenger side dash also, as seen in this pic of my car.



I believe they mounted the A/C coil onto the cowl intake tube and removed the flap in it, which would explain why you see leaves in the add on box. One thing I would do to help prevent the buildup of crud in that A/C box, if you keep it, would be to add a screen underneath the cowl vent.

[jjltthomas]

Thats a great Idea. Im thinking of pulling it since it was a dealer add on. But the leaves in there bother me, thats a rust breeding ground.


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[KevinK]

There were lots of companies who offered post factory ac kits besides the dealer. I believe even Sears sold them. In theory they worked but with some universal parts and some hard to find, there did not get serviced well. Often they got removed on failure.

[homer302]

Had they of not added the air, you would have had a pull lever under the passenger side dash also, as seen in this pic of my car.



I believe they mounted the A/C coil onto the cowl intake tube and removed the flap in it, which would explain why you see leaves in the add on box. One thing I would do to help prevent the buildup of crud in that A/C box, if you keep it, would be to add a screen underneath the cowl vent.

My GT350 had dealer air in it and that system kept both those vents. Those vents flow WAY more air then the vents on a car with OEM AC does. They are awesome and almost (I said ALMOST) make up for not having AC in a lot of situations. There is a terrific breeze that comes through them as I am sure you know.

[84StangSVT]

My GT350 had dealer air in it and that system kept both those vents. Those vents flow WAY more air then the vents on a car with OEM AC does. They are awesome and almost (I said ALMOST) make up for not having AC in a lot of situations. There is a terrific breeze that comes through them as I am sure you know.

I agree. It's amazing the amount of air they push, especially at highway speeds. With them open and just the sunroof open, it is almost like cruising around with the windows down. I'm glad Ford put those in.......now if I could figure out how to put them on a servo or something to open and close them electrically. It's kinda tough to reach over and get the one on the P/S side while driving.

[shorangerbird]

different for sure. my mom had a '80 F100 that had dealer add on. everything looked and operated totally different than factory....