Ford F100 Vintage Air Frontrunner Kit

Since the dipstick goes in the stock Ford front cover and not in the Frontrunner you'll need to source a new location for your oil reading. If you are installing the Frontrunner on a crate engine it most likely is a late-model casting that will allow you to fit a dipstick in the driver side rear of the block, otherwise you'll have to swap to an aftermarket oil pan with a dipstick provision right in the pan, like this Milodon that has a bung in it to mount the company's braided stainless dipstick assembly.

The rest of the accessories go on pretty easily following the detailed Vintage Air instructions and wind up in this order. It sure is nice not having anything to bolt to the heads and intake! The Delphi-Saginaw power steering pump snuck right in there under the polished TiteFit line and compact compressor, slick.

Next, the Mini Gen-II A/C system needed to be fit and installed. First, we mounted the condenser to the new triple-flow radiator that fits in the stock spot from US Radiator, which came complete with an optional electric fan and a trick aluminum shroud! Vintage Air supplies these easy to engineer brackets that can be cut to fit just about anything.

The condenser went quite nicely smack-dab in the middle of the US Radiator, which looks the best.

The Mini Gen-II unit fit quite nice up under the dash of this '60 F-100 and even looked like there might be some space left for a glovebox! This is also mounted using universal metal mounting straps so you can put it where you see fit.

The bulkhead that the hoses pass through to get from the inside of the cab to the engine compartment needs to be mounted on the firewall in a spot that's easy to access with nothing interfering on either side.

The bulkhead is an upgrade part, available under PN 386600-MBA for $65. Make sure to tighten all the nuts on the backside of the bulkhead.

Now it was time to start routing the hoses from the Gen-II to the inside of the bulkhead. The two capped-copper tubes to the left are what go into the heater core and get heater hoses put on them.

With the new US Radiator/condenser combo back in the truck, the dryer needed to be mounted, preferably in a spot that would be easy to route hoses to and away from major engine heat. This one was mounted to the core support behind the grille. Whenever you cut a hose to length, mark a straight line on the fittings on both side to "clock" them so they stay in the right place when the fittings get crimped for good. If you don't have the right tool to crimp them, call around to A/C supply stores or a good mechanic shop and pay them to do it.

You may have to use a hole saw to make a spot for the hoses to pass from in front of the core support back into the engine compartment, just try and make the routing as clean and simple as possible and you should be fine and make sure to de-burr any holes that you do cut out. Better yet, find some large grommets to protect the hose as it passes through.

The TiteFit compact compressor lives up to its name with the fitting for the hoses coming out of the lower passenger side of the Frontrunner when the compressor is mounted on the upper driver side of things. Being that all the rest of the plumbing for the Vintage Air system is on the passenger side, this makes things quite simple!

With things nearing the end, here's a better shot of the big electric fan and the aluminum shroud on the US Radiator.

The Vintage Air controls are rather compact and can often be retrofitted right into the dash or a custom console. The Gen-II's central vent and control assembly easily fits at the base of the truck's dash in our case. All that's left is to wire it up according to the included directions.

The last thing you want to do is forget to route all the ductwork! Connect the defrost ducts to the underside of the dash and the original defroster openings and then mount the driver and passenger vents at each end of the dash. Vintage Air has what you need for your classic Ford or Mustang, so give the company a call or check out its website for more options on vents, knobs, and more.