Saved From Scrap

That Vintage Air tech support is bar none, the best I've ever talked to and dealt with, so they have my vote because these days...I don't have a whole lotta luck dealing with anyone when it comes to buying something and have them stand behind it like they do. They'll direct you to a dealer nearest you too.

I was wanting to do a roof top a/c system on mine originally too. But after you really study the roof cap structural integrity of an A Model KW and see for yourself just how thin and flimsy they really are...I decided it was best not to mess with the roof top units and went with the under-dash setup. Plus the fact that you have to bore more holes in the roof, and I didn't have the heart to do that and expect to be chasing another leak up there like I did for a while until I finally found it.

I ran the truck for a full year without the headliner until I pinpointed the leak I had. Ended up being the strangest thing; one of the air horns was taking on water when it rained, and it was running down through the horn like a funnel, down through the air line that was perfectly pitched to the valve, and there was a leak straight out of the valve. I since plugged both horn inlets off at the ceiling and put train horns underneath the passenger side floor inside the step, and plumbed them to work off the original pull chain (valve). Now the horns on the roof are just for looks.

Whenever I have to climb up on the roof to do anything to the top of the sleeper or stacks I cringe, because it doesn't take much to flex that roof cap at all, so just imagine an a/c condensor unit up there vibrating in the wind all day. I don't like the idea myself. But on the other hand, I sure do like the way they look on an old truck.

 

No, the units are all pre-built and all you have to do is talk to the rep. at Vintage Air and he'll help you size the system you need. In my case I bought the Generation II system, a 5k BTU a/c and heater all in one under dash model. You choose the style of vents you'd like too. I put 2 ball style vents down underneath the unit itself that do the brunt of the cooling and heating, and of course the defroster vents that are up on the top of the dash also are used by pushing the flexible hose that comes in the kit up into the existing 4" flex pipe that Y's into the 2 round vents.

The roof cap is thin like I said before, and I guess you could add some fiberglass structure to it, but if you do it inside then your headliner might not fit properly and have to deal with that. I put that bubble wrap insulation along with pink fiberglass up there and then when I went to install the headliner, I had to take some of it out because the headliner sits pretty close to the roof, especially the two structural strips that run front to back, and I didn't have enough clearance to keep all the insulation I had originally. But it's still good with what is there now.

 

here's a place to start if you like these...

 

Just Google Kenworth A Model Molded Headliners, and a slew of options come up. Prices vary big time.