XB airconditioning vents - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

lilMattie · 01-03-2006, 13:48

Hey all.

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all had a blast.

Can anyone post me some pictures of their underdash air con units in their XB's? The factory fitted ones which stretch under the length of the dash?
Mine is almost ready to go back together, but I still haven't decided whether it's worth the risk of getting the vents rechromed (which means I'm stuffed if it fails) or just to paint them gloss black or something.

Anyway, pictures are welcome as I'd like to see how they look.

Thanks.
Matt

jg66me · 01-03-2006, 16:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilMattie

Hey all.

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all had a blast.

Can anyone post me some pictures of their underdash air con units in their XB's? The factory fitted ones which stretch under the length of the dash?
Mine is almost ready to go back together, but I still haven't decided whether it's worth the risk of getting the vents rechromed (which means I'm stuffed if it failes) or just to paint them gloss black or something.

Anyway, pictures are welcome as I'd like to see how they look.

Thanks.
Matt

Matt

Under dash air was never factory fitted. In those days there were aircon centers that fitted after market type under dash to most cars. Also the dealers used to con people into fitting under dash air as the mark up on factory air made them nothing where as they made a huge margin on dealer fitted air.

Steve

lilMattie · 01-03-2006, 17:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by jg66me

Matt

Under dash air was never factory fitted. In those days there were aircon centers that fitted after market type under dash to most cars. Also the dealers used to con people into fitting under dash air as the mark up on factory air made them nothing where as they made a huge margin on dealer fitted air.

Steve

hmm.. then perhaps mine was dealer fitted. I've always thought that factory air was an option with the XB's.

I've seen several types of underdash. There's the short stumpy (nasty) type that had 2 vents and was sold by repco. - which I thought were the dealer fits. And then there were the ones that were moulded to fit under the XA/B dashes perfectly. There was a short and a long version.. I have the long which stretches from the corner of the passenger side, right over to about 4" past the handbrake handle.

jg66me · 01-03-2006, 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilMattie

hmm.. then perhaps mine was dealer fitted. I've always thought that factory air was an option with the XB's.

I've seen several types of underdash. There's the short stumpy (nasty) type that had 2 vents and was sold by repco. - which I thought were the dealer fits. And then there were the ones that were moulded to fit under the XA/B dashes perfectly. There was a short and a long version.. I have the long which stretches from the corner of the passenger side, right over to about 4" past the handbrake handle.

The Repco type is not dealer fit, thats the type those after market guys used to fit. Yours is a dealer fit. That would be a rare piece these days so I would try to get it restored if it was mine.

Factory air is intergrated (heat, cool, demist etc) and has two extra vents in the centre of the dash. The right hand one fits into that squarish blank plate.

I remember a company car we had that had that kind of air. In those days our company cars always had dealer fit air.

Steve

xagt_coupe · 01-03-2006, 21:32

I also remember the system you describe, and have a few pics of them somewhere on dvd's. They seem quite rare now days, so if it all still goes, tidy it up as best as u can afford. There were a few companies doing the ugly under dash systems, awa and email air if memory serves. These were fitted by air con fitters as customer or fleet orders by 3rd party companies. They were fairly efficient compared to the factory systems, but dog ugly, and if u wanted to keep your console, it had to be cut and butchered. These were by far the most common fitted systems to our cars.

Donny

351cid · 01-04-2006, 01:27

i have only ever seen one car fitted with the profiled under dash air cond system that you are describing.

it is in an orange `75 XB GT coupe

from memory it goes from the left hand kick panel across to the hand brake and follows the shape of the dash
takes up a fair bit of the leg room.

lilMattie · 01-04-2006, 14:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by 351cid

i have only ever seen one car fitted with the profiled under dash air cond system that you are describing.

it is in an orange `75 XB GT coupe

from memory it goes from the left hand kick panel across to the hand brake and follows the shape of the dash
takes up a fair bit of the leg room.

That's right! It's nice to know that I have a rare item.

I'll take some photo's of the faceplate for you all to have a glance at. It doesn't take up too much legroom. The whole thing is only about 150mm high. It fills out the dash a lot more.

Road runner · 01-04-2006, 17:29

Is this what you are on about? Scroll down to 14th car (Polar white XBGT with protection pack) last pic, has a black air con unit running underneath the glove box following the lines of the dash.

Factory air?

lilMattie · 01-04-2006, 18:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road runner

Is this what you are on about? Scroll down to 14th car (Polar white XBGT with protection pack) last pic, has a black air con unit running underneath the glove box following the lines of the dash.

Factory air?

Yeah, that's it. I'll put a direct link to the image on.

Now, what do you guys think those vents would look like in black? to continue the theme of the rest of the dash which is darkbrown and black blank panels, airvents, instrument cluster etc.