When I first started my GS 455 replica project car back in 2008, my idea was to rebuild the motor, fix up the car some including getting the A/C and heater to work so I could drive it most of the year. This is a Skylark Custom with a GS hood, grille and badging complimented with a 455. Fast forward a few years after a successful motor rebuild with performance modifications and restoration of the heater and evaporator / blower assembly portion of the A/C components, I no longer want to continue on the path of hooking up the A/C as this is turning into more of a strip car. I have a real GS 455 now for cruising and car shows. Everything inside the box has been restored, rebuilt or replaced, so my thought is to just remove the left half of the evaporator box, remove the evaporator core and replace the left half of the assembly with a right angle aluminum plate (that I will fabricate) which will give me more room to access the spark plugs, valve cover bolts and header bolts. I do use the heater on occasion, so I don't want to remove the entire assembly nor do I want to remove the inner fender well so I can install an A/C delete box. I never installed the compressor or any of the other A/C components. Do you think this will work or will I have problems with the door of the A/C heater box opening (I thought it opened in, not out)? I am also not sure if there is enough space for the air to travel from the blower motor and through the door area of the A/C heater box. This seemed like a good idea in my head and I have access to the fabrication equipment to make the aluminum plate which would mirror the left half of the box profile relative to the right half of the box and the firewall. In other words, instead of a box, the left side (drivers side) would just be a right angle plate. Please let me know if this is feasible or if I am just letting cabin fever get the best of me. Any and all comments/suggestions are welcome. Thank you!!
Feasible, yes, practical would be to get a pre-made A/C delete plate that would have provision for the heater core and fan unit installation. I recently read about this exact thing in one of my car magazines; I keep several years in stock in the reading room aka bathroom in the shop's man-cave. The company had the items for most of the popular GM car bodies, needless to say the article probably was based on a Chevy. If I recall correctly it was by Jeff Smith in Car Craft, but don't recall when....Looked it up July 2009; company is AGM (search engine for ac delete); cost is 159.95 plus 24.95 S&H
