Advice opinions please

[AndrewA]

Not doing much on the car front as tied up with house building and moving. That said, a recent highlight was when Sam Frost popped down to pick up rear screen I was selling. He brought his 410 and we took the opportunity to drive each other's cars which was fascinating as well as good fun. It was a very hot day (by UK standards anyway) and the most immediate and wonderful difference with Sam's car is the fully functional, factory fitted aircon - that's now on my shopping list!
Picture below is a bit like one of those "spot the difference" puzzles....mine's the early one on the right, still sporting its upside-down moustache under the grille.

[David C]

The Vintage Air "Builder Series" aftermarket aircon is on my shopping list for the 410. Does anyone have any first hand experience?

[peter dowdle]

David while I can give you no specific advice on fitting Vintage Air to a 409 I have done a lengthy and difficult fit to my 411 Mk2.

Nearly every air conditioner fitted by the factory were what I call under dash units which fit between the gear box hump and the dash board. I did not want to do it that way but instead purchase a Vintage air unit with the intention of utilizing the 411 air vents on the dash. The only way to do this was to remove the existing heater and blower and cut a large hole in the flat area of the fire wall above the gear box hump.

I could go on for hours but the results were both good and bad. Sitting in the car you could see nothing other than 3 small knobs , There is no evidence of any change to the cabin, it all looks original and untouched. The heater built into the Vintage Air Unit works well. Under the bonnet the unit was boxed in and covered with the standard 411 material cover. All you can see is an air compressor and extra hoses.

The big problem is that having to remove the factory blower the Vintage Air unit wont move sufficient air to get a good flow of cold air through the 4 vents on the dash. This results in a car that, on a hot day, wont get sufficient cold air flow. I have tried a number of modifications to improve the problem but are thinking about reverting to the under dash system.

In a 409 I suspect you wont have room under the dash to fit it and you will still need some vent system. I would be looking for the smallest compact unit and fit it under the dash above the gear box hump then all you need is a couple of hoses running back to the engine.

Best of luck

[AndrewA]

Bit the bullet and finally took the car to Alder Automotive to get my gearbox looked at.
After an extensive test drive the proprietor informed me that in his opinion I'd misdiagnosed the issue - which was a slight grumbling when pulling away under load - and that attention to the inside of said gearbox was fruitless. He put it down to resonance and is checking mounts etc. This was a relief as you can imagine. I also asked him to sort out the gear selector and gear lever which has always been floppy and had inaccurate selection. Many have attempted to improve this over the years with limited success so a new one of each - that match the original - are winging there way to him from across the pond.
He did a gearbox service and adjusted the bands so now I'm just waiting for the bits to arrive and for him to fit them.
More later.

[AndrewA]

Bit of an update - correct gear selector mechanism and gear knob etc fitted - took months as parts supplier in USA kept sending wrong bits. Finally got car back in July and much better. After a week kickdown disappeared but once I understood how it worked, it was easily adjusted and now used at every opportunity.
Had a week away in it and lots of long runs - up to Essex to do Layer Marney Cup and then over to West Wales for a couple of nights with friends.
Car ran really well and found some great driving roads - the picture is the car on the Black Mountain Pass.
Car is being used for eldest daughters wedding in ten days time so have given the car a proper clean and sent hubcaps off for chroming as they were letting the whole thing down a bit.
All this talk of fuel injection is tempting but for now am just enjoying the car.

[Green411]

Andrew, when you talk about using kickdown are you referring to full-throttle or part-throttle? If part-throttle (eg 3 down to 2 when accelerating out of a roundabout) how did you achieve that? My 411/3 lacks that, and I have to do it manually. Not exactly stressful, but a minor annoyance!

[David C]

Prior to the early 1970s Torqueflites didn't have part throttle kickdown but there are upgrades available such as:

727 3-2 Kick Down Module (1966-69) - A&A Transmissions