I recently purchased my first Fairlane, it is a 66 Fairlane 500 convertible. The car originally was equipped with a 289, power steering, and in dash a/c. Here is where my questions start. The car has been switched over to a 302 which I believe is a 1987 block. What parts will I need to look for in order to install the a/c and power steering and what can be used from the old car. I have also thought about the Concept One pulley system and use the new compressor and power steering pump that they sell with their kit. Does anyone have any experience with this kit? Thanks for the help, this will probably be the first of many posts.

It seems to me that the original parts from the 289 should be able to work with the 302. The blocks are not that different, so the compressor and the power steering pump should bolt on pretty much the same way. If not, or if the swap was done and for some reason the compressor and power steering parts are not with the car, you would more than likely need at least these two items. I would try to get them from the same year, but a lot of the small block stuff was kept the same for quite a few number of years. I think in the early 90's or late 80's is when they changed the design to run with a serpentine belt and that may be the source of your problems. If you could provide some more details as to what came with the car maybe we could help you out a little better. If you could tell us if the rest of the AC equipment is there or not or if the steering box is still power that would help. I'm curious why the previous owner wouldn't keep or make the same options when doing the swap, did they say?
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MET

I did not get any of the ac components with the car but I did get most of the power steering equipment. I will have to double check and see if the steering box is power or not. You will have to forgive me for this but what is the visual difference between a manual and power, steering box. I have a general understanding of cars and can pretty much follow any manual put in front of me but this will pretty much be one of my first projects. At least I don't have to do any body work or major motor/trans work. I do have the alt and pulleys from the motor and it is set up to run a serpentine belt. The alternator bracket is stamped starting with E7 - that is where I came up with the 1987 date for the motor.

If it is set up with serpentine the parts from the 289 won't work unless there is a way to put a serpentine pully on them (never had to mess with this myself). There are probably some good aftermarket manufacturers for the power steering pump and ac compressor, so you could explore that route or you can check a salvage yard for these items. The steering box should have a couple of pipe fittings plugged if it is still the power unit that came with the car. Remember that there must have been hoses that went from the pump to the box and they had to have screwed in to it somewhere, so I would look to see if there are any plugs in the box (or evidence of pipes or hoses). The same goes for the air conditioning. I believe a good portion of it SHOULD still exist. Along with the compressor I believe there is a part that looks like a miniature radiator, there is a "muffler" which is stamped aluminum, and then there is some kind of interconnection with the heater/cooling coil. That with some wiring and the cooling controls from the console. If you can contact the seller maybe it would help save some of the investigative work you will have to do to find out what is there and what is not. I wouldn't think he scrapped these parts unless he pulled them off thinking to use them on another application or to sell separately.

good luck, hope this helps!
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MET

Good luck with her.This place has serpentine kits,march performance, try the link and give them a call if you like there stuff.I dont know if I can do this but www.marchperformance.com