My 73 2.0 has the engine / tranny out for rebuild and I noticed two holes in the engine bay. The car originally came with AC but I've decided not to include it in the rebuild.

Are these two holes in the bay for the AC hoses? If so, should I have them welded or just covered with large rubber grommets? I imagine there are two more in the firewall that will also need attention.

Thanks for your advice in advance!

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Funny I’m working on my ac hoses tonight and they absolutely go through those holes. Your call how you want to cover them.

Thanks for the info JD...

Not a big fan of the dealer installed units (they look out of place in the interior) but would like to keep the option of adding a decent AC later on. I think I'll plug the holes with large grommets for now instead of welding them.

JC

Those may be for AC hoses, but usually the engine shelf has a big rectangular section cut out on the forward passenger side to clear the old monstrous York compressor. I don't see that cut-out in the photo.

I think that cutout is on the engine tin. Mine was.

I agree that the hoses go through those holes.

AC removal left a large chunk of the shelve missing on my car. Hose holes everywhere.

Mine has a chunk cut out of shelf as well for the compressor. They also took the battery mount out and made it removable.

That's where my AC holes are.

Had trouble finding panel plugs that would fit and ended up using these to plug up all the large AC hose holes.

https://www.mcmaster.com/9600k521

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certainly AC hose holes