Dash/AC question

[BullnoseSooner]

I have an 83 F150. Center dash says XLT, but I'm guessing someone put that in as a replacement for the original. I've looked online but haven't been able to figure this out. Truck does have an AC compressor but it looks obviously shot. Has controls for AC. However, it only has vents on the drivers side. No vents for passenger. Seems odd to me. So, my questions would be A. is this an XL and XL only came with drivers vents? B. is it possible to add vents to the passenger side?

[Gary Lewis]

The level of the truck, meaning base, XL, XLT, or Lariat had nothing to do with A/C since it was an option - with one exception.  At least in '85 the Explorer Package D came with A/C.  But none of the other trucks.

The driver's side is easy to put vents on, just by changing out the instrument bezel.  But they won't connect to anything unless the rest of the HVAC duct work is in the dash.

However, if there aren't vents on the passenger's side then then truck probably didn't come from the factory with A/C.  I say "probably" as it is possible someone swapped a non-A/C dash in.

Instead, I'll bet your truck came with dealer-installed A/C.  There were several different models of that, but some of them had under-dash vents.

The real question is what is under the hood.  If you gave us a shot of the area of the firewall on the passenger's side, from the engine out to the hood hinge, we might be able to tell you what you have.  That's 'cause the firewall for a factory A/C truck is different from a non-A/C truck.  So the A/C plenum for dealer-installed air is different from factory air.  The illustration below shows a factory A/C system: