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The AC system consists of many extra pieces that are not on the non ac equipped cars. You will have to find all the tubing in good shape, evaporator core that is installed into the dash - not sure if the dash changed or it can plug right in, but any plugs in the firewall will have to be removed and or changed with parts that should be on the lines inbound. Also, the condenser and fan setup will change as likely base models do not have the second fan and possibly do not have the harness with fuse block, etc all wired in. You would need to find all that, and get it running just to confirm if the compressor is good, clutch is working properly and the wiring has no issues whatsoever. Yes, you would be removing the dash assembly to get a new HVAC control panel in there also. Radiator should be a full length - side to side version and not the half width also. For all the hassle, I would buy another car and if the motor and transmission in your car were better, I would swap them between the two and sell the unwanted car. You would save a ton of time and hassle. As I age, I tend to err on the side of caution versus time wasted.
Thank you, you confirmed my suspicion that it's going to be way too much work to try to add the original a/c. However, i'm curious to hear your opinion on the universal underdash a/c system that I linked in the comment above. If I install it myself, I think i can did it done for around $400.