Man that fitting is not fitting

 

The one crusty fitting! Lol my wire brush was wore out. I'll get a new one and get after it. Can't have an ugly fitting can we?

 

That was amusing.

 

In one of your pics it looks like a bullet went through the firewall?

 

This car is becoming quite the masterpiece! I second gmonsen.

 

I think that's a bolt hole.

 

Hey man thanks for the compliment!

 

Surly not on such I fine masterpiece

 

This. New plastic is key.

 

its all in fun. Anyways I know if it was me I would like to have someone egg me on

 

I agree to both parties, over all I did a good job but I could have paid closer attention and cleaned up the fittings a little better.

Have no fear, I can resolve this minor over sight.

 

Looks good!

Looks like there could be a little overspray where the AC lines attach to the compressor. Make sure that the spot where the O-ring seats is clean and paint-free or the O-ring might not seal. Also, you don't want paint deeper in there, it could break down and get loose in the refrigerant.

You may also want to replace the compressor oil while it's out and easy to get to.

Dale

 

Dale,
All good points, I didn't know there was oil in the compressor. I will look into that, happy to swap oil and freshen it up as much as possible.

There is just a small amount of over spray. It's not down on the oil ring seal, I don't think I'll have any issues but I can easily wipe it out with some thinner.

 

PM me if you need any assistance getting your AC functioning properly.

i did a LOT of research (and talked to the SpeedOfLight guy on here who is a total badass) and got mine working very well on R152A and PAG.

 

Sorry to thread jack but why r152a?

 

because it was $9 at walmart and it got very cold, even with the wrong expansion valve.

 

I will definitely take you up on that if need be. How and where do I swap out this compressor oil?

 

if your car is a 93 (i think 94 as well) if probably has ester oil in it, which is the oil required for R12. you can just take the compressor off and spin it by hand to drain most of the oil out of the ports where the lines bolt to it.

i purchased one of the PAG "oil charge" cans from autozone and just charged it into the system in between adding cans of refrigerant to the system. i think i actually used about 1 and 1/2 3oz cans because i think 4-6oz of pag oil was required (cant remember off the top of my head)

i think a lot of people just pour the oil straight into the compressor before installing it, then turn it by hand a few times to get it to circulate, but i tried this and locked up my compressor and FUBAR'd it. the oil charge can worked great (after i purchased another compressor).

anyway, a R134-style expansion valve, all new o-rings for the ac lines, and some air duster cans from walmart (as long as they say diflouroethane on them) --3 pack was $9 for me here-- and you should be good to go. this is as long as you're otherwise prepared to charge the AC (with the gauges and vac pump, which i rented from autozone) it was actually a fun little project.

 

If i was you i would check to see how much oil is supposed to be in the system. There is a certain spec for amount of oil and also how much refrigerant should be in the system. Now normally when you do a nee compressor you evacuated the a/c and the machine will tell you how much refer it took out and how much oil it drained. Then you have to drain the compressor into a cup and measure how much oil came out of it.

When reinstalling the new compressor put the same amount of oil that you took out of the old one. And then when you recharge the a/c you can add the rest of how much came out before. Then add the correct amount of refer.

 

i did check it at the time and put the correct amount in.

 

What's this R134 style expansion valve you speak of? I did get all new O rings.

The oil and charging was another thing I haven't really thought through fully yet. Ray at PFS just said he could get it set up for me so I didn't think it through. If I can do it all myself I don't see what I wouldn't though.

Doing so many things at once with this car it's kind of like, you get the big parts of the work out lined then I just fill in the details as I work forward.

 

Had the day off so I took advantage of the free time and I dropped the engine back in. Only scratched the paint in one small spot on the firewall. Dropped it in solo in about 20 min.









Then I went for a bike ride...

 

nice update!!! that must be a good feeling dropping that engine in there after all that work


look at expansion valves on rockauto for the FD. the just sell ones for R12 and for R134A. R12 and R134A refrigerants expand at different rates, and whoever makes the valves has two different versions to match the refrigerant you're using. i think the big aftermarket brand is called Four Seasons.

anyway, R152A (aka diflouroethane aka keyboard air duster) is very similar to R134A molecularly, so they expand at almost the same rate.

i used R152A in my system with the wrong valve (the R12 valve) which shouldn't work as well, and it got cold enough to cycle the compressor on/off when it was 90*F+ outside here. sitting at an idle after heatsoaking in a parking lot the vent temps would be ~45-50*F, which isnt terrible. while cruising the temps would get to (i think) about 38*F (or whatever temp the thermostat kicks off at) and the compressor would cycle OFF.

 

It was nice to at least get the engine back in the car. It's been almost a year and a half since I pulled it at the beginning of this thread. But I still have to wait on the intercooler kit which might delay things. I just paid all my taxes and now I'm broke. We'll see what kind of business shakes down the pipe in the next month.

I was assuming I could just reassemble the compressor and ac components and let Ray Wilson charge and oil the system. I'm gathering that I need to oil it before starting the engine now though? Or at least not hit the AC button until it is oil.

I'll look into the expansion valves you mention etc.