rbartick

I ordered a Smart VOV for my 1985 from acsource.com. I ordered the standard duty non-cross part#1502002 because that is what http://www.acsource.com/cgi-bin/Soft...7009+994593544
and
http://www.aircondition.com/vov/application.htm
said fits a GM evap mount orifice.

I am looking at my stock orifice and the Smart VOV side by side and they look a lot different. I included three pictures taken at different positions below. The stock orifice has a screen on the bottom of it and the VOV does not. The VOV is much longer than the stock orifice, but the upper screen is shorter.

The instructions that came with the VOV say I am supposed to cut off two of the white tabs to match the tabs on my stock orifice.

http://www.aircondition.com/vov/install.htm

Which tabs am I supposed to trim off. I cannot match up the tubes because they are quite different.

Is this thing gonna fit? Which white tabs do I need to trim, the upper tabs or the lower tabs?

Help is appreciated!

--rb--





[This message has been edited by rbartick (edited 07-30-2001).]

Romeo Barrera

Ross, looking at my removed evaporator on my basket case, you can see that there are crimps in place on the orifice tube housing that act as a stop for the flange below the second o-ring. The top tabs both line up, they're just 90 degrees out of phase with each other, so the middle tabs look like they should be the ones you should remove. A simple test you can try is to insert the old orifice tube (make sure it's squeaky clean) and make note of the distance from your flange. Next insert your new VOV tube and I bet it won't go all the way down with those middle tabs in place.

rbartick

Does my Smart VOV look like the proper orifice for my car? They say that you are supposed to match them up by looking at the bottom of it, but they look nothing alike.

Romeo Barrera

The smart VOV isn't going to look anything remotely the same as your original at the bottom. Your original is a simple orifice tube with no moving parts. The VOV is a mechanical valve with moving parts. The only thing that's going to look similar are the top half where the filter is. How much did you pay for your VOV btw?

rbartick

>The smart VOV isn't going
>to look anything remotely the same
>as your original at the bottom.

To quote the instruction manual:

"Also verify the black tip configuration matches that of the removed orifice; this will be either a "cross stop" as shown in illustration 3, or a "non-cross stop" as shown in illustrations 1 and 2"

The instruction manual can be seen here:
http://www.aircondition.com/vov/install.htm


>How much did you pay for your VOV btw?

I bought it in August 2000 and I paid $19.95 from www.acsource.com. I think they raised the price to about $22.

Are you using the VOV in your car?

Romeo Barrera

Ross, I've never seen a stock GM orifice tube that looks like the VOV you've bought. It's a completely new design. I couldn't use the VOV in my daily driver because I wasn't going to let my ex drive my 2 year old daughter in 95+ degree heat for too long, I had to fix fast and it would have taken weeks to order the VOV.

rbartick

I just spoke with a tech at Nartron (manufacturer of the VOV) and they said the the VOV will not fit certain mid 80s Chevy vehicles. They have heard that the VOV is too long for some Chevys and the tip of it hits the bend in the evaporator inlet.

Has anyone successfully installed one of these in a 85 Vette?

Hendej

Here is a link to a prior discussion of the VOV-

http://www.corvetteforum.cc/ubb/Foru...ML/007503.html

Ross - I was planning to order one. If it turns out not to fit the mid '80's vette, then many thanks for saving me time and effort on this!

Ron78Z&66Vette

I just converted my 85 over to 134 last week. My old orifice valve and my new "smart valve" look identical to your pictures. I didn't remove any of the tabs from the new one. The tube that the valve fits in is somewhat crimped on mine also. The new valve fit in just fine. We've gotten to 100 degrees here and the A/C's been doing its job for me.

rbartick

I finished flushing the system and put the VOV in. It fit perfectly. I pulled 30" of vacuum for about 45 minutes and then charged 3 12oz cans of R134a. The car blows cold air out of the vents. It is certainly blowing as cold as my late model R134a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I am pretty sure it is blowing about as cold as it did with R12.

--rb--