what are the things to look for to determine if my oem condensor is OK?

 

from what I understand the OEM ones are very poor in function and you are better off upgrading to a newer style crossflow type.

Sully

 

Will take that into consideration - thanks

 

Does it have a hole in it? Was it leaking when you took it off?

 

I switched to a parallel flow unit. It is less restrictive than my old one. I tested by blowing into it...sure enough, it flows easier.

 

Your orig. cond. may well be operational. That's the good news. The bad news is that sone 30+ years have passed & your old tube&fin cond. dosen't hold a candle to the newer cond. Will yours wrk?- probanly yes. Willit perform as well as the newer designs? no. If you live i MI it probably dosen't matter much. If you live in the South it makes a world of diff. Heres a quote fro the Vintage Air wewbsite on cond. "The importance of this unique new micro tube design & its improved reliability cannot be overemphasized...provides up to 40% more capacity than a comparably sized tube & fin cond." Also says on another website they dissipate much more heat. On top of that they make one that is almost a drop in tor a c-3 vette (requires different fittings probably- did on mine.) So if you're serious about air conditioning it at least deserves some study on your part. Look at it this way- if you choose to upgrade the ac/heat in your home do you go with a high efficiency heat pump or do you look for a NOS unit like the one you have? If you are a Corvette "purist" you are in a bad situation because they don't make a replacement cond. that is a high efficiency unit. If you're sticking with R-12 the orig. cond will deliver just what it did when it was new provided the rest of the system was also brought uo to fact. spec. That's the long & the short of it. Thanks for hearing me out. I don't sell auto. ac units but I just replaced my entire factory unit with an Old Air Hurricane unit this past summer & my vent temps went from 58 degrees to 43-45 degrees. If people are spending $300 or more to bring down cabin temps & they are also looking at ac upgrades then changing the cond. (& the compressor to a Sanden unit) just makes sense. just my 25 cents. lonebull

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. I will look into the Hurricane unit. My AC wasn't functioning correctly when I started this resto in 2008. I think it was (at least) because that the "muffler" tube was leaking because it wasn't a 1 piece unit and was held on with a worm clamp. Local shop previously did a evac and recharge and the AC worked till the end of the season. It was just for 2 months (this was prior to 2008) then it went into winter storage and it didn't work the next year. I went back to the shop and the guy told me it was probably because of the worm gear attachment leaking. He sorta put the blaim on me. I told him that he should have mentioned that I needed another hose before charging me $300 for AC repair that probably wouldn't hold out. I now know better to return to him for AC work - this "mechanic" was eventially fired from the shop. I don't want a R12 unit. I'd rather have a 134 (or is there something now even better?). I figured I need a new condensor - in fact, I (probably) need everything new. I'd rather "bite the bullet" now, get it done right, and not worry about it. Thanks again for the info.

 

I've done some posting on this but others have gone into the ac swap in a lot more detail than I have- just do some "ac swap" searches or similar wording & you should find a lot of info. I still have trouble posting photos but I could email you some if you get into it. I had a small tank radiator & the condenser laid right in- had to fab attachments &flat pcs. to force air into the cond. & rad. It's hard to see in the pics but it looks good. The Hurricane unit is pictured on the website with dimensions-it's like a rectangular box wiyh the fan on the end the vent tubes across the top- easy to make a cardboard box identical to the dimensions in order to see what it would look like. Most go with the Vintage Air but I have used both over the yrs. & decided on the Hurr. I won't lie to you it's a big job just getting the oem box out & the ducts are a pain too. The Hurricane unit hangs a little low but looks fine &there is NO toe cove issues. Would be glad to disvuss it if you decide to do it . PM me for pictures with your email. I had a low mileage oem unit but it just wasn't cutting it- not enough airflow- notlow enough temps at the vent. lonebull