mrvette

Fought a thick radiator install in my '72 vert for the last 2 daze....and I had to remove the damn a/c condenser which is OEM to the car....so it's all tired as me, and full of similar dents, and all bent outta shape on the fins....

trying to look on up at various sites, and finding no listing Rock Auto, OReilly's, NAPA....nada....nothing


SO, I been running 134 freon forever since I have owned the car....22 years now, have a serp drive off a '88-94 vette on it, comp all nice and plumbed in correctly.....system cools well enough.....BUT this is want to replace it due to the plumbing on the newer 134 condensers is different than the old 12 units...

SO, anyone know what to use for replacement???

what car?? anyone BTDT this before???

71VetteLover

I use ordinary Walmart nylon combs to straighten bent radiator and condenser fins. Just cut the comb in half and use the closest matching end (usually the coarse end) as a rake to firmly drag over the bent fins and PRESTO..........they look as good as new (almost anyway). Also radiator shops use "radiator combs" that come in different teeth spacing to match the fin spacing of most radiators and you can buy them thru E-Bay pretty cheap. But I use nylon combs instead because they're so dirt cheap and often found lying in parking lots.

BLUE1972

Ricks Corvette or one of the others have replacement condensers.

You could order one from Vintage air or Old Air...

OR do what we did as kids = measure the opening and go to a junk - salvage yard...

mrvette

I went and bought a Vintage Air condenser.....and it fits the install just great...problem IS....the plumbing/hose hookups is a real PIA....

the largest issue seems to be the fitting from the condenser to the receiver/drier , it's a #6 fitting with a MALE nut on it and a O ring on the line.....can't seem to find one anywhere so I cut the old one off...and am trying to get a connection to the pipe into the damn new condenser.....the couplings I have already to fit the new condenser are not the issue, the damn issue is to mate them couplings to the old plumbing.....

DAMNIT!!!!

BLUE1972

I would contact Vintage Air or a local A/C shop - they should be able to make you a connection to finish your install.

Don't give up , it's the little things that drive you nuts...

mrvette

Well, not a whole lot of long range hope, but a bit, it IS winter.....what passes for chilly weather in NORTH Florida, anyway....so I left it hooked up at 54 lbs overnight, and it cooled down some 30f anyway, and so the gauge went down to ~42 lbs by this am.....setting in the garage....so for a ambient drop of maybe 30f....the pressure dropped about 12 lbs....

sniffer found nothing leaking....hell with it, I went to fire the system up this AM and it's maybe 45f out there....and so it did not want to suck up a whole lot more 134.....I got pissed and backed the car out to avoid the exhaust and then noted the sunlight seemed to make the system take more....probably more engine heat...BUT I got impatient and heated bottom of the freon can with a propane torch...while shaking it around...and sure enough the system pressure increased a good bit....so it went up to the 60-80 lbs region....so I shut it down and let it go for now....will see in a few daze.....

the CRAP I faced in hooking up this Vintage Air condenser is just ASStounding, and as I look at their site, they never show the required fitting to the stock receiver/dryer oh well, find out by next spring.....

bastards.....

:wi lly: