James B

Hey guys, I was thinking about replacing my A6 compressor with a sanden unit because it takes up less power and is lighter weight.

I do not have any experience with car air conditioning and I was just wondering what is required to hook up the lines to the Sanden compressor.

Do I use the factory hoses or do I go to an AC shop to get custom ones made?

Thanks for the info.

James

zwede

Your typical Sanden requires custom lines that any AC shop can make for you. You'll like the Sanden. Light weight, frees up a ton of space.

0Willcox Corvette

Zwede is 100 percent correct!

You can have the lines made up, here we have a place called Rinky Dink's that will make these up on demand. I'm pretty sure and if you would have asked this four months ago, I'd know for sure... You can not use the old hoses and adapter a new fitting to the ends, the new compressor hose fitting is a different size.

You'll love the new compressor and besides being lighter it will function at a higher capacity. If you are going to 134 Freon, I would suggest you try to find a replacement condenser too. The old tube and fin condenser your car has is made for R12 and if you really want it to work good and flow, a newer later model 134 designed condenser should be hunted down.

I'm not aware of anyone that makes this style condenser as a factory bolt on replacement, but you should be able to search out a AC shop and talk with them about this in more detail.

Good Luck. IMHO

Willcox Inc.

chvet73

I had an a/c shop make custom hoses. I converted to 134. Wilcox is correct mine did not cool well until I puin a new crossflow condensor. Now it will freeze you out.

SanDiegoPaul

How to mount it to the engine? Is there a kit that will allow the pulleys to line up in the same place?

fauxrs

inquiring minds want to know

markdtn

Yes, there are brackets that can be bought that line it up like the original. You could also convert to an (89?-91) C4 serpentine system and use a Nippendenso compressor. It uses a more stock line system, but still not a direct bolt-up.

Paul L

Is there any company that will sell me a direct conversion from A6 with compressor, hoses, and brackets (stockish, non-serpentine)?

markdtn

http://www.hotrodair.com/index.cfm/p...rod/prd105.htm

they don't list them separately, but maybe if you ask.

http://www.vintageair.com/catalog09/...talog%2061.pdf

maybe too. I know they are out there.

Paul L

I have known of those two companies for some time but they seem to cater to complete conversions. But I agree: it does not hurt to ask. Thanks.

HamadUP

I converted my stock A/C to a Sanden 508 compressor and parallel flow condenser from Vintge Air, the condenser came in a kit which contains the condenser with its mounting brackets, a new dryer, a safety switch and some hard lines all for $199 and the compressor was another $199, then a $100 or so for the custom compressor's bracket, another $100 for the custom hoses, at the end I found it would be more cost effective if I went with a complete Vintage Air direct fit package instead!

Talking about how cool is it now, FAR better than stock!

Paul L

Thanks! Not quite what I expected. Just buy the whole kit and throw away most of the retrofit guts??

HamadUP

Believe me, when ever I look at the big, ugly stock evaporator box, that's taking almost 1/4th of the engine compartment space, I almost want to kick myself for not going with a full VA kit before I spent close to $700 in parts!

BTW, Ecklers has a modern A6 compressor replacement which is half the weight and much more effeicent, and it uses the same brackets and line sockets as the original A6, but you still need to have a parallel flow condenser if you'll retrofit to R134a.

http://www.ecklers.com/product.asp?p...8&dept_id=1184

tigers123

Classic auto air offers what you are looking for. Scroll down on this page, it will show you the kit

http://www.classicautoair.com/Corvet..._Chevy_AC.html

chvet73

Alan Grove makes the brackets. I'm almost positive he supplies everyone who sells them. I got them direct from him.

http://www.alangrovecomponents.com/

James B

Thanks for the replies!

I will be converting to R134a and I had planned to use the stock condenser as I have recently bought a new one from AC delco and installed it on the car. My plans were to run the early 90s camaro serpentine kit from GM performance. I have read that the compressors from that kit are not as good as the Sanden compressors, so I was just going to swap them out.

Now my main concern is that my stock condenser is not going to be correct. Where can I find the correct condenser. How is the correct condenser for R134a different from the original R12 condenser? Is the cross sectional area for the R134a tubes smaller?

Thanks again for yalls help!

tigers123

http://www.ackits.com/c/Parallel/Par...+Aluminum.html

Your welcome

James B

One more question:

Did you have any issues with your VIR system? Mine has been unhooked since I bought the car. I have seen the "kit" for the VIR which looks like it consists of some o rings and charcoal....I may be opening another can of worms when inquiring about this.

tigers123

Couldn't tell you about that as I went with the hot rod air. By the time I priced everything to fix mine it was just cheaper to go that route.

chvet73

I would recommend the condensor kit HamadUP refers to. I put my own together and it cost a little less but was alot more work. Mine never cooled well until I changed the condensor.
I also got rid of the VIR. You can get a kit to do that. But what I did was to get an '82 evaporator, accumulator and orifice tube. It pretty much bolts righr in. he acccumulator system is much simpler and more efficient then the VIR.