Finally Got A/C in the '77!! Yipppeeeeee!
05-06-2004, 08:32 PM
#1
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Finally Got A/C in the '77!! Yipppeeeeee!
OK, so it may not be a big deal to most, but because this has been my daily driver for quite a while now and will remain so for the forseeable future (plus temps are starting to rise here in Houston), the fact that the '77 finally has A/C is a pretty big deal to me. We took it out today in almost 90 deg. heat through stop and go traffic for about an hour, and it stayed cool inside and never even came close to overheating. Man, what a relief!
At this point, I'm pretty much done with the car from a functional standpoint. Most everything works properly except the cruise control and a few minor details. So now I have to change gears and head on to some other projects while I take care of those minor details on the shark as time presents itself.
Special thanks to John Reyna (not on CF much, but a C3 brother for sure), who turned me on to the shadetree mechanic (and I say that with utmost respect since I'm one myself) who put the final touch to the beast and cooled that ol' dog down for Demi and I.
Cheers, everyone! :party:
W
PS. I'm planning on taking the '72 off the web site soon and update it with the '77. Will let everyone know when I do.
[Modified by Wendell Allen, 6:53 AM 5/7/2004]
At this point, I'm pretty much done with the car from a functional standpoint. Most everything works properly except the cruise control and a few minor details. So now I have to change gears and head on to some other projects while I take care of those minor details on the shark as time presents itself.
Special thanks to John Reyna (not on CF much, but a C3 brother for sure), who turned me on to the shadetree mechanic (and I say that with utmost respect since I'm one myself) who put the final touch to the beast and cooled that ol' dog down for Demi and I.
Cheers, everyone! :party:
W
PS. I'm planning on taking the '72 off the web site soon and update it with the '77. Will let everyone know when I do.
[Modified by Wendell Allen, 6:53 AM 5/7/2004]
05-06-2004, 09:57 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
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St. Jude Donor '10
Re: Finally Got A/C in the '77!! Yipppeeeeee! (Wendell Allen)
:D Just curious which compressor you're using. Mine has the stock, flat one, it cools but, nothing to bragg about. Please let me know what all you did.
Thanks!!
Dan
:cheers:
Thanks!!
Dan
:cheers:
05-06-2004, 11:16 PM
#4
Melting Slicks
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St. Jude Donor '09
Re: Finally Got A/C in the '77!! Yipppeeeeee! (Wendell Allen)
Im very interested in everything you did to the car to bring it up to par as well, someone took all the a/c and I would like to install it back into the car. Dallas isnt a cool spot either!
---Chris
---Chris
05-07-2004, 02:00 PM
#5
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Re: Finally Got A/C in the '77!! Yipppeeeeee! (Wendell Allen)
Hi guys! Here's the skinny on what I did. Although I did a lot of work to accomplish this, I'll try to keep the description as brief as I can. OK, maybe not, but here goes anyway.
1) I went with an R12 replacement called Freeze 12. Lots of people who have never used this product strongly advised against it. However, two people I know who have personally used it said it works very well. I chose Freeze 12 mostly because being unemployed, I really need to keep cost down, and not having to buy new hoses as I would have needed to do with R134 was a big savings. On the down side, if you don't do all the work yourself, you'll have a harder time finding someone to do the Freeze 12 thing for you. It can be done fairly easily, but you have to find them since they probably won't find you. I found two who do just by word of mouth.
2) I was having a problem with my blower motor, so I got a new one and made sure it worked properly on all speeds. This involved a reconditioning of the hi speed relay since mine had long ago frozen up.
3) I verified that all the flaps in the air box work correctly. And they're vacuum operated. This was a major PITA, as a previous owner had screwed things up in this department. It basically involved taking the dash pretty much completely apart and verifying, with a "Mighty Vac" hand pump that every line and diaphram in the system from the switch onward worked properly. Then I made sure that the vacuum source from the engine worked up to the switch. I all this together by (with the dash still out, the A/C switch hooked up, and the compressor disconnected) starting the engine and running the flaps through their paces with the switch. The way I knew where the flaps should be is because I bought the factory assembly manual, which has a page for this. A little common sense will work just fine though.
4) I bought a new accumulator and expansion tube filter and installed them.
5) I bought a new A/C O-ring kit from my local Chevy dealer and changed out all the O-rings in the system except those in the evaporator. The reason I skipped this is because it takes an act of congress to get at it, so I decided to take a chance without them.
6) I bought a kit from Freeze 12 at their online store that contained everything I needed to charge the system. The cost, with freight, was about $63.00.
7) I bought one of those cheapie vacuum pumps from a popular tool retailer, who shall go unnamed. And this is where my final problem began. The pump wouldn't draw the system down past 20 pounds of vacuum, and I needed 28-30, with an extra 15 minutes of vacuuming after that point was reached. I threw a can of oil charge in just to have some pressure so I could test the connections in the system for leaks via the bubble method, which just involved applying a soapy solution to them to check for bubbles. I also checked the gage set this way. No leaks. Deduction said that it's probably the pump. So I checked the system pressure with the engine off and the A/C not running and let it sit over night. I rechecked the pressure the next morning, and it was the same, telling me that my system didn't have any leaks.
8) At this point I decided to consult a professional, and I took the car to the guy that Reyna recommended. And for $65.00, he drew the system down and completely charged it. It's been blowing cold ever since.
Frankly, if I had to do it all over again, the only part I'd have left out was buying the on line kit. If I wouldn't have done that, this whole job would have only been about $125.00.
Note that there some steps that I skipped becuase of the status of my system when I got it. What you have to do will probably be at least a little different because of where your system is at right now. Also, I'd advise learning a little about these systems up front. Snap-On makes an excellent training manual for ASE certification that only runs about $35.00.
The bottom line is that I have A/C for less than $200.00 including the kit I really didn't use and the Snap-On manual. Considering I have about two freakin' grand in my Mercedes' A/C system, that's a deal I'll take any day. These systems really aren't hard to pick up though. If you know that all your air box flaps work right, that's half the battle right there. Just replace the O-rings, accumulator, and expansion tube filter, and you're ready to take it to someone to have it charged. Or try it yourself if you have the equipment and inclination.
Cheers!
W
1) I went with an R12 replacement called Freeze 12. Lots of people who have never used this product strongly advised against it. However, two people I know who have personally used it said it works very well. I chose Freeze 12 mostly because being unemployed, I really need to keep cost down, and not having to buy new hoses as I would have needed to do with R134 was a big savings. On the down side, if you don't do all the work yourself, you'll have a harder time finding someone to do the Freeze 12 thing for you. It can be done fairly easily, but you have to find them since they probably won't find you. I found two who do just by word of mouth.
2) I was having a problem with my blower motor, so I got a new one and made sure it worked properly on all speeds. This involved a reconditioning of the hi speed relay since mine had long ago frozen up.
3) I verified that all the flaps in the air box work correctly. And they're vacuum operated. This was a major PITA, as a previous owner had screwed things up in this department. It basically involved taking the dash pretty much completely apart and verifying, with a "Mighty Vac" hand pump that every line and diaphram in the system from the switch onward worked properly. Then I made sure that the vacuum source from the engine worked up to the switch. I all this together by (with the dash still out, the A/C switch hooked up, and the compressor disconnected) starting the engine and running the flaps through their paces with the switch. The way I knew where the flaps should be is because I bought the factory assembly manual, which has a page for this. A little common sense will work just fine though.
4) I bought a new accumulator and expansion tube filter and installed them.
5) I bought a new A/C O-ring kit from my local Chevy dealer and changed out all the O-rings in the system except those in the evaporator. The reason I skipped this is because it takes an act of congress to get at it, so I decided to take a chance without them.
6) I bought a kit from Freeze 12 at their online store that contained everything I needed to charge the system. The cost, with freight, was about $63.00.
7) I bought one of those cheapie vacuum pumps from a popular tool retailer, who shall go unnamed. And this is where my final problem began. The pump wouldn't draw the system down past 20 pounds of vacuum, and I needed 28-30, with an extra 15 minutes of vacuuming after that point was reached. I threw a can of oil charge in just to have some pressure so I could test the connections in the system for leaks via the bubble method, which just involved applying a soapy solution to them to check for bubbles. I also checked the gage set this way. No leaks. Deduction said that it's probably the pump. So I checked the system pressure with the engine off and the A/C not running and let it sit over night. I rechecked the pressure the next morning, and it was the same, telling me that my system didn't have any leaks.
8) At this point I decided to consult a professional, and I took the car to the guy that Reyna recommended. And for $65.00, he drew the system down and completely charged it. It's been blowing cold ever since.
Frankly, if I had to do it all over again, the only part I'd have left out was buying the on line kit. If I wouldn't have done that, this whole job would have only been about $125.00.
Note that there some steps that I skipped becuase of the status of my system when I got it. What you have to do will probably be at least a little different because of where your system is at right now. Also, I'd advise learning a little about these systems up front. Snap-On makes an excellent training manual for ASE certification that only runs about $35.00.
The bottom line is that I have A/C for less than $200.00 including the kit I really didn't use and the Snap-On manual. Considering I have about two freakin' grand in my Mercedes' A/C system, that's a deal I'll take any day. These systems really aren't hard to pick up though. If you know that all your air box flaps work right, that's half the battle right there. Just replace the O-rings, accumulator, and expansion tube filter, and you're ready to take it to someone to have it charged. Or try it yourself if you have the equipment and inclination.
Cheers!
W
05-07-2004, 03:32 PM
#6
Melting Slicks
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Re: Finally Got A/C in the '77!! Yipppeeeeee! (Wendell Allen)
the fact that the '77 finally has A/C is a pretty big deal to me.
