[DZAUTO]

I'm completely rebuilding the AC system on the conv. So I'm going to clean and paint all the brackets and the compressor.
Does anyone know what the CORRECT shade of black should be, gloss, semi-gloss, satin? As I recall, Gloss black is not correct, although I admit, it looks nice.

 

[Les Saville]

Tom, I did mine with a satin black powder coat and they look correct to me.

 

[Coppertop]

Tom,

I certainly don't have a show car, but I was really happy with the outcome of using Rustoleum Satin Black (#7777) in the spray can--a suggestion I read about here on this board. It looks correct and seems to hold up well, even under engine heat.

I didn't use primer, just cleaned, sanded and sprayed.

BTW, I may have to pick your brain later. I need to (but put it off) rebuild my '70's A/C system. I have all the original parts, but it leaks so I had it evacuated for later.

I want to keep the R-12 and factory look.

 

[DZAUTO]

Joe,
Several months ago, one of the guys here was stripping out a 71 to make a drag car out of it, and he was going to toss the AC system. It was up for grabs so I told him to send it to me and I'd pay the shipping. He did and I did.
I sent the entire firewall mounted to Classic Air in Tampa, Fla per the recommendation of several guys here. They totally rebuilt the unit, replated the parts, did a repair on the fiberglass box and shipped it back. A couple of years ago, I bought a hose assembly from Hinshaws at Chevellabration. I got a flush kit to flush out the remainder of the system (condenser and remaining hose. The compressor was in good shape. I now have the firewall unit swapped out and the compressor/brackets painted and installed. It's starting to look good.
The unit can be removed without completely removing the right inner fender, but I took it off any way to clean it up and do some touch up painting on it. I also removed the heater hoses to make everything more accessable.
Here's the rebuilt firewall unit with the POA, expansion valve and evaporator core rebuilt (the core had a leak), new hardware, box repaired and refinished.

Here's the compressor and brackets cleaned up and painted. I have a set of decals ordered from Hinshaws. Tomorrow I'll try to get the inner fender installed and some of the remaining parts put back on. I'm taking my time and taking it easy------------not rushing anything.

Once I finish the installation, get it charged up and cooling, I'll let you know how it cools.

 

[Dean]

I used satin black on mine and it looks pretty original to me.

Joe, you evacuated the system and left it in a vacuum? If so, that was a bad thing to do as it just sucks in more contaminants. Better to add a lb or so of anything for a positive pressure and disconnect the pulley clutch wires.

If there is a leak (which there almost always is) evacuating is a wast of time and effort anyway and especially with a vacuum sucking back through the compressor shaft seal.

 

[LeoP]

Tom, your fuel line looks a little kinky.

 

[DZAUTO]

Tom, your fuel line looks a little kinky.

I have a 3/8 tubing bender, but 3/8 steel tubing just doesn't make tight bends very well, and I didn't want to use hose. But, the air cleaner conceals it.

 

[LeoP]

I hear ya on the hose, I recently acquired a 80 Indy Hauler Pickup that has a 402 in it and had a bunch of hose from the fuel pump to the carb, LMC truck had the correct line which is in place now.

 

[Coppertop]

I used satin black on mine and it looks pretty original to me.

Joe, you evacuated the system and left it in a vacuum? If so, that was a bad thing to do as it just sucks in more contaminants. Better to add a lb or so of anything for a positive pressure and disconnect the pulley clutch wires.

If there is a leak (which there almost always is) evacuating is a wast of time and effort anyway and especially with a vacuum sucking back through the compressor shaft seal.

Great

Looks like once again I goofed. Here's the deal though Dean; the darn thing was leaking the oil that is in the system. It was leaking out of the front of the compressor seal and dripping onto the power steering components. It was also leaking at the hose connection into the "box" on the firewall. Leaking onto my nice new inner fender and A-arm dust shield. Screwed up the rubber on the dust shield

So how bad am I off now??? I wanted to do this later (the car is at the body shop getting painted). I figured I'm looking at $2k to restore the system to factory and couldn't afford that $ to be put in an A/C system at this point, not to mention the down-time. I wanted this car back on the road.

Can the components be restored? The seal on the compressor is bad. The hoses leak. I'm gonna say the POAST or POA or whatever valve probably needs rebuilt.

I wanted the stock look since I have all the original parts. I don't like R-134A as you have to start changing the under hood look. It was made for R-12, so darn, I'll pay to have that put back in.

 

[DZAUTO]

Joe,
I sent the entire AC box to Classic air with the evap coil, POA valve (POA- Pilot Operated Absolute valve), expansion valve and misc attached parts. They rebuilt/restored the POA, expansion valves, repaired the evap coil and did some fiberglass repair to the box itself then refinished the box (as seen above). I bought a new dryer and had them include all new O-rings. The entire pkg, including shipping was under $800. About 2yrs ago at Chevellabration, I bought a new main hose assembly from Hinshaws for about $150. My compressor was in good shape because the car came from up north, so I'm guessing the AC wasn't used much. I also went to O'Reillys and bought a new blower motor (about $35) since I had the system out, because the blower motor is difficult to access once everything is re-installed. Since the compressor and clutch seemed to be in such good shape, I saw no need to mess with it. So my grand total for a rebuilt R12 air cond system was under $1000. Of course, if a compressor rebuild was necessary, it could put it up over that.
I did all the removal and install and vacuum and charging myself, so there was no labor charges. I have a couple of 30lb bottles of R12 that I bought years ago, so I have plenty of R12 for the future. :thumbsup: