Air Conditioning - one piece at a time.

[poboyjo65]

I already have the underdash unit which is the evaporator & controls. so that lets out buying a complete kit. There are underhood kits which I was tempted to order for about $540 which is Vintage air thru summit & it has;
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sdk- ... /overview/
condenser
compressor
dryer
expansion valve
low freon switch
hoses & fittings kit

You cut hoses to fit then carry to a parts house & have the fittings crimped on.

buying it piece at a time makes it not as rude to the wallet all at once. Mounting the compressor may be tricky on mine & couldnt see a good pic of their bracket so I'll make one.
another thing that got me about the underhood kit was it had a sanden ''style'' compressor. I wanted a REAL sanden so I ordered one from jegs for 200$.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Vintage-Air/960/0 ... A/10002/-1
I found a condenser & dryer for 125$ Still doing measuring & calculating but leaning on this one, which is more narrow than the hole but the rock guard wont except one bigger without mods so leaning towards this one right now;
https://nostalgicac.com/14-x-20-superfl ... unted.html
I may come out cheaper than the kit, or not much more than one. I guess I'll find out.


editing in what I ended up buying from page 5 of this thread;
sanden compressor......................200.00
16x18 condenser..........................85.00
shorty drier................................21.00
expansion valve...........................16.00
u bend em hard lines.....................40.00
o ring fittings [4]..........................30.00
flare fittings [2]...........................11.00
rubber hoses...............................35.00
cork tape...................................19.00
freon switch & pigtail.....................12.50
shipping......................................46.50
flushing canister.............................38.00
*flush..........................................20.00 *[there is an aerosol flush that would save the cost of the canister @ part stores]
__________________________________________
...............................................574.00


I also spent 162.00 on pulleys & 20.00 on an idler pulley that I needed because of my setup & lack of room. I may have found these cheaper by getting something from a junkyard but I went with a billet underdrive set up that I kinda wanted anyway.

[lavron]

buying it piece at a time makes it not as rude to the wallet all at once.

I thought I had a monopoly on that process. You really have to buy from as many different places as you can, mix used and new parts, etc

Looking forward to seeing this progress.

See Ya,
Mike

[vicegrip]

If you find that some stuff you bought absolutely wont work,check out these guys...

https://coldhose.com/

[Lip Ripper]

Classic Auto air is good to work with too.

SW

[poboyjo65]

Hey thanks guys! It's nice to have multiple sources! Visegrip I'm hoping I don't buy anything that wont work but that link seems to have good prices. That was one of the reasons I didn't want a kit. I hate to buy a kit that don't fit, then still have to buy more parts. My application may not be entirely like a factory set up. & I hate to change stuff I have already worked hard to make work just to make kit parts work , so this was another factor that swayed my decision to piece a system together. The problem with most of the big aftermarket venders is their sites don't have single pieces/parts advertised. I guess they had rather sell you a kit. Most of them I cant even find a comp bracket on their sites.Maybe they are ashamed of their outrageous prices for single parts. Or I may be looking at the wrong places but it seems like if they are gonna sell something they would throw it out there to see. people want to see what they are getting now days, not a representation, & we don't want to call to see if they have it.

some other tidbits;
u bend em hard lines;
https://www.summitracing.com/search/bra ... rant-lines
sanden style comp dimensions-
http://www.topstreetperformance.com/med ... nsions.pdf
diagrams-
https://www.google.com/search?q=car+ac+ ... 67&bih=746

[Jims65cyclone]

OK, John. I'm bookmarking this one and will follow with interest. One of these days this will come up on my list, too.
Jim

[popscomet]

THE more I read about AC,in a comet the more I kick myself for removing mine yrs ago....I still have it all,,my question is,,will the unit slide back under the dash to clear my factory 4spd shifter??

[poboyjo65]

THE more I read about AC,in a comet the more I kick myself for removing mine yrs ago....I still have it all,,my question is,,will the unit slide back under the dash to clear my factory 4spd shifter??

I would guess not Pop, without changing something. You couldn't get ac & a 4 sp from factory,I'm guessing because of shifter interference . but maybe with a different shifter . Or move the under dash unit forward or down or both. but you could set it in,stacked up on some books or something & find out! then report back!

Jim I didn't know what section to put this in . Mike if you want to move it you can.

buying it piece at a time makes it not as rude to the wallet all at once.

I thought I had a monopoly on that process. You really have to buy from as many different places as you can, mix used and new parts, etc
Mike

No I'm an old member of that club. one thing you gotta watch when getting parts at different places is shipping can add up quick. I got it free on the compressor so that helped. the link that Visegrip put up seems about the cheapest on most of the rest of parts but they dont seem to have expansion valves, but I may get that at oreilys or order from the link I put up depending on price.

[popscomet]

WELL for sure I do not want to change shifter,,might be able to slide it to pass 's side just off center just to clear shifter.....or might just forget the whole idea ,beings the comet isn't driven a lot or for very long trips......I got to find all the AC stuff 1st.....I kept it all,but have misplaced it....best I recall the unit was in very nice shape and it was a factory mercury piece...thanks POP

[comethead]

Hey Johnnie NPD sells pieces and parts. Looks like they have a comp bracket made for Borgeson conversions to clear the PS pump.
https://www.npdlink.com/store/catalog/M ... 153-1.html

Pop I believe I read that the factory would slide the underdash unit to the right on a 4 speed car to clear the shifter. In fact there might be holes already there for the different mounting position.

Joe

[lavron]

Jim I didn't know what section to put this in . Mike if you want to move it you can.

Not sure where it would go either, I had talked about adding an interior section, maybe that would be appropriate?

Until I make up my mind I think it is fine here

No I'm an old member of that club. one thing you gotta watch when getting parts at different places is shipping can add up quick.

I like to poke around the JY for stuff, but true on the shipping anytime I can find that free that is what I try to go for, usually they want me to spend $100 for free shipping so you know what I do while I am there

See Ya,
Mike

[poboyjo65]

Some or most used parts are risky on an AC system. condensers for instance, some have multiple passages, so there is no way of cleaning them out. compressors are a big gamble even if they turn. any system that has been open for any length of time probably has moisture in it, which is another big enemy. a used dryer is a flat out no no. I have cleaned out evaporators & used all the other parts new & had success, that's as big of a gamble as I'm willing to take. & I will flush it over & over. first with pure grain alcohol then AC flush. I think I may even see if I can fill it up with the PGA & let it sit over night, then flush it. any contamination can ruin a compressor, condenser & dryer.

here is the flush canister I plan to order.(free shipping ) my buddy that I use to borrow one from died a few years ago so I'll cough up the cheese. there was one 3 bucks cheaper but he had some bad feedback.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-C-AC-Air-Cond ... SwVL1WDxDV
I'll wait a few days in case a cheaper one pops up.

[lavron]

I am probably going to buy a pre-engineered kit unless learn something from you guys I really don't want the under dash unit and the case on my heater needs replaced anyway as well as my cowl vents just need to be covered over, so I thought I would try and take care of everything with one fell swoop, and big cash I don't have , I will follow your trials however and decide what I will end up doing.

AC is the one luxury I am going to put on the Comet because if I ever get it on the road (or even work on it) I want to drive the wheels off. Plus my wife won't ride without it, at least that is what she told me, I don't know we never had AC in cars when I was a kid/young man and we survived.

See Ya,
Mike

[poboyjo65]

OK the first big obstacle was the belts & lack of room with my thicker rad in an already cramped engine bay. I tried to address this when I put in the motor, which is a 70's truck motor,timing cover/pulleys & brackets. on the truck if equipped with AC it would get a 3 groove crank pulley & the ac ran on the groove in front. well the longer pulley stuck out too much & I had interference with the fan. I would have converted to a serpentine belt but all of the set ups that I could find with just one serp belt had a reverse rotation w pump. the ones that had reg rotation but had a 2 serp belts & yep a douple crank pulley which would not work for me because of lack of space. to change pump rotation would in all likely hood need to change timing cover,w pump ,f pump & no telling what else & still might be another dead end road.

So the only thing I felt I could do without major effort is run the ac & ps on the same belt. so after making mounts I noticed the w pump, which was also ran by this belt didn't have much belt wrap on it's pulley now. So I thought if I had a double w pump pulley I could run the alt belt to help drive the w pump. so I found a double pulley laying around off of who knows what, but before I could try it I noticed the pump pulley that was on it was overlapped by the outer crank pulley, so a double wpump pulley would interfere with the crank pulley & even if it didn't the belts would be different speeds from the different sized crank pulleys & both couldn't run on a double w pump pulley at different speeds. So Now I know I need a smaller crank double pulley with both same size & a double w pump pulley. Ford may have made such a set up but finding them would be hard so I looked at the expensive aluminum underdrive pulleys & decided to gamble & ordered these;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Billet-Aluminum ... -c&vxp=mtr
even though the w pump crank pulley is smaller, the driven pulley is too so it might not be underdriven by much , but the alt had the big 8'' drive pulley on the crank & now it is 5.4'' so I'm hoping it will still charge enough.
a few pics


hood clearance with hood closed. I was afraid the snorkel of the hood would interfere like it did with my monte carlo bar that had to be lowered. but it's good!first pic I couldn't hardly see so I put a pc of 2 wide tape on the other side on the compressor to reflect the flash, it worked!

I decided to put an adjuster idler pulley on for 2 ways to adjust, the PS also has adjustment, but it is way down there, & this way I can angle the ps pumps dipstick exactly where I want it since it is getting crowded in here.

[Comechero65]

I would like add some info to help with putting together an ac system. I read some incorrect info here and hopefully i can help with some knowledge on ac systems as i have a fair amount experience in ac systems (one of my fields of expertise). I could be of assistance in some of the technicalities of ac sytems. But there are some on here who think I speak wrong info and don't know what I'm talking about, maybe I should just continue to be only in the background reading the posts and let you guys struggle along and do things the hard way. Since ac has been a big part of my lifes work it is hard to keep quiet.
Have been reading the posts for some time but have kept quiet as I have felt not welcome here. So I spend time other places helping others who actually care what I have to say.
Ron