on the other hand, it does have the factory-style plastic plug on the blower motor that is shaped so that it can't be plugged in backwards. I did not touch the wiring on this unit, so it's not likely to be wrong. (if I had, all bets would be off) Still the test takes less than a minute to do... so I'll probably do it anyway. I like eliminating variables in the equation up front so if everything isn't perfect, I'm not starting from scratch on diagnostics.

Looks like you made some serious progress, Nathan!

I forgot to mention previously that I ran the power wire up & next to the refrigerant hose on the right side of the engine bay, since it is fairly near the starter, and then went down the right side & back pannels of the engine bay - wire routing is neat and tidy that way (doubt you needed a suggestion regarding wire routing, however).

Also, using the starter lug as a power source was first suggested to me by another member, JFairman. He's a really knowledgeable and helpful guy that posts primarily in the Turbo forum, but sometimes in the a/c threads over here - I had originally taken power from the rear fuse panel, was having phantom electrical problem with my K-Jet Lambda, and he noted that pulling amperage from that fuse block to power the fan could be contributing to the problem and suggested I move it to the starter (where he wired his umpteen years ago).

If you have the stomach for it, a small search on AC in this forum will show you that wwest hijacks every single AC thread with his nonsense and offering of solutions to problems that don't exist, while actively attempting to steer folks away from stuff that just plain works.

Do contact the moderators to report his behavior.

Bench testing....sure, but...

Plugged into the car wiring harness to be sure.

Props to JFairman as well. Not to completely side track, but sometimes my heater blower shuts off when I turn on the headlights. Similar problem in the same area, and yes, I've read about the reed switch (if I recall the term correctly) in the heater relay. Maybe I'll fix that when it's cold as s#!t this winter. :)

Tonight my last bit of hose arrived in the mail so I promptly went out and cut it to length and crimped fittings on the ends. Also installed replacement flex duct that will connect the Evap Box to the rest of the ducting. Next step is to is run the hose and install the Evap box.

I noticed. I've been thinking about this project for years and have read all the posts. I'm Not taking it too seriously. One has to know how to separate the wheat from the chaff, right?

If the voltage getting to the blower motor drops to low the motor current flow will not be high enough to activate the reed relay.

Check the fuse/wire connections for excessive voltage drop, middle fuse in the engine compartment. A weak cell in the battery will often have this effect but usually only at low RPMs

Make sure your charging system is in good order and if the battery is past its prime....

It's only a problem in the winter, and when it's dark.

Yesterday I installed my last hose From the evaporator to the compressor while reinstalling the evaporator box. There she is, snug as a bug in a rug.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436665153.jpg

Today I reinstalled the compressor and connected everything. I'm still waiting for nostalgic ac to send me the correct hi side 134a service port adapter. I thought I should try using the low side port to draw a vacuum to check for gross leaks.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436665361.jpg

And, indeed, I had such a leak. Scratched my head for a bit. I went and dug out a spray bottle and filled it with soapy water. Figured out a way to connect an air line to my yellow hose. Got about 90 psi on it and commenced to squirting.

Pretty soon I noticed I could actually HEAR the leak, which lead me to the front left wheel well. There was a gale of air coming from one of the RD fittings. Ironically, I left the old RD in place because I wanted to do this check before installing the new one. When I hooked it up, I had left out an o-ring! That was easily fixed. I disconnected the compressed air and hooked up my vac pump and ran it for a minute or two. I'm going to let it sit overnight to see what happens, but so far it's held vacuum for several hours.

Hopefully I'll he a chance to work on it some more tomorrow.

Thermostatic switch capillary tube doesn't take kindly to being bent that tightly..

You're getting there! Have you decided what to use to insulate the smuggler's box? Or age you going to do that? Hope your part arrives and you can have cold AC by next weekend!

Air is not a great thing to pressurize with. Moisture in the air going into the system will be drawn into PAG oil as it is very hygroscopic. The oil will not give up this moisture on pull down (evacuation).

I know that having the proper tools to leak check are not widely available and leak checking with refrigerant is not legal. O2 to pressurize would lead to an explosive situation and compressed air could do as well.

Perhaps a good solution is to have a portable air tank filled with nitrogen from a tire shop.
Inert and hopefully dry. Much safer.

A small amount of trace gas in a new system and add nitrogen to pressurize. Leak check with a sniffer and/or soap.

Existing systems usually have enough residual refrigerant after service to utilize as a trace gas.

Glad you found your leak. A tight system = no snakes! Ssssssssssssssss!

There can't be much of the original oil left in there. All the components were either replaced or flushed, except the compressor, which was allowed to drain into a pan while exposed to air for several weeks already. Not worrying about it.

Compressed air was available to this DIYer, no spare N cylinders laying around.

RD was replaced after the blow out.

It's not bent that tightly. It was aligned that way when I found it, btw. And, bonus, it appears to still be working! Not worrying about it.

I still want do this, but today I got on a roll putting things in order, and I reinstalled the stereo amp that blocks access to the smugglers box. Doh!

Chances are, I'll be back in there soon, then I'll insulate it. Something's bound to go wrong when I charge the system.

Btw, thanks for the positive comments!

Today's work: system held vacuum overnight. Applied slight charge of 134a to bring up to slight positive pressure, then installed new RD from our host.

Lesson learned, to remove RD completely release hose clamps. DO NOT remove flat bar bracket instead, as screws were held in by loose bolts behind tub panel and promptly fell out when screws were backed out. Resolved with mollies and oversized sheet metal screws.

Once RD installed, drew a vacuum and disconnected gauges.

Also ops-checked new fans. The new griffiths Evap blower motor is, indeed, noticeably stronger than the factory unit. Sorry no CFM measurements.

At first my new condenser fan didn't come on. Had to scratch my head and poke around with my meter For a while before I realized what I had done. The new relay harness had the same wire colors that the wiring diagram and I ASSUMED the wires had the same terminal connections as in the diagram. That was not the case, but figured it out and corrected it.


Once that was sorted, I set about to put things back in order. Here a pic of my new condenser fan relay.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436743773.jpg

Also, I painted and installed my patented NathanAir Stoneguard.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436744063.jpg

In place

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436744145.jpg

Your probably wondering if I powder coated that myself...

By the end of the day, I had all the miscellaneous bits and pieces in place and was able to return the car to the garage floor on her own wheels. Now I just need a high side service port adapter and I'm ready to charge.

Does anyone remember how much 134a Karl (discseven) put In his system?

I'm surprised none of you caught me in this mistake. Today I called Nostalgic AC and they explained the port in the picture measuring 3/8ths is the binary switch port, not the service port. Doh! I just wish they had replied to my email a week ago...

Plus this resolves the fitment issue since the actual correct port rotates...

Karl put 26 oz exactly.

I did, but if you go back to the first few pages of this thread Charlie gives a tip on how not to. Having it out helped me visualize that space better, but putting it back in was a serious PITA. And I've done it before. somehow I managed to break both hoses that go to the vapor recovery pod just above the tank. Another trip to Napa and I was ok.

Wow, not much at all. Thanks George!

BTW, When the two hoses are routed over the bumper shock where there is a sort of channel in the body (might have come like this from the factory) road debris gets packed in there and promotes rust. Keep the channel clear so it can drain.

I had a ton of dirt packed up In that area, it's out now.

Nathan, it beckons, bro! :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436845434.jpg


PS - good deal about the fitting (even though you had it all along), and really sweet progress overall!

PSS - I learned from Griff after doing it (when he saw this picture last year), that mummifying the expansion valve is not necessary, even though they often came that way from Porsche (like my original one did).

Nathan, can you give me an idea of how much hose you used? Would 25 foot rolls of #6 and #8 be enough, with a single length of #10 as needed? I know every setup is different, but it'll give me an idea if 25 is far too much or far too little.

That bottle of oil I sent you? Whatever is not in it is how much I put in my system. I didn't have the extra condenser, but the desert-duty front condenser and extra hose lengths for the procooler required a bit more.

Thank God for galvanizing.

Mike,

I'm going to go back and check all my orders and get back to you... More to follow. I do have notes.

If you have existing hoses, I highly recommend removing all of them and figure out everything you need and order it once. I spent a lot of time waiting for additional orders to come in, which was frustrating.

Cheers,
Nathan

Charging starting in 20 minutes!!!! By then the vac pump will have run 4 hours.

First attempt at charging was, unfortunately, unsuccessful.

Things were progressing ok, I think, then the o-ring on the binary pressure switch blew out.

I did capture some P&T data

OAT = 85F at beginning of test
Static charge = 80 psi

Before the big blowout,

Hi = 250 psi
Lo = 65
Vent T = 55F
Charge weight = 17.2 oz

Note: I didn't have the deck lid closed or a box fan blowing on the car. Next time...

Will post pic of o-ring, not sure what to do about it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1437365920.jpg



Argh. When I installed this switch, if I over tightened it, the o-ring would squish out the side. I'm not sure what else to do with it.

Nathan, does the boss (the hole) that the switch screws into have a groove in it to accept an O-ring? If not, what you see there is exactly what happens. I ran into that problem (no groove) with my home built setup, so used a tiny copper washer instead - worked perfectly.

If it does have a goove for the o-ring, and it is squishing out like that, then the o-ring must not be the correct size (either too large of a diameter, or to "thick").

Mike,

I originally planned to delete the decklid condenser but changed my mind once I started. so I have some extra #8 hose but here are my original estimates

Comp to R.Cond = 7' of #8 (I'm guessing I used roughly 5')
R. Cond to F. Cond 11' of #6
F. cond to R/D 5' of #6
R/D to Evap 3'4" of #6
Evap to Comp 13' of #10

Excellent, I did some rough measuring for mine (which is different with the underbelly condenser) but things like the 13 ft of #10 is most helpful. Everything you have from the front condenser on is the same on mine, so that gives me some clear measurements for 60% of the system.

Where did you buy your fittings from? I have 12 fittings to buy, and have sourced them for anywhere from $35 to $85 (same fittings, often the same part number!). huge markups with some companies, which I'd be fine with if they had spectacular service as well.

A/C Compressor and A C Compressor from AC Parts was by FAR the cheapest, but they might be crap service...

Ronnie,

No groove for o ring. Copper washer sounds like a good idea. Hardware store item?

Thanks a ton. I was out of ideas.

Cheers,
Nathan

I bought half of my stuff from acsource.com and half from nostalgic ac. Both gave good service, but not perfect. Prices were similar. I also found a surprising amount of stuff from my local NAPA, which saved one weekend... No clear difference in quality, sometimes one had what wanted and the other didn't.