1974 914 2.0 AC Question

[cameroncole]

I received a call this week from a woman who said she had a 914 for sale and was givcen my number from a friend.

I took a look - everything there - has not run in 14 years - very little rust, etc.... . Nice restorable 2.0.

My question: Whoever installed the ac unit put it up front, cut the suspension pan, and placed some internals (evaporator) in a galvanized box. I have never seen this - so I thought I would check the board to see if other variations exist.

I have bought the car and will probably remove the the under dash ac. Unless it works - the damage has been done.

Has anyone seen this before?

Frank

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I'm not sure what the "suspension pan" is. However, all of the ACs were dealer installed (though a few were done by the owner of the car). The installations generally involve a lot of cutting for various components--the front trunk floor gets a hole cut, the right-side engine tin and engine shelf get cut, and so on.

VPC and DPD were the two companies that made the kits that were installed. They look somewhat different--one has a molded plastic cover going over the condensor in the front trunk, while the other has a large metal box.

It sounds like yours is one of the latter.

--DD

[cameroncole]

Thanks Dave.

Mine is the DPD.

Putting it on the hook today to drag it back home.

Has anyone had success reviving these units? Or do most people remove them and repair the trunk floor?

Frank

[Scrappy]

The evaporator coil (in car) and condenser coil (in front trunk) don't really go bad unless a hole is punched in them.

What does go bad:

The compressor(age)
The reciever/drier (if air is allowed into system)
The hoses (age)
The capillary expansion valve(rarely)

A lot of A/C shops can make the hoses and have replacement parts (compressor, capillary exp valve, reciever/dryer). Just depends upon how much ya wanna spend.

At the same time, you might as well get a rotary compressor and change the system over to R134A. R12 is really expensive.