Need replacement ac compressor for 78 280Z

[furypilot]

Hi

My stock 280Z ac compressor died. I had the car converted to R134 last year. It did not cool as well as the r12. The compressor died and I am thinking that maybe a newer technology compressor and receiver dryer is the way to go that was designed for R134. Is there a newer technology more efficient compressor and receiver dryer that someone might suggest I use from a newer car that will bolt in with no changes or maybe very minor changes?

Thanks Fury Pilot

[rossiz]

great topic - can i shamelessly piggyback onto this, and broaden it a little?

my 78 280 doesn't have a/c and i was wondering if anyone has come up with an efficient, modern retrofit, maybe something from another small car that could drop in? i'd run it in the summer and pull the belt off in the cooler months, wire in a switch in the dash and have it be otherwise invisible.

[SteveJ]

great topic - can i shamelessly piggyback onto this, and broaden it a little?

my 78 280 doesn't have a/c and i was wondering if anyone has come up with an efficient, modern retrofit, maybe something from another small car that could drop in? i'd run it in the summer and pull the belt off in the cooler months, wire in a switch in the dash and have it be otherwise invisible.

Your basic options are to pull an aftermarket system out of an old Z or go with Vintage Air. Drop in? No. Invisible? No. Expect a generic aftermarket system to eat up a lot of the passenger footwell. You can craft a Vintage Air system that will take up less space. It will cost more, though.

[FastWoman]

Vintageair is for American vehicles, at least if you want a true retrofit design. I checked their site, and they don't have anything for the Z, so the best you could do is to buy generic components. It would be nice if they did, though. I installed a Vintageair A/C in my '66 Mustang, and it was a very nice retrofit. Maybe if we pestered them about it, they'd branch off into Japanese cars.

[SteveJ]

Several people have opted for Vintage Air in their Z cars. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22vintage+air%22+site%3Aclassiczcars.com&oq=%22vintage+air%22+site%3Aclassiczcars.com&aqs=chrome..69i57.9412j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

It will work nicely if you want to put in the effort.

[furypilot]

I just need a compressor everything else if fine-are there new compressors that would just bolt in?

[furypilot]

How about any body out there with a good used compressor?

[hr369]

how do you know the compressor is bad?

these old hitachi's are pretty tough. however, the quickest

way to kill one is to starve it of oil.

when you put in r134 did you have a shop do it or did you use one of those "kits" ?

the newer more efficient variable displacement compressors

have serpentine belts and to convert your pulley(s) to match

would be difficult.

the best way to get more efficiency is to add a universal

parallel type condenser which requires making new hoses

which is not a bad idea if you're still running the original hoses

from 1978.

Edited May 2, 2014 by hr369