75 280z AC condensor

[Dave WM]

AC stopped working, no Freon left, leaked out thru the old condenser, so todays project was to fix that.

remove the air filter (pita) the rubber boot was the hardest part of it, trying to get it off. I ended up undoing it at the AFM and snaking the boot out the hole in the rad support.

After I got it out I decided to go ahead and get that booger off, them put some soap on it to make it easy to re install. Put that a side and on to the 4 bolts that hold the cond/rad (same bolts).

loosen the connection at the condenser, the one on the driver side requires un bolting the AFM  and moving it aside (leave wire harness on). use a some open end (22/24)  stubby wrenchs let me got that off. the passenger was different one was smaller, the on to the drier. Got the all disconnected, removed the condenser from the front no need to remove hood btw.

drier was easy, loosed the screw that clamps it, un hook the high pressure switch, remove. The switch was sealed with Teflon tape, so I did the same more on that later.

installed the new OE condenser and new drier (yes the hard to find one), put some oil on the flange fittings and bolted all back up.

Pull a vacuum and it will not hold, darn. Break out the Nitrogen and pressurize it to about 120 psi, get out the handy soap water pump sprayer and go over everything. Darn switch at the drier.

so I tighten it more than I thought needed and if finally stopped making bubbles. Going to let it sit overnite. If it leaks I think I will use some thread locker blue and see if that makes for a better sealant on those threads. Frankly I did not think any sealer should be needed (this is only on the switch not the flange types on the actual hoses, those are just oiled with some AC ref oil).

We will see if it holds if so off to a shop for the Freon (R12). after removing the old condenser I saw several oily spots. Hope it all goes well, been a hot winter so far, tired of sweating out rides.

 

couple hrs later, has not budged, I bumped it up to about 160psi. I much prefer using pressure to check for leaks vs pulling a vacuum.

 

 

Edited February 13, 2017 by Dave WM

[S30Driver]

Nice job Dave.   I restored my factory AC to operational condition last fall.  On the drier, one of the copper connector tangs was broken that switches the compressor on & off, I did a temporary repair but would like to replace the drier anyway.   Where did you find yours?

Did you do a youtube video of your AC work?  I enjoy watching your videos.

[Dave WM]

I did not do a video I thought about it, but its pretty hard to do it when sweating and bleeding. It was SO hot yesterday, yuck. I know folks up north are fighting cold but man its been a hot winter down here. I will prob shoot a bit with my setup on it and how I look for leaks. I got the drier from a local AC shop, Ice cold auto air. I called and they wanted 50 bucks, when I got there to get it they said they made a mistake, 75.. The person at the desk was prob not used to people buying parts. I paid them the 75 anyway, as they cant really be found.

the box sas "Gilmore Products" which I looked into, its a wholesale outfit local here in Orlando, but they only sell to shops, no retail. Don't know if they have any more, I could never get that far. My plan is to keep the old one, there is a place in tampa that will cut them open and replace the drying part. IIRC it was about 75-100$ for that service. I did get a cheapo one the has flare fittings up high for the inlet, but I don't think my high pressure cut off would screw in. That's a better fix long term, I even have the copper tube that works with that style, but just did not want to mess with sourcing a new switch and mess with installing the new tube.

What would be real nice is if I can get the old one cut open and threaded so its rebuildable with out having to cut and weld.

[Dave WM]

went out to start a video and ran out of memory on the chip

anyway the pressure had dropped about 10psi overnite, so I got the soap water out again and this time noted the leak was around the hose connection to the port on the compressor. duh always check the hoses. I got another hose on it now, no more bubbles (the were very fine before, I prob just did not look hard enough the 1st time. Anyway will let set for the rest of the day and see if that gets it done.

number one rule, make sure you equipment is functioning properly before getting too deep into diagnosis.

Edited February 13, 2017 by Dave WM

[Captain Obvious]

I've got my dash out for the off season working on the Escort heater core install. But one of the other things I'm going to start on is adding A/C. I'm going to put the evaporator in this time before I put the dash back into place. That'll be my first step. I'll be going through the exact same thing you are in the future.

I know I don't need it like you do, but I want A/C. I'm going to have a bunch of questions about parts availability...

[Dave WM]

Hopefully you can find a complete donor, all the solenoids etc... lots of little pieces. Do you have the thermostat line that sticks inside the evap coils? would be good to get that in as well while you have it apart.

[Dave WM]

video summary

 

[Dave WM]

One more thing, I have a 33318 according to the spec sheets both it and the 33286 have the 3/8 flare fitting and a 1/4 female service port, I did not bother to try and swap in the 33318 since I had the 33286 BUT, seems like the way to go. I have the hard line from a later model that has the top flare for the drier inlet.

 

33286

nlet Fit	3/8"
Inlet Fit Note	Male Flare
Outlet Fit	3/8"
Outlet Fit Note	Male Flare
Dimensions	8" Lg. x 2-3/4" O.D.
Outside Diameter Inches	2-3/4"
Body Length	8"
Fuse Plug	w/ Fuse Plug
Sight Glass	w/ Sight Glass
Sight Glass	Yes
Switch/Service Port	1/4" Female(1), Sightglass, Fuse Plug
33318 Brand: Four Seasons Part Number: 33318 AAIA Part Type Description: A/C Receiver Drier Body Length: 8-1/2" Dimensions: 8-1/2" Lg. x 2-1/2" O.D. Inlet Fit: 3/8" Inlet Fit Note: Male Flare Marketing Description - 2000: Contains high quality XH9 desiccant 2-7101, 11621561 Outlet Fit: 3/8" Outlet Fit Note: Male Flare Outside Diameter Inches: 2-1/2" Sight Glass: Yes Stock Status: S Switch/Service Port: 1/4" Female   get a 33318 of ebay all day delivered for about 15$

Edited February 13, 2017 by Dave WM

[Dave WM]

 

[Dave WM]

no drop in pressure at all, so I think I have a sealed system, including the manifold hookup. I used my oil injector and put about 1oz in the suction side, then hand spun the compressor to make sure it gets moved around. Tomorrow I will pull a vacuum and see how well that holds. Looking good so far. Not sure about this but there was ZERO oil in the condenser and the drier. I presume the drier could be hard to tell if oil was in there but I would have thought the condenser would have had some. I have read that you should dump the oil out of those parts, measure, and replace.

[Captain Obvious]

23 hours ago, Dave WM said:

Do you have the thermostat line that sticks inside the evap coils? would be good to get that in as well while you have it apart.

I've got the whole system from my old 74 and my goal is to adapt that to my 77. I don't know what differences there were from year to year, but I'm hoping there weren't significant changes from 74 to 77.

I think my evaporator has a little copper line coming off it. Is that the thermostat you're talking about? I don't have any pics of this stuff, but I'll try to snap some when I get a chance.

My thinking on my system install is that about the only stock parts I really really need is the evaporator expansion valve stuff and the condenser. Those are the things that are highly physically fit intensive and finding alternatives would be a real pain. I'm thinking that mounting a compressor from a different car is a bracket making exercise that I can handle. And the controls part is also something that I don't think needs to be stock. I don't plan to use the whole vacuum controlled stock system. I'm planning to stick with my manual control system and have a separate way to turn the system on.

Of course, I only know enough about HVAC to be dangerous...

[Captain Obvious]

Your leak detect efforts sound like they're working great. Holding vacuum undisturbed overnight is the litmus test my HVAC buddy goes by as well. Good luck with that step.