Outlier

Anybody need an original evaporator with expansion valve? Since I replaced it, it was obviously leaking, but perhaps you could use parts from it to repair yours? If so, let me know.

I have found a solution to my receiver drier dilemma. I'm hoping this might help others with their challenges as well. I read through 50-60 pages of the Four Seasons catalog of Receiver Driers looking for ones that had 3/8 male flared inputs and outputs, and a 1/4 female O-ring switch port. I found three of them. The first one 33286, although the catalog says it has a 1/4 switch port, it turns out to be bigger than that. I ordered the second and third ones at Autozone and chose the better fit of the two. Here are the specs on these. 33309 This unit comes with a compatible low pressure switch installed. It was $52 at Autozone. It could work, but it was about 3 inches taller than the original one. I returned it. 33318 This unit is of comparable size and has the correct switch port to fit the aftermarket switch I bought. It is slightly smaller in diameter than the stock one so I lined the mounting bracket with foam tape (see photo). Price? about $17 at Autozone. Plus switch 35758 (about $5) and harness connector 37219 (about $10), this is a winning combination. This is certainly better than the exact fit from Motorsports ($339). Datsun 280z's of this vintage used at least three different receiver-driers. The combination I describe should work well if your unit has both input and output on the top, coming off the neck. If yours has the input mid canister you might be better off with a 33286. I also replaced my condenser with a Silla C8060 (http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/details/QQNissanQQ280ZQQSillaQQA-fs-C_CondenserQQ19751978QQSILLAC8060.html) about $65 shipped. It fit perfectly and was easy to swap. I replaced my evaporator with expansion valve with the unit from Motorsports (http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SAC08) about $209. This took a long time to get, so call them to verify they have it. Changing this did not require removing the entire dash. The instructions are in the factory service manual on pages AC-33 through AC-35. It is time consuming, but I chose to remove all of the duct work and clean it and make new foam seals for every piece. My foam seals were in really bad shape (think powder and sticky goo). Doing this made everything seal better and consequently airflow is greatly improved. The evaporator and expansion valve itself was "close" to being a good fit. This means I had to tweak and re-tweak the copper lines to make them fit up and connect properly, but eventually I got there. All this took this amateur about 13 hours over three days. Here are photos of my receiver drier setup. The first one shows my original receiver-drier and the 33318 with the switch installed. The next one shows the foam tape in the mounting bracket. The third one shows the harness connector which I spliced into the original plug. the fourth shows the entire assembly and the fifth is the receiver drier installed.

I appreciate the thought. Nylog is the type of thread goop the A/C shop used that didn't hold. The epoxy route was a waste of time as well. I heard from Four Seasons today and apparently they have an error in their catalog cross reference for the switch port size. They also do not have a low pressure switch with that thread size. Back to the drawing board.

I got a new four seasons pressure switch (35758) which is supposed to be compatible with their receiver drier (33286). The receiver drier switch port is 1/2" and the pressure switch is 3/8" so that won't work at all. At this point I figured if I can't seal what I have, then I will need to replace the receiver-drier and pressure switch again, so I bought some metallic epoxy putty and wrapped the joint thoroughly. It is holding for now, but time will tell if it is actually a solution or not. I'll keep you posted.

I installed the four seasons receiver drier last weekend and re-used the existing pressure switch. Yesterday I took it to the A/C shop where the evacuated the system, added oil and charged it with R12. The pressure switch leaked around the threads as the pressure came up so they sucked back out the r12 and put thread goop on the pressure switch and tried again. This time it sealed. This morning it is leaking again at the pressure switch so I'm going to get an aftermarket one with an O ring seal and begin again. I'm getting tired of buying R12 at $100/pound. I will share what I learn.

Out of curiosity, which 280zx drier did you use? Did you need to modify the lines running to and from it? Were you able to use the existing pressure switch or a new/different one? Thanks.

OK. I was following down additional leads on an evaporator this week and one showed up on my front porch. Really. I had ordered one from Motorsports last December (http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SAC08) but it was back-ordered with no telling when (or if) it would come in. Well it was Christmas in July and it came with an new expansion valve as well (at $179, though it is $209 now). With about 11 hours of work over 3 days it is installed. Following the Datsun service manual instructions I was able to do the work without removing the dashboard. I did find that all of the foam seals on the duct work had deteriorated to dust and goo. I took the time to clean each piece thoroughly and replace the foam seals throughout. The evaporator and expansion valve fit fairly well, though I did need to reshape the copper tubing to match. Now I need to find a compatible receiver-drier and then I will get the system evacuated and charged. There are three receiver-drier configurations and mine is the one hardest to find. Of course Motorsports has it in stock for $339 (too rich for me). Finally, I did find one other source for the evaporators. AMC in Graham, Texas (http://www.marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/default.aspx?sfid=75198) has them listed. I've seen other posts from people who have used theirs. I feel like I made good progress this week on the car and I hope to drive it more this summer.

I've checked out the sources from this post and found that they don't currently have the Evaporator and expansion valve. Does anyone have some other possible sources? Thanks.