My 1968 Mustang Rustang

[Tiggie]

To move forward, one must move backward.



Tried with just the grille out but couldn't get enough access.

So the lower valance came off which wasn't THAT bad. I just do not like playing with painted visible parts.



Leak was the upper of the two fittings here. The lower one was also loose but not leaking to my knowledge. Tightened both up. I managed to slightly reduce the diameter of the tube between the two fittings when wrangling with this before taking the lower valance off.

Wondering about the drier since it was not sealed. It came preassembled with the condenser but apparently wasn't that sealed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gadget73]

not much to be done for it now, but if you vacuumed it for a good long while it'll get most of the residual moisture out.

[clutch47]

Nice work. You've really got a nice car there man.
Did I read in an earlier post that your next car is going to be a '64 Comet 202 Wagon?
With a teardrop hood and original looking mini-tubs and steel wheels with hubcaps all around?

[Tiggie]

Nice work. You've really got a nice car there man.
Did I read in an earlier post that your next car is going to be a '64 Comet 202 Wagon?
With a teardrop hood and original looking mini-tubs and steel wheels with hubcaps all around?

I would like that!!! But I have absolutely no space left. The 88 is at my dads house. I have six cars in a space designed for four, plus one behind the shop!

Old Air Products sent me a new drier. The old one was still leaking at the fitting after tightening it. I installed it today. Vacuumed it down but it wouldn't hold. 30 inch to 25 in a few minutes. Small leak somewhere still.

I didn't want to lose any more of the "good" refrigerant and hope to spot an oil leak. The sniffer doesn't work with hydrocarbons. So I put some 134a in there just so I can use the sniffer. Didn't run the compressor and don't plan to. Great Google says the mineral oil shouldn't have a problem with the 134a as long as a vent the gas after leak diagnosis, vacuum it again, and don't expect to actually run it that way.

To be continued...

[clutch47]

I have a serious weakness for '64 Comets of any form. It still amazes me to think about cars of that era on 14 inch bias-ply tires.
How did ANYONE survive?

I'm watching this thread in hopes to be inspired to figure out an A/C plan for my Merc.

[jaywish]

'A man has got to know his limitations.'

[Mainemantom]

Clutch 47: You could always use a stock ford under dash AC unit for that year. Our 64 Falcon had it. Under the hood the plumbing could be upgraded to the newer compressor. If the thin look under the dash is what you are looking for, the 70's Pinto and maybe others had a dealer installed unit that bolted under the dash. Maybe 3 inches wide. The controls were knobs on the unit.

[Tiggie]

The A/C saga continues.

The new drier leaked at the same place, so Old Air Products sent me the small tube and fittings that go between the condenser and drier. I installed that today.

I looked around and found the bottom of the compressor had some oil, which I had found previously and cleaned. The service manual for the compressor says that some oil weeping is okay and "should not be considered a leak". I wanted to check the torque on the compressor cylinder head to be sure. I had to remove the hoses to do that. I did find a couple that were not fully tight. When reinstalling the low side service valve, the threads gave up con the compressor head. There are plenty of threads there, but the o-ring to rotalok converter part causes only three threads to engage.

I just ordered new service fittings that will do away with the o-ring to rotalok thing, as well as the R12 to R134a conversion fittings. They aren't valves, so I can no longer service the compressor separately from the system. Hopefully I won't have to, and hopefully these new fittings will grab more of the threads.

[Tiggie]

Still waiting on the fittings to get the A/C right again. Supposed to be here tomorrow.

I put the spare in the trunk on Sunday and the car squatted a little too much. A very slight rake is ideal for me. I added a small leaf on both sides. Brought up the drivers side about 3/4", and the passenger side about 1/2", which combined to make the car level. If it doesn't settle any more, I will be happy.

Before



After


After


Extra leaf over the bottom one.


Hopefully I will have some good A/C news to post next time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[87gtVIC]

Looks good either way to me. Such a nice car.

[Tiggie]

Looks good either way to me. Such a nice car.

Thanks David. I am ready to enjoy it.

All the A/C parts finally came. Fittings came and worked perfect. Held vacuum for two days. I ordered another drier because the system was basically open while waiting for the fittings. New one came and was not under a vacuum. I installed it anyway. I vacuumed it down again and all was good with that.

Initial charge of 1 can got me low side pressures of about 10, and high side around 145. It was 40 degrees in the vents on low fan/max cool. Drive report gave me about 50 in the vents. Seeking a little more, I added another half a can to get the low side around 20psi and the high around 175. Same temps on the driveway and road test. From the conversion charts, 1.5 cans is the correct charge for the system.

Tried both 4th and 5th gear to see if compressor speed made any difference but no change.

I guess that's all she is going to give, and to be honest it's not quite enough. It's a sunny 86 outside today and we drove to my grandma's for lunch, about 30 minutes. We made it but it was uncomfortable. Low fan speed gets the cold temps that feel good out of the vents, but it's not enough air moving to keep everyone cool enough. Rolling the window down was better as long as we were moving.

A dark blue car with black interior is a hard thing to cool I suppose.

[Tiggie]

More A/C drama.

A week after the last post, I pulled the floor mat up to vacuum. Carpet was soaked underneath.

Very long story short, the evaporator was freezing and then dumped ungodly amounts of water when it finally thawed.

Not one drop of water would come out of the evaporator drain from initial start up until about a minute after the system was shut down and then it would piss a river.

I've been troubleshooting high and low and finally had a breakthrough today. It wanted more refrigerant. It's no longer freezing up! But it's not as cold.

The weather was a kill me now 95 degrees and around 50% humidity. Pressures are about 30 low side, 250 high which is still below specs for this temp/humidity. Outlet temps on high speed are about 58, 55 on medium, 50 on low, max according to the manual is 66 at these conditions, so it's within spec.

The compressor is leaking somewhere, I think from the shaft. Really not worried about it at this time. Going to wait for a little cooler weather to see how it works.

[DerekTheGreat]

A/C is great but it can be a pain in the ass too. Unfortunately, it's one of those PITA's I will endure. The shit must work, I'm an air conditioned gypsy. Props for being patient with it and figuring it out.

[gadget73]

Lower pressure = colder, but it can't be so low that the coil gets below freezing. Its a fine balance.

[Lutrova]

I found UV blocking window tint to do quite well in reducing my need for AC. Though we have no humidity here, so that may not be as helpful in Virginia.