Fox W.

Hmm, makes me a little worried. Assembly of the compressor before adding oil was all my fault, I was careful about everything but messed up on that.. But it was wet/lubed inside, just 'dry' enough that nothing would leak out if you moved/angled it around without the plugs inside... I really didn't feel like removing the compressor, and the shop I went to who has been doing this for many decades as a one man show seemed to feel the compressor would be just fine being fed oil after the fact.. I am at the point where I just have to accept/hope that it is ok, and I will keep an eye on the pressure as it gets warmer out. I'll update this if anything bad happens or I have to make changes.

Thanks! The oil was a guess on his part based on a dry compressor (we checked) dry accumulator and dry condenser. Do you think it will brake things? The amount of refrigerant could be an issue when it gets very hot out, I'll do what you suggest and see how it goes. When he filled it the ambient temp was around 64F.

Sorry I missed that Ronnie. The story is I had a condenser on hand that I had held on to for 6 years now with the intent to fix the A/C.. (It was the main thing that originally leaked/rusted out.) but when I went to finally put it all on I found that condenser had different fittings, both were the same as the larger fitting, where as the proper one has one larger and one smaller fitting.. I am not sure of the sizes, anyone?.. Also I noticed its tubes were copper and it weighed therefore 3 times as much (not always a bad thing.) So anyway, I had everything ready to go so I wanted the quickest way because I was impatient and frustrated, since the condenser I had bought had been claimed to fit the 89 Reatta. So I went with what I could get that same day locally, knowing I paid too much. Thanks for letting us know though. PS: It would be nice to know what the condenser I have on hand does fit so I can sell it.

In the end it all worked out on its own.. I think some of my issue was the replacement door seal I got is very 'full' but not very soft. (Will we ever have a source for new rubber? ) so it took time for it to fit itself to my glass. I tinkered with things more and found the outer rail (closer to the lock) was not adjusted inward enough, now it holds the window better and it hasn't fallen out of the vent window track since. I've closed everything up and it seems perfectly fine now. Things I learned: Honda Shin Etsu grease is the best thing ever for window tracks or many other uses. The vent window track makes a lot of change to the tight tolerances of our window to rubber adjustments with even small changes, don't do as I did and forget to mark where things had been. These are a perfect match to our door/interior panel fasteners: CRL 1985+ GM N-Body Door Panel Fastener | eBay (That is a box of 50) These are a great match to the center console side panel hex screws: Dorman 45862 - Dorman Screws - Overview - SummitRacing.com Thanks.

Well a friend of mine, and myself, replaced the compressor, condenser, accumulator, orifice tube and all related washers/seals/o-rings last weekend.. Really took our time, flushed radiator and cleaned it out, straightened fins, etc.. Got it checked out and filled by a very competent local radiator/AC shop who did a 45min vacuum leak test, chemical test with infrared spectroscopy, and a standard dye/UV test.. everything checked out great. Everything I put in was dry, so he added 10oz oil and about 2.1-2.2lbs of r134a, because he said the system didn't really 'wake up' and get very cold until around that amount. He said he remembered that even with R12 they had to often over-charge some of the old computer controlled Cadillacs and such to make them not complain about being low, and to make them cold. Blows at 45F, evap seems fine. Woo! Here is what I learned and used: Compressor was from ackits, a 'New Seltec-Valeo, 10000285 ' ( AMA Automotive Air Conditioning Parts & Equipment - Compressors Condensers Accumulators Expansion Va: 10000285 - New Seltec-Valeo Compressor - Clutch ) Compressor change required using GM part # 2724887 , which is a washer retro-fit because the connections have changed a bit since 1989. I got the condenser at Autozone for $150, made by Spectra, looks identical to factory one, same aluminum materials. All other parts were also from ackits, just what you find when you do a vehicle lookup. I used the hfc compliant lube they sell by Nylog for everything as an assembly lube. Seems like great stuff. Thanks!

Ok thanks! I guess it is to ground it? I actually had just seen you mention it here: http://forums.aaca.org/f116/abs-power-routing-306889.html I think that relay may be going bad, because my yellow ABS light is sometimes constantly on, and sometimes off, the point of variable is upon first turning the car on.. I can also get rid of it by unplugging/plugging in the EBCM a few times. When I was saying BCM earlier I was thinking 'brake control module' but completely forgetting about the body control module which owns that acronym.

Thanks for the info. It was wrapped in electrical tape that seemed to be newer than most other tape I find on the car, but that could just be a wrong observation.

At least I think this is the EBCM rather than BCM (is it?) Located by it, in the left-side of the trunk is a connector with 3 wires that has a resistor crossing them. (Shown in attached image.) Is this factory/normal? Thanks!

Sounds good, you've all given me encouragement. This will be the second time I've had AC working since I bought the car in 2003! (I had it working for 2 months after a proper evac/flush and refill in 2003 but the condenser leaked everything due to a rusty/broken spot.) It was switched to R134 before I bought it.

I have no proof I do need to yet and I really hope I won't have to. I am just preparing because I have everything else the system needs on mine (new compressor, new condenser, new accumulator, new orfice tube, new o-ring set. Am I missing anything?) So I intend to take a peak at the evap. before I start and pray it isn't oily.

Does anyone have good instructions on removal/replacement of the evaporator? I've read it is removed from the engine side of the firewall and is a real PITA. The shop manual covers it only in the very usual basic detail. Also the condenser fan groans and makes nasty noises when on, does anyone know if the motor for it and the radiator fan are the same, or are they different? Thanks.

What were the results on this? I am very curious about aftermarket strut options, and which are stiffer than OEM. Thanks.

Right, it is just the shift indication part that is more challenging.. Having it all lit at once is trivial, I did mine that way years ago in about 15min. (Buy 1" wide Aqua coloured EL tape, cut to length, stick under outer clear plastic (voltage insulator) layer, feed from stock inverter.. done. Example: http://www.elec2go.com.au/images/el%20tape%20aqua.jpg Also mentioned this all here: http://forums.aaca.org/f116/gps-audio-question-271506.html

I was just thinking.. maybe we should make this simple by using the method I already did for mine (solid 1" wide EL aqua tape) but make a black-out strip that moves with the shifter, blacking out all the all areas of that EL strip except for the text/numbers and the current shift position brackets. That would be easier..

Unfortunately that was not the same clip, and I am not sure what this clip goes to. (It is smaller, different design, and greenish in color) I need the ones that hold the tape player bezel as well as the gauges/CRT bezel on. These pictures show the 10038190 clip in the bag vs. the one I mean:

This is why most projects like this never get far, because the reality is almost no one can sit down with an exacto knife and a letter punch to make perfect cut outs.. and no one is likely to do similar with the EL layer. I completely agree about the design, it is a shame.. I had mine all cleaned up and was getting the letters to look white and clean again, but then some of the laminate outline around a few letters flaked off, ruining that character.. Since then it has already gummed up again. The clear coat was supposed to be the 'fix' for that, but it was not. That method you have in mind is a very complete idea of something I once thought of, but I don't know enough about printing such things. I like the thought energy though. As for for milliamp to cm surface area ratio, I think it should be fine if you never allow only a single small area to be powered by itself.. as long as there is enough draw, it should be ok.. The stock EL and inverter (which is modulated at that) was made for longevity, it isn't very high current or frequency, and they used aqua (which is a blend of blue/green crystals) because that has the longest life. Your thought process is perfectly apt as usual though, these will be big challenges.

Oh yeah totally, the way it completes contacts to light the brackets is easy to follow just by looking at it, I just meant the patterns and mating the EL copper with the traces will take some labor.. it won't be the kind of thing you can pump out in large batches to sell.. I don't think.. but we won't know until we try. So back to the window and mirror switches: What about taking a very high res sample of the simulated metal texture and sending it to someone like these guys? : CUSTOM LAMINATE Example texture:

Could be, but it is strange to me that this would need to be altered so much from how it was from the factory. It is easy for me to tell where everything had been tightened down.

I would like to add that I didn't have luck later on.. Just when I thought I had it sorted out, the window came off track.. Since then I tried to favor a way to keep it in track more tightly, but again after a month it came out again at the bottom. Not sure why I fail so badly at this.

Right but those white sections, contrasting with the blue is the EL, and that part is all integrated with the actual PCB and those wide traces.. The rest are just covers. Or am I seeing this wrong? This is what I also remember from when I took it apart way back.. It does look like one could create this by hand without too much trouble if they have the right parts.

Jim sent me an incredible looking gauge lens. It is like new, and his asking price was even too low I would say. I am -very- grateful and pleased, thank you!

Disappointing news for me, as I am having the entire left side of my car re-painted, and they need to remove the rear glass.. I am very concern about this because of the risks of ruining that rubber surround. Anyone else know tips to removing it all intact?

Indeed! This is on my desk here at work.. though I also have an older 286 and 386 version.. It is a Compaq 486C, an early full color TFT LCD 'lug-able' 486 computer. Fairly rare, as it cost over 12k at the time. Sorry to be so off topic though. I just love older electronics.

It is good to see you two talking about these matters, we really should someday work together to figure a way to customize the UI. There is a lot of data on that serial bus that could be displayed, and it would be an engineers dream car if we could choose how to display it. Indeed, those patents are very helpful, I discovered those (as seen in http://forums.aaca.org/f116/touch-screen-controller-connection-pinout-208085.html ) at the end of 2005, as references for a long-term reverse engineering project... And as much as I wish the micro-controller was a 68HC, I too believe it is an 808x. (It would be easier for me to tinker with the code if it had been.) Sadly I never have gotten far (imagine that) with this project.. It is just rather hard to put the time in to it, and I don't have the lab access I used to have at my new company. I believe the 8088 came out after the 8086, as it allowed for manufactures to design a cheaper overall system due to its external 8-bit data bus. Kdirk, sounds like you already dug in to this long ago, and further than I had, I am curious of your thoughts and would like to talk more.. I'm not an engineer though, just a lowly Linux/Windoze systems admin..seriously, it is a monkey job, basically I maintain other peoples crappy code, rather than getting to write my own crappy code.

Sure, I am in Mountain View. I made a mistake with mine a couple years ago.. I tried washing it in a machine that was too small, and the detergent pocketed in some spots which managed to remove sections of the outer silver anti-UV coating.. quite a shame.. But you can in the least test the fit. PM me for a time.