Air Conditioning- factory and aftermarket

[John348]

12 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Wow, Bryan, first picture shows AC in a three speed manual shift Chevelle.👍

 

John, great Cool Pack! Don't you have R-12 in it now? 

 

Thanks Frank,

No, I am using R-134. When I restored it 20+ years ago R-12 was hard find and I felt it was only going to get harder, so I set up for the R-134 oil. I am sure it makes a huge difference using R-134, because of the higher discharge temperature at the evaporator and there is no way to compensate for it by narrowing ducts to increase air velocity, the evaporator is right there.

So when I use it, my feet are pretty cold, can't say that about my upper torso. Many other contributing factors, Biscayne had a rubber floor mat and not a carpet, very little insulation, sedans have a higher roof line, thus having more glass surface, and I don't have tinted glass. When I restored the car I came upon it, and put it in as more of a conversation piece. My goal was to build a show car that would be driven (which never happened) then a driver. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by John348 (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

My 1934 Fords all had "Factory Air".

Edited August 3, 2023 by Paul Dobbin
Changed photos (see edit history)

[TexRiv_63]

On 8/2/2023 at 11:54 AM, rocketraider said:

With BCA groups in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern California and Florida (all big AC markets), someone should know where a 364 AC car might be. Either a factory air or aftermarket unit could supply your compressor brackets.

I totally agree and would welcome any such offers!

[Frank DuVal]

John, sometimes reducing the charge will drop the evaporator temperature into the low 40s. Avoid low thirties, as it will freeze up.

 

Rule of thumb back then was to only put in 80% by weight of the R-12 charge posted weight. And sometimes it still needed to be reduced. 

 

I just checked, and being summer the price of R-12 on ebay is back up. Best to buy it in the winter from people cleaning out houses of relatives. Then there are R-12 replacements that are cheaper and many people have good luck with them equaling the performance of R-12. I have not had to try them yet. Others may weigh in on this. I realize what "done is done" at this point with your system, so changing refrigerant is work, but adjusting the charge is not too bad.

 

Systems designed for R-134a have different charge requirements, like my Park Avenues run 50/55 psi low side on hot days to get the evaporator to cool properly on both sides of the car. Way higher than I would run a R-134a conversion.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Frank DuVal (see edit history)