A/C hose information please

I just moved my condensor up front. I drove my car over to Nastalgiac Air Parts in Tampa. John the owner did a walk around on the cat and set me up with everything I needed. He gave me #10 evap to comp... #8 comp to condensor... #6 Dryer to evap... I must say, John was very helpful, we converted everything to O ring, he showed me around his shop, tought me a bit about A/c systems and showed me his digital production of soon to come webinars...

http://www.nostalgicairparts.c...t/instructions-4.php

Scroll down and look at the "universal instructions" Be sure to DL it onto your desck top as the diagram may not show up otherwise. I will charge mine and report back...

Your sizes as listed make a lot more sense to me from a refrigeration/flow standpoint than what I have, that is why I am questioning what is there. I am also toying with the idea of a hardline from the receiver dryer to the TXvalve, just not sure what the r-value loss would be in the line and protecting it in its run.

I'm courious on what your outcome is going to be and if you have any engine temp issues, especially here in Florida. Let me know.

Thanks
Angelo

I tested my car today for the first time at about 2:00 this afternoon. With my radiator completely covered with the new condensor, my car warmed up to 172 at 70 mph and no fan. I drove about five miles and no change, purred right along. Then I pulled over and let it idle and heat up to 200 and drove back out at 70 mph with no fan. It cooled back down to about 178/180 and held there. Then I went light to light for about ten minutes out and ten back with the fan running and it held about 180 the whole time. I guess it may heat up some more when I start running the compressor? But, so far, so good. They couldn't be more helpful over at Nostalgiac Air Parts, they are getting some pretty cold vent temps w/their systems. I want to get one of their evaporators when I do my dash. I hope I can get my vent temps down w/this original evap.

Sounds pretty good so far. I am also keeping the origional evap, not sure about moving the condenser up front tho. Do you have a breakdown of the fittings you had to use on the hoses?

With no fan, I am assuming that you mean no fan for the condenser but still have the fans on the radiator, right?

Angelo

This is a loose representation of the kit I am using, it converts everything to O ring.

My dryer is mounted to my condensor, see the hoses are laid out for compression fittings with the fitting protecting the dryer. Testing this config went well so I will make an appiontment for the compression of the fittings and to charge the system w/coolant....

P.S... I only have one spal 16" fan, I can run 75/80 mph in the mid day heat and see under 180 degree temps with no radiator fan running. I see 180/185 degrees in light to light traffic with the radiator fan running. This may chang when I get the compressor charged and start running the A/C system. After the A/C checks out, I will get a mechanical carb w/idle...

Thanks for the information and pics! I do have a couple of questions if you don't mind. Got me rethinking on the front mounting.

Where did you get the condenser, numbers, and how is it mounted?
Where are you going to place the charging valves? In the front trunk or at the compressor?
What TXvalve are you using?

Angelo

Is your evap coil still flare, Or did you change it? Or use some kind of adapter to O-ring?

Angelo

John at Nostalgia kept fitting the condensors until he found the largest one that would fit nice, I think it was 149 bucks?? I just used some flat stock and made two brackets for each side.
I will put the charging ports under my console or right off the compressor. ( pull the console or remove the rear passenger wheel for charging +/- ). John gave me the expansion valve and there are two adapters (not shown) that I will need to use on the valve and evap to convert them to O ring.

I ran the car again today and it stayed at 182 degrees light to light through town with the spal running. Love bugs have made it a mess already....

I would vote for the compressor ends to be changed to the ones with the valve ports made on them for 2 reasons. One is less crimped fittings to have to worry about later on and probably more important, I would prefer to keep a tech and his hoses away from the interior of the car if at all possible. No matter how carefull, there is always the chance of refrigerant oil either dripping or heaven forbid spraying on your interior, even with a drop cloth. I know.

Are you running your hoses from the condenser in the front fender well?

Those engine temps are pretty good, is your engine basically stock HP or higher, I see you have an aluminum radiator, any other cooling system upgrades? I am moving my temp sender this weekend from the pressure tank to the front of the engine for better accuracy, my temps creap up in traffic with 2 fans running, one on and one on t-stat.

Angelo

You won't HAVE to pull the rear wheel to charge with the ports at the compressor. I have charged mine without doing that, I can just reach up from a creaper, jacking up the car a bit helps but not necessary.

A friend of mine, has his condenser mounted in front of the passenger rear wheel, came that way from PI. Works but ..... not something I would do on a bad day, not even to the ex-wife. snicker. Fun to watch people try to find it at the shows. Beautiful car otherwise, the silver bullet.

Angelo

That's a good idea about the charging ports, one less leak spot is always good. I just ran my lines right through the front storage area along the fender. When I get it charged and secured I will post a shot... My car is kinda' a daily driver/beater. All the mechanicals are brand new and the cooling system has all mods recomended on this site. SS tubes, Flo right water pump, swirl tank mods, restrictor, correct thermostat, custom radiator and hood vents. My engine is brand new w/only about 3K miles, gearbox is fresh from RBT, all new suspension.. bla, bla, bla... She is really starting to humm along really good. I built the exhaust and used the cherry bombs...wow, kinda' loud..lol.. The cam sounds fantastic at idle with the cherry bombs though... Video coming soon, stay tuned...

I read somewhere that the hoses can be run under the front fender, that would help keep your trunk neat.

Your car looks sweet, I took my front bumper off and am looking for the small front bumpers without the light part. I have not been able to do the things I want with mine until I finish a 64 coupe restoration, which is taking just too long and waay too much money. Can't wait for that to be done. I have a REAL LONG wish list that I want to do to the Pantera.

Actually, I was not planning on doing this A/C work yet, but the compressor died. I can't drive around here for long without A/C, so I am biting the bullet. Gonna be a warm cruise tomorrow night, gonna drive down to DAVIE to meet a couple of other Panteras.

Angelo

The condenser I have heard used most up front is a Vintage Air 14 x 22 Super Flow Condenser, Part # 03262-VUC.


PLT; Didn't your guy recomend putting a high pressure switch in the A/C system to protect it?

Julian

There is a switch threaded into the dryer and wired to the thermostat?...

In the dryer is most likely high pressure cut out, I wonder about low pressure. If the dryer switch is a dual, by the time it senses a low pressure condition, too late, the damage is done. But there is no other port to connect a low side switch to (from the evap to the compressor). hummm

Angelo

NAP said it is indeed a hi/low switch and will work in this config with out any issues. I hope to charge it up in the morning and drive home w/A/C .

Well, it's all charged up and blowing cold. I was running 33, 34, 3500 RPM for about 40 mins and she held right at 182 deg.... It heated up light to light to about 188/190 deg... I hope it stays there. I can't control condensation in this humidity, it is pissing every where. The whole evap is sweating, I have it covered w/insulation but it still sweats...

Temps look pretty good for the engine! The evap might actually be running too cold 35-38 degrees would be a better temp for our cars to avoid freezing the evap, flooding the compressor and reducing condensation. If your evap housing is well insulated and still sweating externally, you are running too cold an evap in my opinion. Set t'stat a tad higher to see if that helps.

Since you have a new TXvalve, it is also possible the superheat setting is too low, which would flood the evap with too much refrigerant, which in turn could send too much liquid back to the compressor (it is only supposed to get a saturated vapor in the return line, no liquid. Unfortunately the adjustment for these valves are internal and not too easy to adjust. Make sure you are not mixing too much outside air also. IF the tech charged by just sight glass and generic pressures without measuring superheat, any of the above including a slight overcharge is possible. Pressures and temps would be very helpful, including the final weight charge used to help others contimplating your type conversion. IMHO

As a caveot, even tho I am certified in automotive A/C, it has been a while since I have nit picked one...like mine. However I deal with refrigeration and HVAC on a daily basis in my day job, hense my questions and comments, I just a bit inquisitive by nature.

Keep up the good work,
Angelo

No worries, thank you very much for your advice! I will check into the items you mentioned. I wanted to measure vent temps but my IR failed. My wife is taking the cat to work tomorrow 56 miles each way so we will have another report tomorrow. We just did 15 miles out and 15 miles back and all systems functioned fantastic. 13.7 V, 181 degrees, 76 lbs oil pressure... I'm happy, I hope we can run up a few miles on it now. Thanks for your advice Angelo....

Quick question,
Did you have to move the mounting of your radiator to place the condenser in front? I am finally getting round to doing this while my radiator is out having the shroud made and I can't see that I have room for the condenser near the bottom of the radiator where the lower grill comes in closer.

Did you get the sweating resolved?


Thanks,
Angelo