Changing Expansion Valve & Cracked the Evaporator Tube!

quote:

how best to access without removing the hole evaporator?

One has to be a contortionist to even SEE the evaporator fittings, much less solder things back together.

I've heard it said the fan housing unit can be removed without total removal of the evaporator assembly, but even then I still don't think you have adequate working room for repairing the break.

I'm thinking you just bit the bullet and start removing the whole assembly.

Most likely quicker and easier in the long run. Although removal is a bit challenging the first time through.

Good luck.

Larry

I have to agree with Larry. You need to remove the dash board and remove the entire blower/heater/evaporator as an assembly.

Put it on the bench. Then you can work on it.

DEPENDING on the nature of the crack, it may not be able to hold the solder in the long run.

The tubing there, although it is yellow metal, i.e., brass or copper, is VERY thin. Much thinner than you would find in standard copper plumbing fittings.

The significance to that is that is a copper/brass based heating system is rarely going to see more that 30 psi. 12-15 psi is what the pressure regulator is set on in a heat/boiler/furnace.

An a/c system is going to show something like 320 (it's ok if you a/c guys correct me on this) with a 134a system.

There is a cross over where you need to go to brazing rather that soldering because of the pressure. For A/C you may be over the limit with solder.

I know ACCobra can answer that if he reads this and wants to get involved? If he says go with solder, then you are ok?

The other thing is you could TRY to do this in the car if you don't mind setting the car on fire but even I'm not that fool hearty to try?

Oh, and me, the numb-nuts twisted that tube to the fitting too. It's still holding...SO FAR, but you never know when the "badda-boom" will come..."big badda boom".

Bosswrench has got a lot of experience I think with this system in the car. Experience counts big here on this.

It MIGHT be better, aka better to replace the unit now? Dunno?

It IS possible to remove the squirrel-cage blower system without pulling the dash, but that won't gain you any access. If you try anyway, study the exploded view in the black illustrated parts manual first because there are three mounting screws- two of which cannot be seen and one cannot be felt.

Pulling the dash is easy- there are only a half-dozen screws. Putting it back is where the time & effort is spent. Look on www. PanteraPlace.com, or in the illustrated light-blue-cover supplement to see how its done. Most of my efforts on removing & refilling a two-pod dash were in getting the wiring reconnected. The second time, I found the dash does not actually need to be completely removed. Just move the passenger side up & out of the way and you can pull the heater/AC evaporator box out (4 screws). Once its out and your cracked fitting fixed or replaced, reseal the box with duct tape and plumbers putty, and figure on replacing the two foam doughnuts that 'seal' the box to the dash openings. They are always disintegrated, which impacts A/C efficiency. You can make them with scissors & 1" foam or the vendors have them for sale cheap. The final result will be an A/C that likely works better than before.

Thanks. That sounds a little less discouraging. If I can keep from pulling the whole dash I'll give it a go. I don't want to pull speedo, tach and allot of instrumentation if I can help it. After 40 years, the more things disturbed the more problems, not to mention all the potential cosmetic damage. And yes I see removing the blower motor won't help.

I've pulled the dash a total of three times on my car.

As Bosswrech states, it is not difficult. It does take patience to reinstall it.
There is little that you can break in the process.

The dual pod dash is an easier installation than the single pod is. I've done both.
The single pod you will invent new swear words trying to get the last nut on the speedometer. That's a toughie.

I was not able to get the blower motor out without removing the dash. It is much more time expedient for me to remove the entire dash to do that.

The only thing that I can think of that could be fragile in there is the paper ducting for the defroster but there is a cheap cost replacement duct if need be.

Is your car a two pod or one pod ?

We can provide some more specific information for the process if we know exactly what we are dealing with.

Larry

Well removal was not that hard, one hour and out, but a nail biter trying to keep from scuffing up everything. Now this evaporator looks worse. I'm going to have to spill coolant, and disconnect all those lever cables?

Not for the faint of heart.

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Well done, Sir.

Now lets hope the break is repairable. Might want to consider rigging up something to pressure test the unit if it is repaired.

Otherwise, the pressure test will be after installation, and would HATE to have a leak revealed at that point.

Larry

After this I think I'll just replace it. NO WAY am I taking a chance.

Ray I replaced mine and now have all O-ring fittings, so the original with flare fittings is of no use to me. If your interested give me a call.

Will do. But not sure I want to replace used with used. Will know more when I get it in my hands.

One thing that I have found is worth it's weight in gold is Wilkinson's "Quick disconnect" steering wheel hub.

Having the steering wheel out of the way gives you miles more of room in the cabin and helps protect the wheel from little nicks it will pick up from you working around it.

In my case I replaced the original wheel with a Momo "Competition" wheel. It helps with gaining precious working room in there too.

I can definitely appreciate that, but I'm not planning on having to do this again. I love my stock steering wheel, and I'm worried about protecting it and the whole console for that matter during reassembly. I think I will just wrap it up in sheets or something.

I just sent the whole darn box to Dennis for him to change the evaporator, fans and whatever else is needed.

Thanks for the offer though Tony.