Let's discuss adding A/C to my 1st gen V8 truck that never had it to begin with..

[Uncle Gump]

My HVAC guy for the pizza shop uses nitrogen for that very purpose. If you can get it... use it. I've had a leak detector for years and worked from various kinds of charging stations and we never used dye. The leak detector fluids "Snoop" in particular work pretty good... and I usually used it and my leak detector on repair jobs.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I've done some additional reading on this and most articles state that if the system doesn't leak down under vacuum in less than 30 minutes, then you don't have any leaks worth worrying about. So maybe I'm waiting far too long..

However, today I vacuumed it down again and added a can of r134a with UV dye and it appears that my brand new compressor is leaking around the front seal and the seal between the two halves of the compressor body.

More to come.....

 

[Uncle Gump]

Oh good grief Bird...

 

[Bird76Mojo]

You're telling me! It was a brand new Four Seasons compressor too. I messaged the Ebay seller but his auction stated "no returns" so I guess I'm screwed out of $67.61

If I have to order another one it'll likely be a Motorcraft and of course those come without a clutch and cost over $200.

Hell, at this point I may just charge the bastard and run it until it leaks down. See how long it takes. In the meantime I can order another compressor and wait for eventual failure.

Just once in my life I'd like to be able to order new components and have them be what they're supposed to be. The high side service port being out of spec.. Now the compressor.. I'm starting to get pissed here.

At least I know it wasn't any of my crimps on the hoses I made.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Take a deep breath... You've been doing this stuff long enough to know how it goes. It totally sucks... but it is what it is.

I don't think I've ever seen a front seal that didn't leak a tiny bit... we aren't talking a sealed system. I think I would fill it up and prove your concept and fix it if you have to in the future... especially since you can't return it.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I gotta admit, I'm leaning towards that route now. I just went out and checked and the system hasn't leaked down any more. I guess I'm just expecting perfection like I always do, and that's too much to ask from an AC system.. (they all leak, it's just a matter of how long it takes)

 

[Uncle Gump]

Exactly... even if you have to add a can once a year... it will give you reason to use your new gauge set...

Let the beast blow cold air man and shake the entire system down.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

After hooking up the new California style can adapter to the can of r134a and UV dye (I swear you lose more refrigerant on those than you would just emptying whatever was left in your final can when filling a system) it looked like a Muppet murder scene around my truck when I turned on the blacklight.

Or the Predator had lost a lot of blood in my driveway.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Well, I wrapped up a few more details on the truck today, then it rained so I took a break, then I went back to it.. If it's leaking down now, it's so slow I can't tell. Who knows at this point... I'll have to wait for the temperature to rise again to see what the pressure is doing.

- Sprayed intake gasket with Copper Coat and let it tack up. Then cleaned the duct tape residue from both mating surfaces.
- Reinstalled intake and hooked up pcv, fuel pressure regulator, and other various sensors.
- Hooked up both heater hoses.
- Trimmed throttle cable bracket to be shorter because it hit the A/C plenum. Then drilled a hole so the locking tab would seat in to it. Wire wheeled & painted it.
- Double checked the airbox for mice/debris and reinstalled intake tubing to throttle body.
- Reinstalled the serpentine belt.

Next up is to go pull the radio harness from one of my parts trucks and fix that while I've got the dash apart, and build my harness for the A/C system..

Then reinstall the radiator and mechanical fan, and figure out my upper radiator hose, which might just be the most challenging aspect of this..

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Well, I got my stereo harness repaired by cutting the plugs out of my old blue 89 Ranger. I decided to rip out everything the previous owner had done and install the Pioneer deck from my old 89. He made a HUGE mess of all the wiring, but it's all good now. As close to factory as I can get it. All harness connections were soldered and covered with heat shrink.

(the 89 Bronco II harness was different. One long flat plug like the 87 but the other plug was square)

Then I moved on to making my harness for the A/C system. I only had to run one wire into the cab. I picked up a power wire in the dash and hooked that to my OEM A/C dash switch, then hooked the other side of the switch to the relay trigger wire I ran in to the cab. The relay trigger wire only pulls milliamps so it won't hurt to pull power from the blower motor harness. I covered everything in a fiberglass based abrasion resistant hose/wire covering.. All connections under the hood were soldered, heat shrinked, and covered in plastic loom and Tesa automotive wire loom tape. I located the 40/60 sealed relay on the drivers inner fender.

I got it all back together about an hour after dark and tested it all. The stereo works and the speakers are actually wired correctly now, even though they're junk. The A/C clutch also clicks on as well.

I still have to either locate a fuse holder to wire in to the relay's power connection or go buy one tomorrow, and the wiring will be complete.

So, hopefully tomorrow I can get the radiator installed, the fan installed, and the lower radiator hose cut to length and installed. Then spend the rest of the day scratching my head figuring out the upper radiator hose and making multiple trips to numerous parts stores to browse through their radiator hose selection.

 

[Uncle Gump]

What am I missing Bird... wasn't the radiator already in the truck running? Why the big issue with the upper and the lower hoses?

 

[Bird76Mojo]

No, the radiator hasn't been installed in the truck for quite some time now. I did put it in to mock up the lower radiator mounts and weld them in..

I just got the upper intake on like yesterday..

The lower hose shouldn't cause me a lot of issues, but the upper hose outlet on the radiator points right at the alternator pulley. Almost dead center. It was tight before and nearly rubbed the belt, and now I've moved the radiator inward several inches. To get it perfect, I may have to have the outlet cut off and re-welded at a different angle. I'm thinking of ordering a Foxbody upper hose and seeing where that gets me, and if it doesn;t work, it has some very good angles I can cut off and join together with aluminum tubing. That's how my hose was built previously anyway..

What makes it even tougher is the radiator outlet on top is much smaller than the water neck on the engine. It complicates just using a hose off of another model of automobile..

 

[Uncle Gump]

Hell I'm getting old and forgot you moved the radiator. When I did my swap... I was doing some A/C work on the side for the local Radiator Shop when they got back logged. When I was ready to plumb it... the owner of the radiator shop come to my shop with a box of hoses... adapters and clamps. I ordered in a couple pizzas and got a six pack and he proceeded to cut and adapt hoses and had it plumbed in about an hour... would have taken me a week and many trips to the parts store. He didn't even charge me for what he did. I sure do miss having connections for all things automotive. Here in Illinois... I really have none.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I sure do miss having connections for all things automotive. Here in Illinois... I really have none.

Well, I'm a long way away from you but I'd say you got at least one here in IL if need be.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Bird... I kinda figured that. To bad there is about 4 hours drive between here and there. I miss hanging out in the garage with other gear heads.