To fix factory AC, or replace factory AC
 

My '72 appears to have all of the AC stuff intact and in decent non destroyed shape (despite the duct tape holding some stuff together. If I was to take the time to iron out the power situation, and the system will hold a vacuum, will r134a give me cold blowing AC, or just cooler air. I have seen some conversions where you get ok air, but nowhere near ice cold. Ive read the threads about the new retro fit stuff, I dun wanna spend that kinda scratch. (yet) i want to frustrate myself with trying to fix what I have. I will be swappin in a late model r134a pump from a '00 pickup and will be needing new lines anyways. any thoughts, problems from personal experience, sucsess stories, wives tales?????

Discuss :d

I posed this question a while ago, and got a lot of people telling me it would cost the same to get an old system running decent, than it would to spend $1,000 on a new system (Vintage Air, etc) and that one would work great.
Give it a shot and tell us if it works. I have all of the stuff to do factory air, but am not sure if the "little" things will nickle and dime me.

I know nothing about AC but I have a neighbor that is a HVAC guy and I plan on using his services, for my S10, next Sunday.

Rich (Chickenwing) is doing the same thing with his 2WD. Give him a ring.

Let me know if you are offing any of your AC parts.

When I restored my kid's 68, I used the "factory" air with the 134 conversion, & am not very pleased. Only gets to about 55 degrees. If I was to do it over, I would convert to late model type system or vintage air.

I converted my 71 with factory A/C to 134 and it works great. You MUST adjust the POA valve if using 134, if you don't it wont cool. There was anoher post a week ago or so that explained how to adjust the POA.

Jeff

Where do you get the lines made? I am putting a 350 in an s-10 and have a compressor for the 350 but the lines dont match and need the same thing as you. The engine has a factory v belt compressor that works great and matches all accesories

I dont know yet. I knew of a place in stockton ca that did radiators and hoses, that I would look up if I still lived there. I do know the return line is nothing special. The pressure line prolly will cause me fits.

Stuff I was told in regards to r12-r134a swaps.
new oriphice (sp) (smaller I think)
better condensor
hi and low side pressure shut off switch
im drawing a blank at the rest, had this convo a year ago.

What is the POA valve??

Follow this link
Link to POA Adjustment
for how to adjust your POA for R134a.

If you have a stock, intact system, you are crazy to rip it all out and spend a grand on an aftermarket system.

First adjust the POA like outlined in the link above.

If you need factory lines I bought a set from a supplier - I think it was LMC.

Then just flush all the old oil out of what you got, put it all back together with new o-rings at all the connections, buy a new receiver/dryer, pour in the correct oil, suck it dry (pull a vacuum to remove any moisture), and fill it up with R134a.

I put new o-rings and a new receiver dryer in my '72 Chevelle (same system) in 1989 right before they banned R12. It STILL blows cold air. Now that car is far from a daily driver but it shows how good the factory system is.

Might want to check but I don't believe any aftermarket system uses outside air for cooling-heat. Only one or two offer a system to match up to existing dash vents and they start at $1,000. As far as temp goes, both R12 and R134 will blow at 40 degrees if charged and adjusted correctly. I would look into a rotary compressor verses the original stock POS. You would save significant HP and mpg which would pay for it's self quickly. My .02---Huck

My bro has 69,,factory a/c, kept the expansion valve, used the POA elim from Old Air, has 45* air @ 95+ambient outta the vents. Using an R4 comp(serp belt) & Old Air dual elec fans. Use the factory stuff. 134A is very critical on charge amount. Brian

Out of curiosity, what kind of compressor comes on a late model 5.3 from the pickups??? Im swappin one in, and that is the compressor that will be used.

Neddy can help you with the hoses, Tony.

will A/C parts from a new chevy truck work on a '71?

I imagine some of the non application specific parts will.