The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - CL find - not mine. Or would aftermarket AC be better?

tincan1966 · 03-10-2014, 07:48 PM

It'll be about as good as 50 year old AC can be.
The major concern is how long everything has been open.

You'll need a new condenser, a new compressor, a new dryer, most likely new hoses made, probably should flush the evaporator, new rubber seals for the air boxes, a new fan motor, etc to recondition it. And it's still 50+ years old.

Altho I know almost every shadetree will disagree- to do it correctly you cannot mix R12 and R134A refrigerant. This includes the oil necessary to make it live. Also you cannot remove all the old oil from the system, that is why certain components should be replaced.

IMO $700 + cost to recondition to working order, for old vs $850 for new w/warranty isn't even a question.
This is considering you can do it all yourself. If you have to pay someone to do the restore for you, you are easily going to double, if not triple the cost.
The key comment is made in the ad , "..most if not all of these parts are no longer made..." yes it would be cool to have OEM, but.

We do custom AC work in our shop, and we wouldn't touch it, its cost prohibitive.

03-10-2014, 07:48 PM	#12
tincan1966 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Independence,KS Posts: 1,477	Re: CL find - not mine. Or would aftermarket AC be better? It'll be about as good as 50 year old AC can be. The major concern is how long everything has been open. You'll need a new condenser, a new compressor, a new dryer, most likely new hoses made, probably should flush the evaporator, new rubber seals for the air boxes, a new fan motor, etc to recondition it. And it's still 50+ years old. Altho I know almost every shadetree will disagree- to do it correctly you cannot mix R12 and R134A refrigerant. This includes the oil necessary to make it live. Also you cannot remove all the old oil from the system, that is why certain components should be replaced. IMO $700 + cost to recondition to working order, for old vs $850 for new w/warranty isn't even a question. This is considering you can do it all yourself. If you have to pay someone to do the restore for you, you are easily going to double, if not triple the cost. The key comment is made in the ad , "..most if not all of these parts are no longer made..." yes it would be cool to have OEM, but. We do custom AC work in our shop, and we wouldn't touch it, its cost prohibitive.