Getting up the nerve to tackle A/C, need to remove the old

[dmjlambert]

Well because of my inexperience, when I hammered the long pin out I was destroying the fiberglass on top of the box and didn't know it until I had it apart. What a disappointment. What I should have done is put something wooden or metal on the door edge so the door was not cutting through the fiberglass box.



This slowed me down. I recovered from this by gathering the pieces and supergluing. There were 2 fairly large chunks. Then to fill in the parts that turned to dust I used superglue and baking soda to make my own super strong plastic. After it cured I smoothed it with a dremel-like grinder. It came out decent. I think it's good to go for another 50 years. When I put the door back on, I padded the door edge with a popsicle stick and therefore did not damage the fiberglass on the bottom of the box.



The original rubber was interesting. I think when they made the door, they submersed it into a mold with liquid rubber and let it cure to solid rubber. I cut it off while trying not to destroy it so I could use it as a template.

[Katrina/10]

Nice fix on the box, I never heard of using super glue and baking soda.

[dmjlambert]

I learned about it here on the forum. psuedopimp was wondering about fixing the broken off mounting ears of radiator shroud, and Grumpy old man gave a couple of youtube links to the super glue and baking soda trick. I have since used it on various plastic repairs and it is pretty incredible. It makes a super tough plastic. I recommend leave it to cure overnight. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=791986

[Katrina/10]

That's interesting, I'll check it out!

[dmjlambert]

Now the rust repairs. Original Air had already cleaned up and primed and painted but left the holes. I cut and bent some thin galvanized roof flashing to fit.

[dmjlambert]

more



The collection of patches



JB Welded into place. I think this will last me another 50 years. I also replaced the fan with a new metal one from Manes.

[dmjlambert]

Now the door. I scanned a picture of the original rubber material and printed it in actual size and cut a template. I then traced the template onto a rubber sheet and cut it out with an X-acto knife.

I was shopping online trying to figure out the best rubber sheet material to buy. My wife is a big time crafter so I asked if she had any. The answer was yes, a big ol' roll. It is magnetic on one side. For making signs, refrigerator magnets, etc. She uses it to hold steel cutting dies steady while running them through a press. Well, I wasn't terribly interested in the magnetic properties, and it is only weakly magnetic. But I tried it out on the door and it works great. I decided to put the magnetic side toward the door opening that goes to the heater core box, because when I am running the A/C I don't want any loss of air and I want to send all the air through the A/C evaporator.

I did some reading online and came to the conclusion the best glue for rubber sheet is super glue. You need to use just enough to glue it, and apply pressure while it sets. Since the area where it lives is recessed, I had to think about how I was going to clamp it down while it dried. I cut a few more of the same shape as the rubber, only this time with cardboard. So my plan was to glue the rubber sheet onto the door, and stack cardboard and then I would be able to press it down. I put a bag of fertilizer on it while it cured. I put the whole thing on some plastic wrap before gluing, and that kept it from gluing the whole door down to the table, in case I had some excess glue in some spots. I'm glad I did that, because yes I would have glued the whole thing to the table.

I am very pleased with the results. I hooked up the motor to a battery and flipped the door back and forth. It works great, and makes a very good seal and sends all the air to the A/C evaporator.

In the pictures below the metal door is painted a dark grey and is almost the same color as the rubber sheet. The rubber sheet is the one that has holes cut in it, so it fits down in the recessed areas of the door (the areas that were originally submerged in the liquid rubber back in 1969).

[dmjlambert]

Original Air said if I sent the box back to them, they still would not take the rivets out, and they would make a thick closed cell foam seal and put it on the door. I did not want that, because if you have a look at how the evaporator housing is made, you can see all the air goes through a small opening. I measured the tunnel that all the air must pass through. 3-3/16 X 3-3/8 inches. I do not want that reduced by adding about 7/8 inch of foam just to make up for the door not closing all the way. Adding the door thickness, the width of the tunnel would be reduced to about 2-3/16. 30% air flow restriction, that is not something for me! I want the door to the heater core closing all the way shut and getting completely out of the way of all the air movement.

When the day comes for me to do the rsgt blower enhancement, I don't want any restriction of air flow.

Original Air did not really want the evaporator box back to work on it some more anyway. I showed them lots of pictures and explained my case, and told them I don't think the job was complete, they agreed it should not have left their shop in that condition. I suggested a partial refund, and was pleased that they agreed, and the check is in the mail supposedly.

So, I'm not completely unhappy with Original Air and I would do some business with them again. F.A.A.benny may be a better guy to send these evaporator boxes to. Whoever gets the job I do think expectations need to be understood in advance. Need to be clear on what complete disassembly means (that is a feature of Original Air's restoration they put on their website, and it was explained to me on the phone), make sure they aren't scared about drilling out just a few rivets, and a shop like theirs really needs to have rubber material on hand, or order some rubber off eBay if they need some. Of course, now that I have this much experience with this evaporator box, I think I would just do the next one myself.

[dmjlambert]

These screw holes for the in-cab fiberglass heater core box were stripped out. They are for mounting the duct distribution/diverter box. After cleaning up the heater core box I did the super glue and baking soda trick again, this time to close up the screw holes. I ground the area flat and re-drilled them and tapped them using the original screws. Interesting that the head of one of the screws has concentric circles decoration and otherwise the screws are identical.

[dmjlambert]

Moving on to the condenser. It is a parallel flow condenser and fits using the original condenser's mounting holes. It's really nice looking. The kit had 3 brackets that are good and the lower driver side bracket had the mount hole aligned straight down from the condenser side, so I had to make a bracket with an offset mount hole.

[dmjlambert]

Mounted compressor and connected hoses. I found a local shop that crimped the ends on the hoses for $5 per hose. Then had it tested and charged up. I now have A/C going.