Factory or Original A/C

[mjsmith]

Went to the trouble and some expense to install original A/C in my non a/c 72 pickup. Have changed out the dash and bought a junk truck for most of the original parts. Now I'm having second thoughts about original vs Old or Vintage system. Do the new system's cool better? Do you get better milage? If I go with the orginal setup, what parts need to be non-orginal to convert to new coolant? What is the better setup for a 72 pickup, Vintage or Old air?

I'm not building a show truck but a nice ride to take fishing and camping.

Thanks, Mick

[Baradium]

New seals all around are good for a start. Compressor should be gone through and all seals replaced with R-134a compliant seals, but you *can* get away with just changing the oil to R-134a compliant stuff. If you are starting from scratch, might be a good idea to at least check on what it'd take to get new compressor seals.

A new, bigger, condensor might not be a bad idea either. R-134a likes a bigger condensor to cool the same as R-12. A bigger evaporator might help too, but that's not really an option. You don't have to have a bigger condensor or evaporator.

You'll need a new vapor canister (this is your reservior for freon), but you always need a new one once one has been left off of the vehicle. That's because there is a silicon gel pack inside it to pick up moisture, once it picks up so much water it needs to be replaced...

All new hoses, but that's a good idea with an already installed system anyway. The hoses are old, should be replaced.

That's all I can think of at the moment...

[jorgensensc]

My Opinion Only:
I just finished installing a vintage Air system in my truck saturday. I Absolutely Love IT!!!!!!! It freezes me out pretty quick. It was a snap to install, (it took me 1 hour to put the compressor on, 1 hour to put the condenser/dryer on and about 8 hours to install and wire the rest of the system, thats also having to take out the old heater system). I will say that the system cost a little money, but it is well worth it. i payed:
950.00 for the system,
45.00 to ship
140.00 for new A.C. controller (wanted the factory look)
40.00 to charge system with R-134
--------------
Total 1175.00

Also bought new Factory chrome vent balls and factory side vents 15.00, Only because I wanted it to look factory stock, and the side vents supplied are not stock looking.

Hope this helps a little!
Feel free to ask me anymore questions.
Shawn

[GMC Jim]

IMO.. I would use the original a/c system....would be a much less expensive installation, no need to replace seals.etc. Many condensors, evaporators & compessor
used in older GM vehicles are interchangable with our trucks... Previous owner of my truck had butchured the AC system.. needed to replace compressor, condensor and evaporator ( the lines had been cut). I used the above parts from a '71 Pontiac Catalina Station wagon...... Using a new receiver dryer; I installed the above parts and had the system checked for leaks, evacuated and re-charged . This done about 15 years ago...and had to add refrigerant once. And everything is stock!..Because the compressor and condensor are a larger size and capacity, the system cools in a few minutes. As I recall the total cost at that time was less than $150 !!!!! As Jorgensensc stated, the cost was $ 140 for the AC controller alone !!! Pretty spendy, I think!... Also, there have been posts about the old Freon 12 being colder than the new R134a...

[GSFMECH]

I've been fighting these original old AC's for years. I started trying to get away from the R12 6 or 7 years ago and have tried some of the R12 replacement refrigerants that are actually an HCFC such as "freeze 12" but I've never had a lot of luck. I tried 134 in the stock system in my 72 (after changing o-rings and flushing and a new drier) but it didn't work well. I installed one of those kits made by Old Air products a couple of summers ago that does away with the POA valve and uses a pressure switch to maintain evaporator pressure like a late model system and now it works great. Around town you have to put the fan on low it gets so cold, but does not work as well on the freeway. It seems to cycle rapidly, but is still d..n cold. If I had a 700R4 to slow that engine down it I think it would work a lot better. My hat is off to O.A.P. I think it would be even better if I were to get away from the original expansion valve and go to an orifice tube. I recently saw a post on this with photos, I would like to try it if I can find the post. Man I know what you went through to put the factory AC in your truck. I did a non air 71 in the late 80's, only because that truck had such a primo cab and I didn't want to change the cab. It was a lot of work but it worked real good, R12 was cheap then.

Mike